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Learning
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child identifies education as a fundamental right. Society has already made great strides toward universal education; 90 million children who had never previously attended school were enrolled in the 1990s. Yet 120 to 125 million children-one in five children worldwide-are still not enrolled in primary school, and a greater number do not yet have the opportunity to attend secondary school.
Even in countries that have adopted compulsory primary-school laws or "education for all" campaigns, such as Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, millions of children need greater access to quality schooling. Many children living in conflict and war zones or areas hit by natural disasters have no schools to attend.
For millions of children in poor developing countries, the choice becomes: Work and eat, or study and starve. Some of the most innovative and effective programs are nonformal, providing education outside formal government-sponsored systems. These programs teach a wide range of skills and knowledge, ranging from basic literacy and numeracy to health, rights awareness, artistic expression, and cultural exploration.
In fall 2006, we awarded $488,500 to 38 grantee partners that adapt to the circumstances in which local children live, and bring educational opportunities to children who could not otherwise access them.
Achlal (Caring Kindness): Child Development Center
$11,000/12,837,000 Mongolia tugriks*
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Director: Davaanyamyn Azzayaa
azzaya9@yahoo.com
Achlal provides community-based support for poor and disabled children and their families living in Bayankhoshuu, one of the poorest slums of Ulaanbaatar. Our grant supports Achlal's school for dropout children, which provides four grades of education to students aged 9 to 20 who were never enrolled in school or were forced to drop out due to disability, illness, or family poverty.
Previous funding: $17,000 since 2004
Agayasta International Foundation
$14,000/642,180 India rupees
Chittoor district, India
Chairman: Rama P. Raghavan
agastya@vsnl.com; www.agastya.org
Agastya aims to make education creative, practical, and responsive to students’ needs by operating mobile science labs, science fairs, teacher training, and communications and information technology programs. Our grant supports the development of new teaching materials as well as one Agastya mobile lab, which carries over 150 low-cost science experiments, specially designed by experts and scientists, that provide children and teachers with opportunities to learn in an interactive hands-on environment.
Previous funding: $16,000 since 2004
Ark Foundation of Africa (AFA)
$18,000/23,184,000 Tanzania shillings
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Executive director: Rhoi Wangila
info@arkafrica.org; www.arkafrica.org
AFA is dedicated to enhancing the well-being of children and families
in East Africa whose lives have been devastated by war, poverty, and
HIV/AIDS. GFC’s grant supports the programs of AFA’s One
Stop Center, which provides cost-free secondary schooling to impoverished
children who wish to continue their education but have been forced to
drop out due to poverty.
Previous funding: $43,000 since 2002
Asanble Vwazen Jakè (AVJ)
(Jakè Neighborhood Association)
$7,000/266,420 Haiti gourdes
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Coordinator: Reagan Lolo
asanblevwazenjake@yahoo.fr
AVJ is a grassroots community association that provides formal education and promotes civic participation among children and youth in the very poor Jakè neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. Our grant supports AVJ's primary school, which began in January 2006 and is already serving over 100 children who previously were not attending school for lack of money to cover tuition and other costs.
Asociación Civil Pro Niño Íntimo: Escuelas Deporte
y Vida
(Pro-Child Civil Association: Sports and Life Schools)
$17,000/55,250 Peru nuevos soles
Lima, Peru
Executive director: José Luis Quiroga Becerra
sdiestro@yahoo.com
Deporte y Vida provides the rare opportunity for young people living
in the slum of Villa El Salvador to play soccer, volleyball, and other
sports in order to promote their participation and success in the organization’s
educational and life skills training programs. GFC’s grant supports
Deporte y Vida’s school located in the neighborhood of Jardines
de Pachamac.
Previous funding: $41,000 since 2002
Asociación de Defensa de la Vida (ADEVI)
(Association for the Defense of Life)
$16,000/52,000 Peru nuevos soles
Huachipa, Peru
Executive director: Ezequiel Robles Hurtado
adevi@terra.com.pe; www.geocities.com/adeviperu
ADEVI works to eradicate child labor in the brick-making kilns of Huachipa by providing nonformal schooling, preventive health education, skills training, microenterprise development, and Andean cultural awareness programs. Our grant supports ADEVI’s community school program, which provides basic education to child laborers with the eventual aim of reintegrating them into public schools.
Previous funding: $40,000 since 2002
Asociación Mujer y Comunidad (Women and Community Association)
$13,500/238,410 Nicaragua córdobas
San Francisco Libre, Nicaragua
Executive director: Zoraida Sosa
myc@ibw.com.ni
Mujer y Comunidad promotes the health, education, and safety of women
and girls in rural Nicaragua and is the only organization in San Francisco
Libre providing scholarships for children to attend formal schools.
GFC’s grant supports primary- and secondary-school scholarships
for girls, as well as the purchase of schoolbooks and materials for
scholarship students.
Previous funding: $27,500 since 2003
Asociación para los Derechos de la Niñez "Monseñor Oscar Romero" (Los Romeritos) (Monsignor Oscar Romero Association for Children's Rights)
$13,000/98,670 Guatemala quetzales
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Executive director: Elisa Esperanza Marroquín Aroche
romeritos@intelnett.com
Los Romeritos works with the children of sex workers, street vendors, and underemployed single mothers to prevent second-generation prostitution by providing basic academic and health education, life skills training, arts and recreation programs, and other supportive services. Our grant supports the Educational Opportunities Program, which supplements the formal education of these children, aids their social integration, and serves as a preventive measure to keep them in school.
Previous funding: $23,000 since 2003
Asociación Poder Joven (Youth Power Association)
$12,000/28,824,000 Colombia pesos
Medellín, Colombia
Executive director: Clared Patricia Jaramillo
poderjoven@epm.net.co; www.poderjoven.org
Poder Joven offers educational opportunities that promote life skills,
critical thinking, and personal responsibility, with the aim of preventing
children living in the impoverished, violent, and crime-ridden neighborhood
of Guayaquil from abandoning their homes for the streets. GFC’s
grant supports Poder Joven’s Seeds of the Future project, which
provides school-going children with courses on tolerance, avoiding drug
use, and sexuality, as well as intensive academic support.
Previous funding: $14,000 since 2004
Asociata Ovidiu Rom
$19,000/47,090 Romania new lei
Bacau, Romania
Director: Maria Gheorghiu
office@ovid.ro; www.ovid.ro
Ovidiu Rom provides work for impoverished Roma women and access to education for their children and works closely with the Romanian government to provide critical social services. Our grant supports the expansion of the Every Child in School Campaign, which is helping Ovidiu Rom transition from a service provider to a policy-driven organization ensuring every child’s fundamental right to education.
Previous funding: $17,000 since 2003
Association for Community Development Services (ACDS)
$17,000/779,790 India rupees
Kanchipuram, India
Director: D. Devanbu
acdsanbu@yahoo.com; www.acds.india.org
ACDS seeks to end child labor in the stone quarries of the Kanchipuram district and to give the children of quarry workers access to free, high-quality education and healthcare. Our grant supports ACDS's comprehensive education program, which includes quarry-based resource centers, preschools and daycare centers, mobile classrooms for working children, and bridge schools to reintegrate dropout children into formal schools.
