Sparking Youth Led Change

Yuwa Updates

Yuwa named one of Yahoo! India's 12 unsung heroes of 2012

Yahoo!'s unsung heros is an attempt to honor those who have done some extraordinary and selfless work. This is Yahoo!'s salute to the unsung heroes of 2012. Yuwa is proud to accept this honor.

Visit Yahoo! India News

Five leaders who have been instrumental in spreading awareness

Franz was recently featured in a India Today article featuring five leaders have have been instrumental in spreading awareness.

Visit India Today to read the full story.

Jai Yuwa!

Rose Thompson is the recipient of Hendrix College’s Walker Fellowship, and is traveling throughout India for six months studying how team sports can empower girls. Her project was inspired by the idea that sports teams can be much more than a group of people bent on winning a game. For many people–most especially, adolescent girls–teams have the potential to offer a network of positive role models, a consistent group of friends, and the opportunity to build confidence in themselves. While in India, she will be exploring how organizations and individuals intentionally create athletic teams to reach out to girls who face unfair odds in life due to their gender. Yuwa is lucky to have Rose with us and we will be highlighting some of her blog posts - read Rose's blog here. (Rose in India)

Tribal girls set new 'goals'!

Yuwa was recently featured in The Times of India "Amazing Indians" series. Highlighting the dedication the girls have and how sport is creating a better future for them. Tribal girls set new 'goals'!

Jharkhand: American changes lives with football

TEDxIIMRanchi - Franz Gastler - Sports to promote confidence in women

Bhavna Toor (Presenting Franz Gastler)

Sunday Practice in Hutup Village

ISESE Competition: Yuwa – Kicking it new school in India

Yuwas was highlighed in the Innovative Secondary Education for Skills Enhancement (ISESE) Competition blog series features the winners, runners-up and five additional models that have been selected due to their innovation, impact, sustainability and potential for replication in Africa and Asia.

View the blog entry on Yuwa

The Dharavi Girls Football Program on Neo Sports

The former french national football player Frank Leboeuf hosted a training session for our girls. Neo Sports came as well and made a great story on it. If you want to know more about the Dharavi Girls Football Program please visit www.realitygives.org/yuwa

Ranchi girls turn to football

"India Today," a morning show broadcasted across India, featured a clip of Yuwa during it's headlines segment. Check out some of the amazing moves the Yuwa girls in the clip.

View the segment on www.indiatoday.com

Football gives girls of a village near Ranchi a shot at a new life

One of India's largest newspapers "The Indian Express" recently ran a featured article on Yuwa. The highlights include the girls success on the field and how it is contributing to a better education and livelyhood. Also featured is Yuwa's continual push for land dedicated to the program.

View the article on www.indianexpress.com

NGO helps uplift lives through football

NDTV recently highlighted YUWA on "Marks for Sports."

View the segment here on NDTV.

Jharkhand NGO, Yuwa, wins NDTV Nirmal Lifestyle Spirit of Sport Award

In a Grand Finale, NDTV celebrated the success of the ‘Marks for Sports’ campaign with the ‘Spirit of Sport’ awards held at the ITC Maurya Sheraton today. As part of the celebration, NDTV acknowledged excellence in sports by honouring renowned sports personalities across 14 categories.

Franz Gastler accepted the national award for Best Promotion of Sports in Education from Milkha Singh and Ranbir Kapoor.

Read more about NDTV's 'Sprit of Sport.'

"US-born football coach scripts success with tribal girls"

"Yuwa is not just an initiative, but a movement now" - Franz Gastler

After a close match with a senior India woman squad, two Yuwa players were named to the India under-13 squad. Read the story from the Hindustan Times.

Read "US-born football coach scripts success with tribal girls" - The Hindustan Times

"A soccer club with Edina roots creates hope in India"

In an interview with Jeremy Olsen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Franz discusses some of the successes of Yuwa's model. For instance, none of the girls from the original team got married in their teens, unlike their older sisters.

