Meet the GFC partners championing migrant girls’ rights

Global Fund for Children (GFC) celebrated the courageous leaders of grassroots organizations from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico during their visit to Washington, DC to champion migrants’ rights.

Overlooking the nation’s capital, with music floating from the rooftop, more than 50 people gathered on September 10 to celebrate three of GFC’s incredible community-led partners: Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Matías de Córdova, and Voces Mesoamericanas.

These three organizations are members of GFC’s Adolescent Girls and Migration project. The project supports a cohort of 12 civil society organizations through core flexible funding, network facilitation, and capacity development to strengthen their programs and advocacy to protect the safety and rights of migrant girls in Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States.

These three partners visited Washington, DC – and GFC’s office – as part of a delegation of six organizations from the region advocating for the rights of migrant youth and their families.

After GFC staff, peers, and partners had the opportunity to enjoy refreshments and make connections, GFC partners took the stage.

Corey Oser, GFC’s Vice President of Programs, and Vanessa Stevens, GFC’s Program Officer for Advocacy and Movement Building, shared opening remarks that shed light on the Adolescent Girls and Migration project, and the partners involved.

“At Global Fund for Children, we believe in the power of convening and connecting. It is an honor to bring together our grassroots partners and leading advocacy organizations in DC to celebrate and champion their advocacy efforts for migrant children in the Americas,” Vanessa said.

In the backdrop, a gallery of photos provided a visual timeline of the Adolescent Girls and Migration project, highlighting progress and accomplishments over the last year and a half. Before partners began to speak, the audience watched The right to be and belong, a video created by this network. The video contains a powerful message to migrant girls from GFC partners.

Following the video, each partner talked about their work and goals – providing a glimpse into the realities that face migrant youth, and why taking legal and political action to protect their rights is not only important, but urgent and necessary.

The six local organizations who visited Washington, DC as part of the delegation included:

• Asociación Pop No’j: Pop No’j facilitates the formation of indigenous leaders through exchange and dialogue and works to build indigenous youth networks in Guatemala.
• Voces Mesoamericanas Acción con Pueblos Migrantes: Voces Mesoamericanas promotes the voices of indigenous migrants (especially children, women, and youth) for the defense and exercise of their rights and to help them build “Lekil Kuxlejal” (good living) in the migrant and transnational communities of Mesoamerica and North America.
• Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Matías de Córdova: CDH Fray Matías defends and promotes the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and the international migrant population on the border of Mexico and Guatemala.
• Grupo de Monitoreo Independiente de El Salvador: GMIES promotes corporate social responsibility and fair labor standards to further El Salvador’s social and economic development.
• Casa Alianza: Casa Alianza transforms lives of homeless, runaway, and trafficked young people in Honduras through housing and support services.
• Comisión de Acción Social Menonita: CASM strengthens capacity of families and civil society organizations to stand up to economic, social, environmental, and political injustices.