Previous funding: $57,000 since 2003
Backward Society Education (BASE)
$10,000/736,500 Nepal rupees
Kailali district, Nepal
Director: Churna Bahadur Chaudhary
basedang@mail.com.np; www.basenepal.org.np
BASE provides education, healthcare, income generation assistance, legal rights awareness, and other services to former bonded laborers in Nepal, particularly to members of the ethnic Tharu community and to women. Our grant supports the expansion of educational and child labor eradication programs to working children in the isolated Kailali district.
Previous funding: $8,000 since 2005
Centro Cultural Batahola Norte (CCBN) (Cultural Center of Batahola Norte)
$11,000/194,260 Nicaragua córdobas
Managua, Nicaragua
Director: Jennifer F. Marshall
batahola@ibw.com.ni; www.friendsofbatahola.org
CCBN offers 20 courses in basic education and domestic and technical skills to more than 500 women and children annually. Our grant supports 60 CCBN student scholarships as well as a library project, which includes tutoring, study circles, and health workshops for over 200 students.
Previous funding: $8,000 since 2005
Centro de Estudios y Apoyo para el Desarrollo Local (CEADEL)
(Center for Study and Support for Local Development)
$15,000/113,850 Guatemala quetzales
Chimaltenango, Guatemala
Executive director: José Gabriel Zelada Ortiz
ceadel@intelnet.net.gt
CEADEL works to eliminate the use of child laborers and to improve conditions for young people who work in Guatemala’s agribusiness industry. Our grant supports CEADEL’s Primary and Secondary School Scholarship Program, which pays for school fees, uniforms, and school supplies for girls who are working in or at risk of entering the agribusiness industry and provides workshops on labor rights, reproductive health, and gender issues for participants, their parents, and the community.
Previous funding: $25,000 since 2003
Community Development Center (CDC)
$15,000/3,177,900 SDD Sudan dinars
Khartoum, Sudan
Director: Michael James Wanh
michaelwanh@yahoo.co.uk
CDC’s Abu-Adam Remedial Education Project conducts a one-year
academic term reaching more than 150 children, including school dropouts,
students of nontraditional age, children excluded from government-run
schooling because of ethnicity or religion, and other vulnerable children.
GFC’s grant is for general support of the Abu-Adam Remedial Education
Project.
Previous funding: $18,000 since 2004
Ethiopian Books for Children and Educational Foundation (EBCEF)
$14,000/122,360 Ethiopia birr
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Director: Gebregeorgis Yohannes
ebcef@ethionet.et; www.ethiopiareads.org
EBCEF aims to improve the reading skills of Ethiopia's undereducated children by establishing libraries in low-income neighborhoods, donating high-quality children's books to community organizations, coordinating public-awareness campaigns surrounding the importance of reading, and maintaining a mobile tent library. Our grant supports EBCEF's free children's library and reading center, which offers 15,000 children's and young-adult books in the English, Amharic, Tigrinya, and Oromifa languages and organizes activities such as traditional storytelling and art classes.
Previous funding: $16,000 since 2003
Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop
$10,000
Washington, DC, United States
Executive director: Kelli Taylor
mail@freemindsbookclub.org; www.freemindsbookclub.org
Free Minds introduces young male inmates at the DC county jail to the transformative power of books and creative writing by mentoring them and by connecting them to supportive services throughout their incarceration and into reentry. Our grant supports Free Minds’ education and reentry programs, which inspire youth to see their potential and to achieve new educational and career goals.
Fundación Alfonso Casas Morales para la Promoción Humana (Alfonso Casas Morales Foundation for Human Advancement)
$6,000/14,412,000 Colombia pesos
Bogotá, Colombia
Executive director: Pablo Henao Mejía
direccion@promocionhumana.org; www.promocionhumana.org
Fundación Alfonso Casas Morales para la Promoción Humana helps children in the Usaquén neighborhood of Bogotá to succeed in school via an accelerated learning program for primary-school children behind grade level, a tutoring program for primary-school children at risk of failing or dropping out, a free cafeteria, a computer center, and a community library. Our grant supports the foundation's accelerated learning program and its after-school tutoring program.
Fundación Junto con los Niños (JUCONI) (Together with Children Foundation)
$12,000
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Executive director: Sylvia Reyes
sreyes@juconi.org.ec; www.juconi.org.ec
JUCONI serves children who work unsupervised on the city streets from as young as 4 years old and often for very long hours. Our grant supports JUCONI's education program, which reintegrates child laborers into formal schools by helping them reduce their daily working time, providing them with a basic education and analytical thinking skills, and assisting teachers in creating the school conditions necessary to maintain the enrollment of working children.
Previous
funding: $15,500 since 2004
Halley Movement
$14,000/458,780 Mauritius rupees
Batimarais, Mauritius
Secretary-general: Mahendranath Busgopaul
halley@intnet.mu; www.halleymovement.org
The Halley Movement offers a variety of educational, counseling, and
supportive services to help the children of Mauritius stay in or return
to the formal school system and keep pace with the demands of a rapidly
industrializing society. GFC's grant supports the Halley Movement's
Basic Education to Adolescents program, which offers youth who have
failed the primary-school graduation exam a career-focused nonformal
education curriculum, including interpersonal communications, applied
mathematics, resource management, and vocational training.
Previous funding: $29,000 since 2003
Instituto para la Superación de la Miseria Urbana (ISMU)
(Institute for Overcoming Urban Poverty)
$17,000/129,030 Guatemala quetzales
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Executive director: María Elvira Sánchez Toscano
ismugua@explonet.com
ISMU is a coalition of community-based organizations united to address dismal conditions in 22 of Guatemala City's worst slums. Our grant supports eight ISMU Learning Corners, which are community-based childcare centers for poor working families, run by community members trained to promote physical and mental stimulation, socialization, and psychomotor skills for children aged 1 to 7.
Previous funding: $30,500 since 2003
Kamitei Foundation
$16,000/20,608,000 Tanzania shillings
Esilalei, Kilimatembo, and Gongali communities, Tanzania
Director: Jeroen Harderwijk
info@kamitei.org; www.kamitei.org
The Kamitei Foundation's Community Education Improvement Program works closely with small rural communities in western Tanzania to improve education by investing in facilities and teaching materials at the primary level and by providing scholarships for selected students to pursue post-primary vocational education. Our grant is for general support of this program.
Previous funding: $28,000 since 2003
Kindle
$7,000/966,910 Malawi kwachas
Salima district, Malawi
Executive director: Andrew Barr
kindle@malawi.net;
www.kindleorphanoutreach.org
Kindle offers comprehensive educational, counseling, healthcare, and spiritual support services to empower orphaned and vulnerable children in the Salima district. Our grant supports the expansion of Kindle's secondary-school education program into the primary and skills training levels.
Kitemu Integrated School
$16,000/29,520,000 Uganda shillings
Kampala, Uganda
Executive director: Sserwanga M. Stephen
kintsch@mail.com
Kitemu Integrated School is dedicated to providing quality education and enhanced life opportunities to children with special needs, orphans, and low-income students living in the shantytowns on the outskirts of Kampala. Our grant supports Kitemu's programs targeting children with disabilities.
