Safety and wellbeing, Youth power
Juliette Gimon Courage Awards
Announcing the 2025 winners
Club des Jeunes Filles Leaders de Guinée in Guinea, Gramin Shiksha Kendra in India, Local Education and Economic Development Organization in Bangladesh, and YOH in the United Kingdom are GFC’s winners of the 2025 Juliette Gimon Courage Awards!
This year’s remarkable winners are recognized and honored for their dedication to protecting the rights of children and young people. They’ve shown us what courage looks like in action, whether it’s standing up to harmful traditions, transforming broken systems, or walking alongside young people in crisis.
About the awards
Juliette possessed a brave and passionate spirit that helped to change hundreds of thousands of young lives. The Courage Awards honor her legacy.
Juliette Gimon, former Board Chair of Global Fund for Children, passed away on February 24, 2018. Global Fund for Children established the Juliette Gimon Fund for Courageous Leadership, a more than $1 million endowment made possible by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and other generous donors.
Annual awards from the fund – the Juliette Gimon Courage Awards – recognize innovative grassroots organizations around the world that are positively impacting children in especially challenging circumstances. Some recipients will have overcome considerable obstacles to pioneer an innovation that transforms circumstances for children and youth. Others will demonstrate the courage of resilience, thriving amid unusual contextual challenges; still others will have leaders who have navigated personal hardship and channeled adversity into their organization’s cause.
Meet our 2025 winners
Club des Jeunes Filles Leaders de Guinée – Guinea
Club des Jeunes Filles Leaders de Guinée (CJFLG) was founded in 2016 by Hadja Idrissa Bah, who was just 18 years old at the time. After witnessing the silence around violence against girls, including female genital mutilation and sexual abuse, Hadja decided to create a space where girls could be protected and supported. With help from feminists and Plan International Guinée, the club opened its first office in Conakry, expanding to 36 branches today.
For CJFLG, courage means speaking out about topics many people are afraid to discuss, especially in rural areas. Whether it’s child marriage or sex education, the girls in the club face these issues head-on, raising awareness and helping their communities understand why things need to change. Over the years, their bold actions have helped prevent forced marriages and supported survivors of sexual violence with care, justice, and healing.
Gramin Shiksha Kendra – India
Gramin Shiksha Kendra (GSK) was created out of frustration with the poor quality of government education in rural Rajasthan. Families around Ranthambore National Park wanted something better for their children, but they were often met with neglect. GSK stepped in and began by setting up its own community schools, called Uday Pathshalas, to show what quality education could look like. Over time, its work expanded to include dozens of government schools. The organization built trust with parents, trained teachers, and created learning environments where every child could thrive. GSK has also focused on reaching children from marginalized communities and supporting girls, who are often forced to leave school after eighth grade.
For GSK, courage has meant questioning systems, challenging assumptions, and refusing to accept that change isn’t possible. Whether it’s working with families that others have ignored or questioning the status quo, GSK has always prioritized people over process. The organization has evolved with time, developing new initiatives that prove that a responsive, people-first approach can lead to lasting transformation.
Local Education and Economic Development Organization – Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, thousands of children live on the streets, left behind due to poverty, abuse, and systems that fail them. Local Education and Economic Development Organization (LEEDO) was founded to stand beside these children and offer them a safe, caring place to heal and grow. Through shelters like Peace Home, mobile classrooms, and open-air schools, LEEDO helps children, including survivors of sexual abuse, rebuild their lives.
Courage for LEEDO means choosing to show up where others often look away. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when many services shut down, LEEDO expanded its work. The organization provided food and hygiene kits and opened emergency shelters for children who had nowhere else to go. LEEDO’s belief in every child’s potential, even in the darkest moments, has always guided its work.
YOH – United Kingdom
YOH is a community-led charity based in East London and West Essex that accompanies children and young people facing some of the toughest challenges, including poverty, housing problems, school exclusion, gang violence, and trauma. YOH offers long-term, tailored support that helps children find safety and rebuild trust, often when everyone else has turned away.
For YOH, courage means standing with children when others step away. It means entering often overlooked communities, advocating for young people against hostile narratives, and confronting the gangs that exploit children and youth.
Global Fund for Children is honored to celebrate and support this year’s Juliette Gimon Courage Award winners. Their stories remind us that courage comes in many forms and that real, lasting change always begins in communities. Congratulations to our winners!
2024: COALICIÓN INDÍGENA DE MIGRANTES DE CHIAPAS (CIMICH) & SHOBUJER OVIJAN FOUNDATION (SOF)
Coalición Indígena de Migrantes de Chiapas (CIMICH) – Mexico
CIMICH was formed in response to high rates of migration from Indigenous communities in Chiapas to North Mexico and the United States. The organization raises awareness about migration issues, promotes human rights, and offers alternatives to migration.
