Children’s Races

Great Ethiopian Run is committed to staging high-quality races for all the Children at the 15th edition of the PlayMatters Children’s Races.

Race date: 19 November 2022

Race Day Programme

08:15 – 08:35 Disability races in four categories (visual, hearing impairment, physical & intellectual disability)

08:40 – 08:55 Music & dance performances on the stage

08:45 – 09:50 Races for under 5, 8 & 11 boys girls – a total of 6 races with 10 minute intervals

09:20 – 09:40 Prize ceremony for disability races

09:50 – 10:05 Prize winning quizzes about the race message

10:05 – 10:25 Prize ceremony & raffle for all finishers

Venue

Ethiopian Youth Sport Academy (near Imperial)

Parking: is available outside the compound near to the gate on the way to 22 Mazoria road. We advise you to arrive as early as possible.

Security & Safety: please be aware of thieves and be sensible about taking care of possessions such as mobile phones and cameras. Please note that only adults with children wearing the race t-shirt will be allowed to enter the compound.

Lost Children: children should not leave the compound before the event finishes. If your child goes missing, we have an area marked ‘Lost Children’ (situated on the right side of the stage). You may wish to write parent/guardian telephone number on your child’s t-shirt.

 

PlayMatters

The PlayMatters project aims to improve holistic learning and wellbeing outcome for 800,000+ refugee and host community preprimary and primary school children aged 3-12+ in Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania using learning through play methodologies.

At PlayMatters, we seek a better, more hopeful future for refugee and host community children living in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda. We believe that if we provide these children with more opportunities to build their holistic skills and psychosocial well-being, then girls and boys can become agents of positive change and build a better, more hopeful future for themselves and the planet. Everything we do at PlayMatters is in service of this vision.

PlayMatters is being implemented by a consortium led by the International Rescue Committee and includes Plan International, War Child Holland, Innovations for Poverty Action and the Behavioral Insights Team in partnership with the Lego Foundation

Our Approach

The learning through Play (LtP) approach is Ethiopia is intended to transform the traditional learning and teaching process conventionally known as Chalk and talk to an interactive, joyful and active learning through the convening power of learning through Play as a means to promote quality Education for Refugee and Host community children.

 Achievements so far

  • LtP Content development: Content Development Committees (CDCs) identified
  • Teachers Professional Development on LtP: Trained Master Trainers, selected from regional education offices as well as Teacher training Colleges,  in Educators’ Content from Key Education Stakeholders:
  • Trained 12 System actor -Master Trainers in Somali region and co-cascaded to 213 Teachers though Whole School Approach.
  • Through trained teachers we reach an average of 14,910 children through learning through play activities.
  • Trained 22 Master Trainers in Educators’ content and rollout to 298 Teachers in Benishangul Gumuz, Gambella and Afar regions. Currently, an average of 20,860 students participate in learning through play activities and teachers included LtP sessions in their daily lesson plans.
  • Overall, we have active 34 Master Trainers in Educator Content and 511 Teachers reaching 35,770 students through LtP sessions in Ethiopia.
  • Teachers Continuous Professional Development on LtP: Conducted Classroom observation, coaching and mentorship to the teacher trained during their implementation of gained skill in classrooms.
  • Generated learning from the observation for refinement of content
  • Prototyping and piloted other intervention ideas: proto typing process (for Care givers and Educators) was conducted to prototype (test) the intervention ideas.
  • Awareness raising: Through various social mobilization events and UN commemoration events, more than 35,000 community members are aware of LtP and mobilized to promote LTP in schools, at home and in the community.
  • Learning: Baseline assessment conducted targeting Children and Educators in piloted 20 schools.
  • Recent monitoring visits in May 2022 confirmed that teachers have already started using learning through play activities in their lesson plans.

Click here for result

In support of the Ethiopian Government’s initiatives to address issues of climate change, Great Ethiopian Run is promoting a “Go Green” campaign in connection with the 2021 TotalEnergies Great Ethiopian Run International 10km in November 2021 and carrying forward to our races planned in 2022. 

Our campaign has five strands, and over the coming months, we will be implementing an action plan with the twin goal of working for the good of our environment and fostering greater awareness about the importance of green issues. 

ACTION 1: WE WILL MINIMISE CARBON EMISSIONS  

We are promoting “3km of walking per day” to get us all to think more about walking in place of making short car journeys. We are also encouraging our participants to use public transport and shared car transport for arriving at and returning from the race.  

ACTION 2: WE WILL RECYCLE WHEREVER POSSIBLE  

This year we have used recyclable (eco-friendly) materials in the production of our race t-shirts. We have also partnered with PETCO to collect and recycle all plastic bottles and other rubbish consumed and produced on race day. 

ACTION 3: WE WILL ENCOURAGE THE DISPOSAL OF RUBBISH  

In collaboration with UNICEF, we are promoting a “Poo to the Loo” message to highlight the impact of faeces on the health and environment of our children. Rubbish bins will be placed along the racecourse every 250m. 

ACTION 4: WE WILL USE LESS PLASTIC,

This year we are using a lighter water bottle for participants to make it easier for recycling. Our goody bag is also made of a non-plastic material which can be reused for shopping by participants. 

ACTION 5: WE WILL USE LESS PAPER

We no longer use paper for registering participants. All registration has been done electronically. Participants also receive their race magazine electronically in place of printed magazines. 

We invite all our participants and stakeholders to join us in this campaign and to contribute positively to the sustainability of our environment.  

#GoGreen

Registration for the 2022 PlayMatters Children’s Race is now open. Register at Great Ethiopian Run Office