Previous funding: $42,000 since 1999
Mahita (Regeneration)
$7,000/321,090 India rupee
Hyderabad, India
Executive director: Ramesh Sekhar Reddy
hyd1_mahita@sancharnet.in; www.mahita.org
Focusing on vulnerable and marginalized children in the slums, and working in particular with girls and Muslim communities, Mahita creates opportunities through education, income generation programs, and skills training. Our grant supports the adolescent girls' program, which provides girls in slum areas with nonformal education, skills training, and group discussions in community learning centers.
Mumbai Mobile Crèches
$8,000/366,960 India rupees
Mumbai, India
Chief executive: Devika Mahadevan
mcreches@vsnl.net; www.mobilecreches.org
To ensure that the children of migrant and mobile construction workers are protected from the dangers of construction sites, Mumbai Mobile Crèches sets up mobile daycare centers at construction sites, providing a supervised place for children to learn and play while their parents work. Our grant supports the mobile daycare centers, which offer education, play, and meals as well as health education and medical care.
Nehemiah AIDS Relief Project
$10,000/2,494,600 Zimbabwe dollars
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Director: David Green
nehemiah@netconnect.co.zw
Nehemiah is a faith-based nongovernmental organization that facilitates the church and community response to HIV/AIDS, providing a variety of educational, material, and social support services to 200 child beneficiaries annually. Our grant supports Nehemiah's work with the children of sex workers.
Previous funding: $6,000 since 2005
Prayas (To Wish)
$17,000/779,790 India rupees
Jaipur, India
Executive director: Jatinder Arora
prayasjpr@hotmail.com; www.prayasindia.org
Prayas pioneered and operates one of the first integrated nonformal schools in India for special-needs, low-income, and neglected children. Our grant provides general support for the integrated schools serving mentally and physically disabled children.
Previous funding: $45,000 since 2001
Prerana (Inspiration)
$19,000/871,530 India rupees
Mumbai, India
Executive director: Priti Pravin Patkar
preranaatc@gmail.com
Prerana operates a range of educational activities, anti-trafficking initiatives, and support programs in order to protect the human rights of sexually exploited women and their children. Our grant supports Prerana's educational services for the children of sex workers, including a night-care center that provides them with basic education, nourishment, baths, recreation, regular medical checkups, counseling, and a safe place to sleep.
Previous funding: $59,000 since 2001
Puririsun (Let's Journey Together)
$8,000/63,920 Bolivia bolivianos
La Paz, Bolivia
Executive director: Juan José Obando
puririsun.bolivia@samerica.com
Initially founded in Cusco, Peru, and recently established as a sister organization in Bolivia, Puririsun provides educational support, enterprise training, health education, nutrition, and a variety of life skills workshops to poor children and youth living in La Paz. Our grant supports Puririsun's early childhood development program, which focuses on stimulation of physical, intellectual, and emotional development.
Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha
(Village Self-Reliance)
$18,000/1,196,100 Bangladesh taka
Pabna district, Bangladesh
Executive director: A. H. M. Rezwan
shidhulai@gmail.com; www.shidhulai.org
Shidhulai is focused on the improvement of isolated rural communities in Bangladesh, with an emphasis on bringing environmental training, human rights awareness, and basic education to children, especially girls, who would otherwise be unable to attend school. Our grant supports the mobile boat school program, which uses a solar-powered boat to provide basic academics, Internet access, health awareness, human and gender rights training, and library services to children living in remote villages.
Previous funding: $34,000 since 2003
Shilpa Children’s Trust (SCT)
$8,000/819,200 Sri Lanka rupees
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Executive director: Nita Gunesekera
shilpatr@sltnet.lk; www.shilpa.org
SCT, inspired by the Montessori method, runs a quality preschool and provides extracurricular activities for internally displaced and underserved children living in Narahenpita, one of Colombo's poorest slums, who cannot attend formal schools due to poverty, the need to work, or unsatisfactory preschool options. Our grant is for general support of SCT's free preschool.
Previous funding: $76,500 since 2002
Sociedad Dominico-Haitiana de Apoyo Integral para el Desarrollo y
la Salud (SODHAIDESA)
(Dominican-Haitian Society of Integrated Assistance for Health and Development)
$11,000/363,550 Dominican Republic pesos
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Executive director: Franz Compere
sodhaidesa_org@yahoo.es
SODHAIDESA works to improve the living conditions for immigrant Haitians and their descendants living in the Dominican Republic by focusing on the community's health and educational needs, especially those of children. Our grant supports the Right to a Name and Nationality program, which is SODHAIDESA's campaign for the legal recognition of the Dominican nationality of Dominican-born Haitian children, recognition that will allow these children to attend school.
Previous funding: $6,000 since 2005
Tanadgoma (Assistance): Library and Cultural Center for People with Disabilities
$13,000/22,620 Georgia lari
Tbilisi, Georgia
Chairman: Nana Alexidze
acacia@ip.osgf.ge
Tanadgoma promotes integrative and inclusive education for children with disabilities by providing them with basic educational and extracurricular activity programs; facilitating their transition into the mainstream school system; and training teachers, parents, and government officials on issues such as inclusive education, proper care for those with disabilities, and legal and policy matters related to disability. Our grant supports educational programs and workplace training for disabled youth aged 14 to 17.
Previous funding: $15,000 since 2004
Tbilisi Youth House Foundation (TYHF)
$17,000/29,580 Georgia lari
Tbilisi, Georgia
Director: Nana Doliashvili
ndoliashvili@gol.ge; www.tyhfoundation.gol.ge
TYHF provides a variety of programs that help internally displaced children stay in or return to school, attend nonformal classes, and practice volunteerism. Our grant supports the New Opportunities through Active Learning program, which complements the formal schools by offering academic tutorials, ongoing counseling, and extracurricular activities to children who are at increased risk of dropping out of school.
Previous funding: $26,000 since 2003
Vikasini Girl Child Education Trust
$6,000/275,220 India rupees
Secunderabad, India
Honorary secretary: Indira Jena
vikasini2006@yahoo.com; www.vikasini.org
Vikasini operates a school to provide educational opportunities to girls living in the impoverished Addugutta slum. Our grant supports the Vikasini Girls School, which offers government-accredited classes and extracurricular activities to girls aged 4 to 12.
Vikramshila Education Resource Society
$13,000/596,310 India rupees
Bigha, India
Executive director: Shubhra Chatterji
Vikramshila@vikramshila.org; www.vikramshila.org
Vikramshila establishes model education programs and trains government-school teachers in its effort to make quality education accessible to marginalized sectors of Indian society, and thus to lessen the disparity of educational standards between the wealthy and the poor. Our grant supports the community education model program in the rural village of Bigha.
Previous funding: $39,000 since 2002
Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment (WEAVE)
$13,000/486,850 Thailand baht
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Director: Maria Mitos Urgel
weave@weave-women.org; www.weave-women.org
WEAVE works to ensure that displaced Burmese women and children living in Thailand possess sufficient education levels for them to participate fully in and influence the future development of their communities. Our grant is for general support of WEAVE's child development project, which facilitates community-based preschools that assist children aged 2 to 6 in building proper school habits.
Previous funding: $9,000 since 2005
Enterprise
Young people in developing countries tend to have low levels of education, few opportunities for employment in the formal economy, and little hope of escaping from extreme poverty. The youth unemployment rate is two to three times that of adults, and youth who are actively engaged in the informal sector are generally underemployed, underpaid, and economically vulnerable. Lack of economic opportunity for young people has adverse effects not only at the individual level but also for society as a whole, in the form of violence, crime, and social instability.
While opposing hazardous and exploitative child labor as a violation of children’s basic rights, we support work experience that aids in adolescents’ development as future leaders, entrepreneurs, producers, caregivers, and agents of social change. We recognize that entry into the world of enterprise at a relatively early age is often an economic necessity but we feel children's work should be balanced by learning and recreation.
The Global Fund for Children awarded $167,000 in fall 2006 to 16 grantee partners whose programs turn work into an opportunity to exercise leadership and initiative, gain skills and experience, develop positive attitudes and values, and accumulate personal savings, and ultimately prepare participants to become responsible, enterprising members of their communities.
Ação Forte (Strong Action)
$6,000/13,140 Brazil reais
Campinas, Brazil
Executive director: Lia Ferreira
acaoforte@ig.com.br
Ação Forte helps young people between the ages of 12 and 17 from the low-income neighborhoods of Vila Boa Vista and Vila Parque Norte to complete their formal education and to transition successfully into the work world. Our grant supports Ação Forte’s Young Entrepreneurs Program, which focuses on skills that have concrete value in the labor market, such as business management, entrepreneurship, information technology, and English, as well as values such as personal responsibility and active citizenship.
Alliance for Children and Youth: 16+ Center
$9,000/12,320 Bulgaria leva
Sofia, Bulgaria
President: Mariana Pisarska
children_youth@abv.bg; www.acybg.org
Recognized as one of the authorities in Bulgaria on vulnerable children’s issues, the 16+ Center offers comprehensive services, including healthcare, counseling, and educational and vocational training, to vulnerable, marginalized, unemployed, and homeless youth, 95 percent of whom are of Roma descent. Our grant supports the 16+ Center’s vocational training program in the capital city of Sofia.
Dhriiti (The Courage Within)
$5,000/229,350 India rupees
New Delhi, India
Director: Anirban Gupta
info@dhriiti.org; www.dhriiti.org
Through a multipronged approach to developing entrepreneurship in India, Dhriiti focuses on the individual as well as on creating support mechanisms that enable microenterprises to flourish, reaching out to children and youth in school and to non-school-going children. Our grant supports the Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow program, which offers a tailored curriculum to promote innovation and entrepreneurship to children and youth in government schools.
Foundation for Development of Needy Communities (FDNC)
$17,000/31,365,000 Uganda shillings
Mbale, Uganda
Executive director: Samuel W. Watulatsu
info@fdncuganda.org; www.fdncuganda.org
FDNC provides youth development programs, counseling for street children, girl advancement programs, farming programs, and very uniquely, a brass band to encourage children to develop their creative talents. Our grant supports the vocational skills training program, which includes computer skills, tailoring, carpentry, and masonry, with special attention to the participation and retention of girls.
Previous funding: $52,000 since 2001
Fundación La Paz: Centro de Capacitación Técnica Sarenteñani (La Paz Foundation: Sarantañani Technical Training Center)
$15,000/119,850 Bolivia bolivianos
La Paz, Bolivia
Executive director: Jorge Domic Ruiz
flpsocioeduca@redcotel.bo
The Sarantañani Technical Training Center provides certified training in leather production, auto mechanics, carpentry, computer operation, metalworking, and textile design to underprivileged youth. Our grant is for general support.
Previous funding: $39,000 since 2002
Going to School (GTS)
$15,000/688,050 India rupees
New Delhi, India
Director: Lisa Heydlauff
lisa@goingtoschool.com; www.goingtoschool.com
GTS is a multimedia project for children that celebrates every child’s right to go to school and participate in an inspiring education that is relevant to his or her life. Our grant supports the BE! program, an innovative project that uses storybooks, radio, and film to inspire leadership and social entrepreneurship in underprivileged children in India.
Previous funding: $33,500 since 2004
Horn Relief
$16,000/21,920,000 Somalia shillings
Sanaag region, Somalia
Executive director: Fatima Jibrell
dali@hornrelief.org; www.hornrelief.org
Horn Relief is working to build an indigenous movement for peace and sustainable development through educating and training young people in leadership skills that value democratic governance, human rights, social justice, and protection of the environment. Our grant supports Horn Relief’s Pastoral Youth Leadership Outreach Program, which focuses on responsible community leadership, social peace and justice, holistic natural-resource management, veterinary science, and health and well-being.
Previous funding: $33,000 since 2002
Karm Marg (Progress through Work)
$9,000/412,830 India rupees
Faridabad, India
Director: Veena Lal
info@karmmarg.com; www.karmmarg.org
Karm Marg facilitates a home for former street children—with unique architectural adaptations that make it a model for child-friendly institutions—where boys and girls live and learn to cook, work or study, play, and take responsibility for their own daily lives. Our grant supports vocational training activities at the children’s home and in the surrounding village.
Previous funding: $6,000 since 2005
Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND)
$7,000/896,280 Nigeria nairas
Lagos, Nigeria
Executive director: Hafsat Abiola-Costello
kindnigeria@yahoo.com; www.kind.org
Through its Kudra leadership training program, which prepares young women in university for careers in public service, KIND ensures that women have an active role in building Nigeria's budding democracy. Our grant supports the development of a leadership training program for adolescent girls that will address entrepreneurship and financial management skills, sexuality and reproductive heath rights, and career planning.
Love in Action (LIA)
$6,000/52,440 Ethiopia birr
Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State, Ethiopia
Executive director: Yohannes Amado
lia_ethiopia@yahoo.com
Love in Action works to bring about sustainable change in the Hadiya region of Ethiopia through a comprehensive community development model that focuses on education, entrepreneurship, and health. Our grant is supporting LIA's launch of an entrepreneurial program for 50 girls between the ages of 12 and 21 that provides microenterprise and education training specific to culturally relevant products like ceramics and embroidery.
Mujejego-Loka (Dawn Light)
Women Development Organization (MLWDO)
$7,000/61,180 Ethiopia birr
Beninshangul-Gumuz, Ethiopia
Executive director: Tirhas Mezgebe
Mujejego-Loka Women Development Organization aims to empower the Gumuz people and to end the marginalization of women and children by providing nonformal education programs and training sessions on gender equality, HIV/AIDS prevention, and effective farming and marketing techniques for agricultural goods. Our grant supports the enterprise training program for young mothers, which includes a community health education component.
Pravah
(Flow)
$6,000/275,220 India rupees
New Delhi, India
Chief executive: Meenu Venkateswaran
mail@pravah.org; www.younginfluencers.com
Started by youth, Pravah encourages young people to become social entrepreneurs and change makers in order to bring about positive change in society. Our grant supports the Change Looms program, an innovative new initiative that recognizes and awards young social entrepreneurs and supports them in their endeavors toward social change.
Rural Family Support Organization (RuFamSO)
$11,000/725,560 Jamaica dollars
May Pen, Jamaica
Executive director: Utealia Burrel
dashra4@hotmail.com
RuFamSO offers guidance, educational support, life skills training, and workshops on nutrition and personal health to adolescents in Jamaica's rural communities. Our grant supports RuFamSO's vocational training program for adolescent parents, which combines basic literacy classes, parenting skills workshops, and vocational training in commercial food preparation, garment making, and masonry.
Previous funding: $15,000 since 2004
Sam-Kam Institute (SKI)
$16,000/46,800,000 Sierra Leone leones
Kalaba Town, Sierra Leone
President: Peter Samura
asamkam@yahoo.com
SKI, one of the few indigenous nongovernmental organizations in Sierra Leone, offers war victims and ex-combatants skills training courses to provide career alternatives. Our grant provides general support to SKI's People Developing Vocational Skills program.
Previous funding: $30,000 since 2003
Sanghamitra Service Society
(Friends of Society)
$15,000/688,050 India rupees
Vijayawada, India
Director: Sivaji
sanmitra@nettlinx.com
Sanghamitra works in more than 100 rural villages to help the most marginalized members of Indian society, generally members of the lowest caste and women, improve their well-being through increased skills and greater social awareness. Our grant supports the creation of a community-based organization, to be run by village youth, that will provide education, peer training, health education, and counseling to children and youth in five villages.
Previous funding: $71,000 since 2003
Warma Tarinakuy (Assembly of the Children)
$7,000/22,750 Peru nuevos soles
Cusco, Peru
Executive director: Ana Salas Vivanco
warmatarinakuy@hotmail.com
Warma Tarinakuy is a self-empowerment initiative managed largely by 100 adolescent boys who work in the local wholesale produce market. Our grant is for general support of Warma, whose four youth-led commissions focus on achieving safe and fair working conditions, increasing access to education and educational support, improving health, and ensuring adequate nutrition.
Safety
In the 2002 Montreal Declaration on the People's Right to Safety, safety is defined as "a state in which hazards and conditions leading to physical, psychological or material harm are controlled in order to preserve the health and well being of individuals and the community." Threats to the safety of the world's most vulnerable children are pervasive and take various forms.
Worldwide, approximately 1.2 million children are trafficked each year; most of them are trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation. As many as 2 million children are sexually exploited around the world annually.
According to the latest statistics, 218 million young people—one in every seven children aged 5 to 17—are engaged part-time or full-time in work that falls under international definitions of child labor. More than half of these children work in the hazardous and harmful jobs classified as the worst forms of child labor.
Such threats to safety affect children, especially those in economically distressed circumstances, more graphically than any other segment of the population. Those consigned to live on the streets are easy targets for violence and abuse. And in poor rural areas, parents lured by promises of reliable income “sell” their children to traffickers promising jobs that would yield remittances home.
In fall 2006, we awarded $142,000 to 15 grantee partners that work to protect vulnerable children and youth from these threats to their safety.
Ankuram (Sprout) Woman and Child Development Society
$6,000/275,220 India rupees
Hyderabad, India
Executive director: M. Sumitra
ankuram@yahoo.com
Using a rights-based approach, Ankuram creates a safe and empowering space for women and children to strengthen their knowledge base, skills, and capacity through education, shelter, and livelihood opportunities. Our grant supports Sankalpam, a home for girls who were victims of trafficking, sexual exploitation, gender-based violence, or child marriages.
Asociatia pentru Libertatea si Egalitatea de Gen (ALEG) (Association for Liberty and Gender Equality)
$7,000/19,390 Romania new lei
Sibiu, Romania
Executive director: Camelia Blaga
aleg_romania@yahoo.com; www.alegromania.tk
ALEG promotes gender equality and fights gender-based violence and discrimination in Romania through inclusive, empowering, and supportive programs for young people. Our grant supports ALEG's new project to educate girls in rural areas about trafficking and gender-based violence through regular informational and therapeutic sessions.
Association des Jeunes pour le Developpement Integré–Kakundu
(AJEDI-Ka)
(Youth Association for Integrated Development–Kakundu)
$12,000/4,752,000 DRC francs
Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
Director: Bukeni Tete Waruzi Beck
ajedikainfo@yahoo.com
Since its creation, AJEDI–Ka has demobilized more than three hundred
child soldiers, reintegrated fifty-two former child soldiers into school,
and produced two videos on child soldiers in the DRC for national and
international advocacy. GFC’s grant supports the Child Soldiers
Project, which includes a thirty-day transitional shelter for demobilized
child soldiers as they prepare to reenter civil society and follow-up
social and material support once they are reintegrated into the community.
Previous funding: $7,000 since 2005
Association du Foyer de l’Enfant Libanais (AFEL)
(Lebanese Child Home Association)
$11,000/15,080,000 Lebanon pounds
Beirut, Lebanon
President: Simone Warde
afel@dm.net.lb; www.afelonline.org
AFEL serves orphaned children and broken families through a combination
of literacy classes, youth clubs, summer camps, workshops, and a public-education
program aimed at strengthening family ties. GFC’s grant supports
AFEL’s Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Program, which targets
children—more than half of whom are boys—who are at risk
of resorting to criminal activities or being exploited on the streets,
and helps them learn the skills necessary to resume formal schooling
and stabilize their personal lives.
Previous funding: $17,500 since 2004
Association of People for Practical Life Education (APPLE)
$7,000/64,204,000 Ghana cedis
Accra, Ghana
Executive director: Jack James Dawson
applegh21@yahoo.com
Apple offers community outreach, health, and education programs designed to end child labor in fishing villages in Ghana's Lake Volta region. Our grant supports APPLE's comprehensive social integration program to prevent child trafficking and protect children who have been reintegrated into their communities.
Centar za Integraciju Mladih (CIM)
(Center for Youth Integration)
$7,000/447,580 Serbia dinars
Belgrade, Serbia
Executive director: Milica Djordjevic
cim@verat.net; www.cim.org.yu
CIM works to empower and fully integrate orphans and street children into their communities by building long-term relationships between staff and beneficiaries. Our grant supports CIM's outreach and intervention work, which provides shelter, medical care, and advocacy within the juvenile delinquent system for children and youth living on the streets.
Centro Interdisciplinario para el Desarrollo Social (CIDES) (Interdisciplinary Center for Social Development)
$12,000/131,880 Mexico pesos
Mexico City, Mexico
Executive director: Carlos Avila Romero
cidesiap@mx.inter.net
CIDES supports indigenous children in Mexico City through community mobilization and social intervention programs. Our grant supports CIDES's project on domestic violence, which conducts discussion groups for children and youth, trains adolescents to become educators, works to strengthen school attendance, and offers skills training.
Previous funding: $9,000 since 2005
Instituto para el Desarrollo de la Mujer y la Infancia (IDEMI) (Institute for the Development of Women and Children)
$6,000
Panama City, Panama
Executive director: Bertha Vargas
idemipanama@hotmail.com; www.idemipanama.org
IDEMI works with vulnerable children and youth in Panama, supplementing formal education and raising awareness on child labor, preventive healthcare, gender equity, and civic participation. Our grant supports IDEMI's program of safety, education, and life skills support for girls working in domestic servant situations.
Jabala Action Research Organisation
$11,000/504,570 India rupees
Kolkata, India
Director: Baitali Ganguly
jabala@vsnl.net; www.jabala.org
Jabala helps children in the red-light districts of Kolkata and surrounding
areas better integrate into mainstream society by providing education
and rights awareness programs that facilitate formal-school enrollment
and retention and offer creative activities to help children cope with
situations of abuse and resist sexual exploitation and trafficking.
GFC’s grant supports education and rights awareness programs in
the Bowbazar and Barrackpur slums.
Previous funding: $8,000 since 2005
Luna Nueva
(New Moon)
$16,000/85,646,400 Paraguay guaranies
Asunción, Paraguay
Executive director: Laia Concernau
lunanue@supernet.com.py
Luna Nueva works to eradicate violence against women and children by developing and implementing programs in education, healthcare, self esteem, human rights awareness, and violence prevention. Our grant supports Luna Nueva's outreach and education programs, which each year reach approximately 250 girls living in exploitative situations on the streets.
Previous funding: $43,000 since 2002
Oram (Hope) NGO
$11,000/12,837,000 Mongolia tugriks
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Executive director: Ken Howard
oram@magicnet.mn
Oram's original work with boys in the federal prison system has expanded to include a shelter for homeless children, community and livelihood programs for herders, and training for local government officials. Our grant supports the Amgalan Children's Center, a residential home that serves homeless and at-risk children, providing them with literacy and employment opportunities.
Previous funding: $23,000 since 2003
Prei Effort for Those Who Are in Need (PEFAN)
$6,500/56,810 Ethiopia birr
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Executive director: Fisseha Tadesse
pefan@pefan.org; www.pefan.org
PEFAN works to keep children off the streets through holistic services that include access to education and healthcare, mentorships, and training in the performing arts. Our grant is for general support and is helping PEFAN strengthen its institutional presence.
Prisoners Assistance Program (PAP)
$10,000/490,000 Liberia dollars
Monrovia, Liberia
Executive director: R. Jarwlee Tweh Geegbe
papliberia@yahoo.com; www.pap.kabissa.org
PAP is a Liberia-based nongovernmental organization that advocates against torture and for human rights and prison reform. Our grant supports the Youth Diversion Program, which works with judicial and law enforcement systems to divert first-time offenders from entering prison and to prepare juveniles in prison for adult male life by educating them about personal responsibility and decision making through sports, guided role-playing, and peer and mentor support.
Previous funding: $6,000 since 2005
Sociedad Amigos de los Niños (SAN)
(Friends of Children Society)
$13,500/254,880 Honduras lempiras
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Director: Sister Maria Rosa Leggol
saninoshn@yahoo.com; www.honduranchildren.com
SAN protects the rights of young domestic workers in Honduras and provides these girls and young women with other skills and alternative means of supporting themselves. Our grant supports SAN’s Reyes Irene Valenzuela Support Center, which provides technical training, literacy classes, labor and gender rights awareness, and nonformal elementary education to female domestic workers.
Previous funding: $25,500 since 2003
Yanapanakusun (Let's Help Each Other)
$6,000/19,500 Peru nuevos soles
Cusco, Peru
Coordinator: Vittoria Savio
caith@speedy.com.pe; www.yanapanakusun.org
Yanapanakusun helps girls working as domestic servants in Peru to reclaim their lives by providing temporary and longer-term shelter, formal education, healthcare, legal identification, and programs that reinforce their self-esteem, cultural identity, and understanding of their rights. Our grant supports a new program that helps each girl to develop a life plan, which includes evaluation of her strengths, interests, and abilities and her goals for personal and professional development.
Healthy Minds and Bodies
The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This definition is useful in understanding how we can help children not merely survive, but thrive.
Truly healthy children not only are free from physical disease and pain but also have an improved quality of life due to enhanced physical health, adequate emotional and economic support, environmentally sound surroundings, and access to educational, health, and social resources.
A child without these things is rarely ready to learn, let alone be an active and engaged member of family and community life. Indeed, even short bouts of ill health can stall or stunt a child's physical, emotional, and educational development.
In fall 2006, we awarded $141,000 to 14 grantee partners that improve and protect the physical and emotional health of vulnerable children, with a special focus on HIV/AIDS prevention, reproductive health, and psychosocial support.
Action pour la Promotion des Droits de l'Enfant au Burkina Faso
(APRODEB)
(Action for the Promotion of the Rights of the Burkinabe Child)
$14,000/7,219,520 CFA francs
Dori, Burkina Faso
Executive director: Goamwaoga Kabore
aprodebsahel@fasonet.bf
APRODEB provides working children and their families with skills training, literacy programs, and healthcare initiatives and assists young people in developing their own strategies to promote and protect children's rights. Our grant supports APRODEB's child-to-child program, which trains school-going youth to reach younger or out-of-school children with peer education on the importance of education, nutrition, and vaccination.
Previous funding: $19,000 since 2004
Amahoro Association
7,000/3,850,840 Rwanda francs
Kigali, Rwanda
Executive director: Kayitare Wayitare Dember
info@chabha.org; www.chabha.org
Amahoro Association provides home-based care and support to orphaned and vulnerable children in Rwanda through education programs, post-trauma counseling, skills workshops, and microenterprise training. Our grant is for general support and is helping Amahoro to strengthen its leadership and management structures.
Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women: Girls' Dreams
$15,000/86,100 Egypt pounds
Cairo, Egypt
Director: Iman Bibars
adew@adew.org.eg; www.adew.org
Girls' Dreams provides a safe haven for adolescent girls in Cairo's squatter communities to openly discuss their problems, fears, and questions regarding women's and children's rights, marriage, reproductive health, and domestic violence. Our grant is for general support of the Girls' Dreams program, offering basic nonformal education, training in the arts, health and hygiene training, and psychological counseling to underprivileged and abused girls.
Previous funding: $21,000 since 2004
Ba Futuru (For the Future)
$7,000
Dili, Timor-Leste
Executive director: Joana dos Santos Camoes
bafuturu@bafuturu.org; www.bafuturu.org
Ba Futuru works to create a positive future for children in orphanages through creative arts, using role-playing, trust exercises, art, and drama for the psychological and emotional rehabilitation of the children. Our grant supports the Transformative Arts and Human Rights Education program, which offers psychosocial workshops on conflict resolution for children in internally displaced persons camps in Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor).
Center for the Protection of Children's Rights Foundation (CPCR)
$15,000/561,750 Thailand baht
Bangkok, Thailand
Director: Sanphasit Koomphraphant
cpcrheadoffice@yahoo.com; www.thaichildrights.org
CPCR works to prevent and confront the physical abuse, sexual exploitation, and neglect of children throughout Southeast Asia and to reintegrate affected children into society. Our grant supports CPCR's Baan Raek Rub Assessment Center and other rehabilitation programs, which provide 24-hour emergency care and counseling to children and families who have been referred by organizations that monitor and investigate child sexual abuse cases.
Previous funding: $27,000 since 2003
Centro de Documentacão e Informacão: Coisa de Mulher (CEDOICOM)
(Center for Research and Information: Woman Thing)
$11,000/24,090 Brazil reais
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Executive director: Neusa das Dores Periera
cedoicom@terra.com.br; www.coisademulher.org.br
CEDOICOM provides education on reproductive health, commercial sexual exploitation, child labor, and HIV/AIDS for women and girls who face discrimination due to gender, race, or economic status. Our grant supports CEDOICOM's Girls Thinking the Future project, which offers basic education, courses in theater and dance, leadership-building activities, and an introduction to community volunteerism and activism to at-risk girls.
Previous funding: $14,000 since 2004
Fundación Simsa: Boquitas Sanas
(Simsa Foundation: Healthy Little Mouths)
$6,000/14,412,000 Colombia pesos
Bogotá, Colombia
Executive director: Lida Alarcón
fundacionsimsa@yahoo.com; www.boquitassanas.org
Founded by a dentist with help from several of her colleagues, Boquitas Sanas operates one-day mobile dental clinics in poor neighborhoods throughout Bogotá, providing dental treatment and dental health education. Our grant supports the expansion of the Boquitas Sanas clinics to more communities.
Ikamva Labantu
(The Future of Our Nation)
$19,000/141,550 South Africa rand
Cape Town, South Africa
Managing director: Sipho Puwani
info@ikamva.co.za; www.ikamva.com
Ikamva Labantu works in partnership with local residents to improve the quality of life in their communities by addressing a range of issues, including education, economic empowerment, and home-based care. Our grant supports the Boys/Men Kindness Project, a unique effort in which a team of researchers, educators, and specialists work with young boys and fathers to create positive male role models, engage men and boys in community development activities, and build strong bonds between boys and male mentors.
Previous funding: $39,000 since 2003
Nia Foundation
$6,000/52,440 Ethiopia birr
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Executive director: Zemzem Yenus
joy4autism@yahoo.com
The Joy Center, a project of Nia Foundation, provides comprehensive services, including education, psychosocial care, physical therapy, and advocacy, for children with autism and related mental health issues. Our grant supports the Joy Center's technology-based social integration program.
Nyaka School
$10,000/18,450,000 Uganda shillings
Nyakagyeza, Uganda
Director: Twesigye "Jackson" Kaguri
stsad@hotmail.com; www.nyakaschool.org
Nyaka School was founded in 2001 to provide free, high-quality education and extracurricular activities, both formal and informal, to children who have been orphaned due to AIDS, as a means to combat pervasive hunger, poverty, and systemic deprivation. Our grant supports the nutrition and community gardens program, which ensures that students get a hot, nutritious meal daily from produce harvested in the school gardens, which are tended by students and community members, and that local families receive seeds for sustainable gardening.
Previous funding: $7,000 since 2005
Ruili Women and Children Development Center
$11,000/87,120 China yuan
Ruili, China
Director: Chen Guilan
dwcdc2000@yahoo.com.cn; www.rwcdc.org
Ruili works to improve the overall well-being of neglected or sexually exploited women and children living in Ruili County, with a particular focus on raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Our grant supports the Engaging Local Youth project, which raises community awareness about HIV/AIDS and promotes leadership and positive behavior among youth who are not in school and are at risk of working in the sex industry.
Previous funding: $13,000 since 2004
Salus
$6,000/14,412,000 Colombia pesos
Urubá, Colombia
Executive director: Loren Callejas
corporacionsalus@yahoo.es
Salus provides psychosocial support to children and youth displaced by Colombia's armed conflict, many of whom were either victims or witnesses of unspeakable violence and destruction. Our grant supports Salus's "Creating Stories, Creating Well-Being" program, which encourages children to write, illustrate, and share short stories as a means of reflecting on, expressing, discussing, and ultimately coming to peace with their experiences and adapting to their new circumstances.
Society Undertaking Poor People's Onus for Rehabilitation (SUPPORT)
$8,000/366,960 India rupees
Mumbai, India
Executive director: Sujata Ganega
supportkids2@roltanet.com; www.supportstreetchildren.org
SUPPORT provides treatment and rehabilitation for child drug users through residential shelters that give boys and girls shelter, food, healthcare, vocational training, and education as part of their rehabilitation. Our grant supports the boys' rehabilitation home, which offers detoxification, education, counseling, and rehabilitation.
Synergie pour l'Enfance (Synergy for Childhood)
$6,000/3,092,700 CFA francs
Thiaroye, Senegal
Executive director: Ngagne Mbaye
cdvaapg@sentoo.sn
Synergie pour l'Enfance provides comprehensive prevention and treatment services to children who have been affected or infected by HIV/AIDS, with targeted services to children in rural regions as well as to street children. Our grant is for general support and facilitates the provision of services for prevention, treatment, and advocacy for HIV-affected children.
Creative Opportunities
Creativity and innovation allow organizations—and children—to thrive. Recognizing this, we endeavor to support the innovation and creativity of our grantee partners and the children they serve, as well as to ignite the sparks of our own imagination. This portfolio allows us to support innovation with, for, and by children and youth in the creative arts and design. It is also within this portfolio that we exercise our imagination and seize a limited number of strategic opportunities on a timely basis.
In fall 2006, we awarded $26,000 to two grantee partners that employ creative and innovative approaches to reach and empower vulnerable children.
Amazon Conservation Team (ACT)
$10,000/27,400 Suriname dollars
Kwamalasamutu, Suriname
Executive director: Neville Gunther
dstone@amazonteam.org; www.amazonteam.org
ACT works in partnership with the isolated indigenous peoples of Suriname's interior to gain land rights, produce natural-resource management plans for these territories, improve health through traditional medicinal practices, and revitalize elements of indigenous culture. Our grant supports ACT's Shamans and Apprentices Program, which allows children to learn traditional medicinal knowledge from village shamans.
Previous funding: $20,000 since 2004
Espacio Cultural Creativo
(Cultural Creative Space)
$16,000/127,840 Bolivia bolivianos
La Paz, Bolivia
Executive director: Maria Carmen Shulze
macamensm@yahoo.com
Espacio Cultural Creativo engages market-working children and street children through theatrical skits, music, storytelling, and other creative activities held in open spaces such as parks, ultimately striving to channel participants into basic literacy programs. Our grant funds 28 of these interactive workshops.
Previous funding: $29,500 since 2002
Responding to Crisis: Recovery and Renewal Grants
The 2004 Tsunami
In December 2004, a huge underwater earthquake caused a tsunami of massive proportions. It affected tens of countries bordering the Indian Ocean, from eastern Africa to Indonesia, with the hardest-hit areas in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. More than 200,000 people were killed, and millions more were affected—losing friends and family members, homes, household effects, livelihood tools, and a lifetime of family treasures.
The Global Fund for Children's first emergency support, disbursed within one week of the disaster, went to affected grantee partners. However, as the longer-term effects of the disaster became apparent, and an outpouring of generosity was demonstrated, we established a longer-term strategy and fund to assist community-based organizations in these areas.