CIMICH provides information on migrants’ rights, translation services, and uses art to engage children and youth on issues of interculturality, migration, gender, and violence. Despite threats and challenges, CIMICH continues to support Indigenous migrant communities, defending their rights and promoting equitable participation.
Shobujer Ovijan Foundation (SOF) – Bangladesh
SOF is a rights-based feminist organization that supports and empowers young women who migrate to urban areas in Bangladesh due to lack of employment and livelihood opportunities in their home communities. These women work in garment factories and as domestic workers, often settling in slum areas. SOF promotes their rights and well-being through specialized daycare centers, healthcare, livelihood skills training, and leadership development.
SOF also addresses issues such as child labor, child marriage, exploitation, and abuse, working courageously to challenge gender norms and advocate for equal opportunities.
2023:LUHANSK REGIONAL ORGANIZATION – ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES WITH DISABILITIES OF THE EASTERN DONBAS (AMI-East) & SUPRAVA PANCHASHILA MAHILA UDDYOG SAMITY (SPMUS)
Luhansk Regional Organization – Association of Women, Youth, and Families with Disabilities of the Eastern Donbas (AMI-East) – Ukraine
AMI-East has pioneered support for children and youth with disabilities in a society where they face social exclusion and lack of opportunities. The organization provides legal, psychological, medical, educational, and social assistance to children and young people living with disabilities. Since February 2022, the AMI-EAST staff have bravely been supporting children and youth who were forced to flee their homes because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Suprava Panchashila Mahila Uddyog Samity (SPMUS) – India
SPMUS works with women and children in West Bengal, which has one of the highest rates of trafficking and child marriage in India. The organization rescues, rehabilitates, and reintegrates trafficked women and girls; works to prevent domestic violence and early marriage; and cares for and supports deserted women. The courageous staff of SPMUS often face a community that is resistant to their efforts to change ingrained customs. But they believe in creating opportunities for the children and women in their community and advocating for their rights.
2022: AFGHAN INSTITUTE OF LEARNING (AIL), IRODA & WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE AND EXPLOITATION IN SOCIETY (WAVES)
Read the press release | Watch the winner event
Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) – Afghanistan
Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) has increased access to education in Afghanistan by providing girls and women with private schools and learning centers and by fostering literacy. With growing concerns about girls’ access to schools and education again, AIL is exploring safe ways to bring education to girls and women, including a partnership with TV Meraj for a televised education program that would reach children without access to school.
IRODA – Tajikistan
IRODA provides access to quality services appropriate for the unique needs of children and youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); trains professionals and parents on working with children with ASD; facilitates a parent support group; and helps children with ASD enroll in formal school. The organization has also set up both the first social enterprise café and the first early intervention resource center in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Women Against Violence and Exploitation in Society (WAVES) – Sierra Leone
WAVES empowers girls to speak out against sexual and gender-based violence and to advocate for their sexual and reproductive health and rights, while engaging adults in the community to adopt more supportive attitudes and practices. The organization also advocates for policy changes that benefit girls and women.
2021: FREE MINDS, YOUTH SAFETY AWARENESS INITIATIVE & THIRD WINNER
Read the press release
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop – United States
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop uses books and creative writing to help incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth and adults realize their full potential and build connections with the community. The organization also provides workforce development, peer support, trauma healing, and violence prevention programs.
Youth Safety Awareness Initiative – Kenya
Dedicated to reducing rates of incarceration and recidivism among Kenyan youth, Youth Safety Awareness Initiative works directly in prisons to develop young people’s leadership and livelihood skills. The organization also works in areas with high crime rates to empower young people and keep them from coming into conflict with the law.
Third Winner
For the first time, the Courage Award Selection Committee has also chosen a third winner that has worked courageously to prevent violence against children and to promote their health and rights in its home country.
2020: AVANI & CHALLENGING HEIGHTS
Watch the announcement | Read the press release
Avani – India
In India, Avani rescues children from hazardous labor in Kolhapur’s brickyards and sugarcane farms and coordinates their comprehensive rehabilitation – providing them with safe housing, food, education, vocational training, and more.
Challenging Heights – Ghana
Working along Ghana’s Lake Volta, Challenging Heights rescues children from slavery in the fishing industry and provide them with comprehensive rehabilitation services, including helping them safely reunite with their families.
2019: ASOGEN & MAVI KALEM
Watch the announcement | Read the press release
ASOGEN – Guatemala
In the Guatemalan states of Chimaltenango, Sacatepéquez, and Sololá, ASOGEN is the only community-based organization to offer survivors of gender-based violence the legal aid, medical services, and psychological support they urgently need.
Mavi Kalem – Turkey
Mavi Kalem has spent nearly two decades mobilizing community volunteers to empower impoverished women and children in Istanbul, including rapidly adapting to meet the needs of Turkey’s growing Syrian refugee population.
Check out the stories below to learn more about the Courage Awards!
Voices and Stories
Safety and wellbeing, Youth power
Announcing the 2023 Sustainability and Dignity Award winners
Education, Gender justice