Yuwa
This project's parent organization is Yuwa
It operates in India
It uses Football (Soccer)
Entered the Sport for Education Award
More about Yuwa
Yuwa works in villages in rural Jharkhand, the state with some of the highest rates of child marriage, human trafficking, and female illiteracy in India. Here 100,000 girls are trafficked every year, six in ten can't read or write, and seven in ten drop out of school before passing 10th standard. Six in ten girls here get married off when they are still children. Nine out of ten families in rural Jharkhand don't have access to a toilet.
(Sources: Jharkhand census, New York Times, Jharkhand police)
In a place where girls are expected to drop out of school at an early age and get married in their mid-teens, Yuwa’s mission is put each girl powerfully in charge of her own future—enabling her to break free of the cycle of poverty.
A girl in Yuwa begins her journey of empowerment the day she joins a football team. Stepping out of isolation and in to a positive team environment, she gains confidence, begins taking care of her own body, and starts attending school and Yuwa class regularly. Each girl in Yuwa is expected to attend school daily. Yuwa assists dropouts who need help getting back into school and consults parents who are considering an early marriage for their daughter.