In fall 2006, we awarded $70,500 in fall 2006 to four grantee partners that are focusing on the social and emotional challenges of children and youth affected by the tsunami.
Kinniya Vision (KV)
$19,000/1,945,600 Sri Lanka rupees
Kinniya, Sri Lanka
Executive director: A. R. M. Saifullah
kivision@sltnet.lk; www.kinniyavision.org
KV promotes education, advocates for human rights, and works to reduce gender imbalances and to conserve the environment in the Trincomalee district of northeastern Sri Lanka, an area heavily affected by both the country’s decades-long civil war and the December 2004 tsunami. Our grant supports KV’s educational and vocational training programs for children and youth.
Previous funding: $16,000 since 2005
Mirror Art Foundation: Tsunami Volunteer Center (TVC)
$19,000/711,550 Thailand baht
Bangkok, Thailand
Director: Sombat Boonngamanong
sombat@bannok.com;
www.tsunamivolunteer.net
TVC was launched in January 2005 as a means of channeling the volunteer services and resources assembled after the tsunami to directly help affected communities rebuild their lives. Our grant funds the Tsunami Children Club Network in the hard-hit Takua Pa district of Phang Nga Province, helping young people living in refugee camps and devastated villages to interact in positive ways through activities such as neighborhood cleanups, sports, and programs that build skills for adjusting to their new living environments.
Previous funding: $15,000 since 2005
Sunera Foundation
$17,500/1,792,000 Sri Lanka rupees
Matara, Sri Lanka
Chairperson: Sunethra Bandaranaike
sunera@sltnet.lk; www.sunerafoundation.org
Sunera Foundation facilitates the development of the performing arts among disabled people in Sri Lanka, training this marginalized population to harness their creative energies and demonstrate to society that they are capable of contributing to the well-being of their communities. Our grant funds Sunera Foundation's Tsunami Theatre Outreach Project, which uses drama and performance-art therapy to address post-tsunami trauma and emotional-health issues among children and young people living in relief camps.
Previous funding: $15,000 since 2005
Women Lawyers' Association of Thailand (WLAT)
$15,000/561,750 Thailand baht
Bangkok, Thailand
Director: Suthinee Meteeprapa
wlat.org@hotmail.com; www.wlat.org
WLAT works for the passage of legislation that will improve the status of Thai women and children and for the legal protection of women on an equal basis with men. Our grant supports WLAT's efforts to protect the rights of tsunami victims, addressing legal issues such as adoption, property rights for orphans, and commercial sex trafficking.
Previous funding: $16,000 since 2005
Pakistani Earthquake
The devastating earthquake in October 2005 that shook most of the Kashmir region in South Asia claimed approximately 73,000 lives and left over 70,000 people injured and nearly 3 million people homeless. The most vulnerable groups, such as women and children living in inaccessible areas with low levels of income and no provision of services, have suffered the brunt of this disaster. Immediately following the event, we offered our grantee partners emergency relief grants. Then, recognizing that there was a need for long-term recovery in this area, The Global Fund for Children established a small restricted fund to support partners working to rebuild affected communities, focusing on children and youth. We awarded $20,000 in fall 2006 to two existing grantee partners that are addressing the long-term needs of earthquake-affected children and youth in this area.
De Laas Gul (Hand-Embroidered Flower) Welfare Programme (DLG)
$10,000/603,500 Pakistan rupees
Peshawar, Pakistan
Director: Meraj Humayun Khan
dlg@brain.net.pk; www.pcp.org.pk
DLG was founded in 1976 as a microenterprise organization for women and has since developed into one of the leading organizations working against child labor and for women's empowerment. Our grant supports livelihood skills training, complemented by functional literacy courses, for earthquake-affected youth in Mansehra.
Previous funding: $26,500 since 2004
Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA)
$10,000/603,500 Pakistan rupees
Nara Mughlan, Pakistan
Director: Anbreen Ajaib
poda_pakistan@yahoo.com
PODA has worked since 2003 to build the capacity of rural communities to promote economic, social, cultural, and political rights in order to strengthen support for gender equity, diversity, and democracy. Our grant funds the Artisan Support Center, which provides skills training to local youth to restore livelihoods and bring income generation to affected communities in Muzaffarabad.
Previous funding: $32,300 since 2004
Hurricane Katrina
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated communities throughout the US Gulf Coast, destroying hundreds of thousands of homes and displacing 1 million people. The people most affected were the poorest residents, many of whom were children. Since the hurricane, children have suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome, compounded by the disruption of schooling and the destabilization of family and community life.
Following the tragedy, we developed a modest Katrina recovery and renewal fund to support community-based organizations serving affected children and youth in the Gulf Coast region.
In fall 2006, we awarded $54,000 to four locally based organizations addressing the psychosocial health of children and youth whose lives were destabilized by the disaster.
Awesome Girls Mentoring Program
$19,000
New Orleans, Louisiana
Director: James Rogers
awesomegirlsmentoringprogram@yahoo.com
Awesome Girls provides a safe space in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans for African American girls to learn and practice leadership, conflict management, and decision-making skills that will help them become self-sufficient and self-confident adults. Our grant supports the Post-Katrina Empowerment Program, an extension of the mentorship and academic support program, which strengthens and rebuilds the family-centered community of the program and provides support and stability to the girls as they return to New Orleans and reestablish their lives.
KID smART
$18,000
New Orleans, Louisiana
Executive director: Echo Olander
echo@kidsmart.org; www.kidsmart.org
Through artists in residence, after-school programs, and summer camps, KID smART offers students in New Orleans’s failing public schools a robust arts program that includes visual arts, poetry, dance, circus arts, and acting components. Our grant supports the Arts as Healing Program, under which the organization has hired an arts therapist to run community arts projects and to train KID smART artists who are teaching in the public schools.
Tamb-o-rine and Fan Club
$8,500
New Orleans, Louisiana
Executive director: Jerome Smith
nntyehemba@amherst.edu
Founded by a civil rights activist, Tamb-o-rine and Fan Club is a youth development organization offering a holistic approach to education, training, and social services to low-income African American youth in the New Orleans neighborhood of Treme. Since Hurricane Katrina, the organization has focused on reintegrating youth into their communities and making them feel welcome and embraced as they return to New Orleans. Our grant supports the Balls & Books Program, an educational program that encourages youth to be engaged on an academic and physical level.
Vietnamese Initiatives in Economic Training (VIET)
$8,500
New Orleans, Louisiana
Executive director: Cyndi Nguyen
vietno@cox.net; www.vietno.org
VIET, a community and youth development organization, serves the predominantly Vietnamese American community in New Orleans East through education and job-training programs and by providing disaster recovery assistance to neighborhood residents. Our grant supports the after-school program, which provides low-income students with academic tutoring and mentoring, community service projects, and field trips, and offers counseling to youth as they return to this hard-hit area.
*Currency conversions were calculated on September 21, 2006.
Grants by Year
For previous years’ grants, please click on the following links.
2007 Fall
2007 Spring
2005–2006
2004–2005
2003–2004
2002–2003
2001–2002
2000
1999
© 2006 The Global Fund for Children