Read "A soccer club with Edina roots creates hope in India." - Star Tribune

Soccer players change lives of girls through sport

Joanna Lohman and Lianne Sanderson will be traveling to Jharkhand to visit Yuwa. Lohman and Sanderson have founded the JoLi Academy, a for-profit business that has a philanthropic bent. They are interested in spreading their talents and learning from Yuwa's success. Read more on ESPNW.

Read the article on ESPNW .

Jeb Brovsky, US soccer star, visits Yuwa in December

US soccer star and Peace Pandemic founder, Jeb Brovsky, recently completed a two day camp with Yuwa in December. The camp instructed the Yuwa members about soccer techniques, as well as educating the players about health, hygiene and physical fitness.

"Rukka girls to bend it like Brovsky" -The Telegraph.

"MLS player conducts football camp" - The Times of India

Yuwa attracts GlobalGiving.org permanent membership certification!

Yuwa SuperFans-

Thank-you very much for your support of Yuwa’s recent Global Giving August fundraising initiative.  With $5,650 raised through 80 unique donors in 30 days, Yuwa is now an official organization of the Global Giving network!  We could not have achieved this feat without generous donors such as yourself.  Not only will this have an immediate impact on the organization’s programs on the ground, but your donations will allow for continued growth through globalgiving.org for many years to come! 

Thank-you again and please stay tuned for updates on how things progress over in India!

Yuwa Documentary

A short film on Yuwa by an Indian film student. A sincere thanks to Mahindra & Mahindra for funding the film.

Yuwa India: Edina Grads Combat Poverty and Patriarchy

Yuwa was recently featured in Franz Gastler's hometown magazine. The article highlights the unique ground work Franz has been doing and how impactful the Yuwa model has been on the girls of Jharkhand.

Read the article here

Yuwa awarded $25,000 USD for winning Gamechangers

Yuwa has recently won an award to make a new football field with the help of a design team and 25K; this was awarded by GAMECHANGERS. Gamechangers is a campaign run by Architecture for Humanity and Nike Inc. to empower youth through sports by proposing programs that spur social and economic development in a community.

Gamechangers Homepage

View Yuwa's entry

Yuwa now an official Registered Society in India

As of January 20th, 2011, Yuwa is now a recognized organization in India. A special thanks to Franz and Steve for accomplishing this monumental progression in the young life of our organization.

Be the Change: Save a Life (an ABC News Initiative)

Read Franz's winning essay submission on Yuwa's Sita. Be the Change: Save a Life is a global health initiative to bring attention to today's most pressing health challenges, and to inspire people to act.

Yuwa receives more coverage in Outlook Business Magazine

Through a hub-and-spoke model, Yuwa is building a cadre of 100-plus female community sports leaders who will be coaching 2,000 girls daily in three years. But two houses have sprung up on the girls' primary field in just the past year. While the number of players has soared, the playing field has shrunk by a quarter. The state government has offered Yuwa one of the last pieces of land in the area which has not yet been sold off to land agents. The grant would be applied to transform this into a training hub to support Yuwa's growing number of more remote village grounds. Read the full proposal sponsored by Yuwa

When Poonam Toppo, 17, from Yuwa's first team got engaged, she insisted the coaches talk to her fiancé and make him understand why football was important to her. Her fiancé, Rajesh Oraon, says today, 'I will not pull her off the pitch. If that's what pleases her, I have no problem.'

UPDATE:

A month after getting married and moving to a new village (Hesatu), Poonam, now 18, organized three new teams of girls. Since August, 85 girls have joined. Congrats to Poonam!

Sports Illustrated India

Tehelka Highlights Yuwa

Yuwa receives stamp of approval from The United Nation Fund for Women!

The United Nation Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has given Yuwa and its strategy 'for growth a firm stamp of approval.

Spotlight Stories

A year after Yuwa's foundation there have been many successes, but we wanted to share a few that really stood out. Click the links below to access the individual stories: