Yuwa is a girl's football program in India. It uses girls' team sports as a platform for social development in rural India.[1] It is one of the largest programs, with 250 players, 150 of whom practice daily.[2] In 2009, Franz Gastler founded Yuwa with the financial help of his high school friends, Greg Deming, Stephen Peterson, and Erik Odland, to use football as a platform to combat child marriage, illiteracy and human trafficking among girls in rural India.[3][4]
Vision statement: 'Yuwa, which means "youth" in Hindi, works specifically with girls from impoverished families in rural Jharkhand, India—a place where girls are at risk of child marriage and human trafficking. It is a program that uses team sports and education to build character, confidence, and courage. It is a place where girls who don't yet know their worth can meet to compete, achieve goals, and create brighter futures. Yuwa prepares girls to break the cycle of poverty—permanently' (Yuwa About).[5]
Franz Gastler has given TEDx talks on "Sports to promote confidence in women" (2012),[6] "The Girl Effect" (2013)[7] and with Rinky Kumari "Yuwa - How football can change lives" (2015).[8]
The program was featured as a Microsoft Edge Partner, November 16, 2017,[9] highlighting the new Yuwa web page. The News & Media page has a list of media articles describing Yuwa.[10]
Participation in the 2013 tournament helped Yuwa achieve recognition in India.[11] Their participation in the 2016 tournament in Spain was featured in a short series of four videos[12] by the Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor. They were the second team invited to the 2018 25th Anniversary tournament.[13]