READ STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS IN AFRICA & THE MIDDLE EAST
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.
Through its youth center, located in Nairobi’s Mathare slums, Oasis Mathare provides a safe, social, and educational space for children of all ages to play, work on their homework, and access computers and the internet, while also offering an economic empowerment program for older youth, particularly young mothers.
Dedicated to reducing rates of incarceration and recidivism among Nairobi’s youth, YSAI works directly in prisons to develop young people’s leadership and livelihood skills, while also working with children and youth in the heart of communities – especially in slums, where the incidence of crime is high—to promote community safety and steer them away from crime.
In a county where the prevalence of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is estimated at 68%, the Centre for Liberian Assistance educates girls about their sexual and reproductive health and rights and empowers them to act boldly on their own behalf. Its awareness and education program brings girls together to discuss girls’ rights and critical health topics, which the girls then raise awareness about in their own communities.
With a focus on rural teenagers, Community Health Care Initiative (CHI) educates girls about their sexual and reproductive rights, health and hygiene, and the harmful effects of early marriage and FGM/C, while also providing safe spaces for them to discuss issues affect them. CHI also advocates at the national level for better protections for girls across Liberia.
Dedicated to removing barriers to girls’ education in Sierra Leone, Center for Advocacy and Sustainable Empowerment (CASE SALONE) empowers girls to stay in school, realize their potential, and take on leadership positions. Working in schools and communities, CASE SALONE establishes student empowerment clubs; trains girls in leadership and public speaking; and provides girls with safe spaces and counseling services. It also operates savings initiatives to help parents invest in their children’s education.
In a community where the prevalence of FGM/C is over 90%, Children’s Forum Network – Kenema creates safe spaces for children to discuss and raise public awareness about the issues affecting their lives. A local, autonomous branch of Sierra Leone’s national children’s parliament, CFN-Kenema also organizes trainings and conferences on specific child rights issues to help young people speak out against child rights violations.
Integrated Development Program for Teenagers (IDP4T) empowers teens in Sierra Leone to have agency over their bodies and make informed life decisions. It conducts Teen Talk programs in schools, operates a helpline, and provides direct services to young survivors of violence and trafficking.
In the remote town of Jendema, Sierra Leone, where rates of early marriage and teen pregnancy are especially high, Sierra Leone Girls Empowerment Network (SL-GEN) encourages girls to fight for their rights and to make informed decisions about their bodies and lives. Its programs focus on prevention of teenage pregnancy, early marriage, and gender-based violence, as well as providing emotional support for teen mothers.
Empowering girls to stand up for their rights and dignity, Wi Gial Pekin Dem Foundation (WGF) works in schools to teach girls about sexual reproductive health and rights, educate them about menstrual hygiene and management, and provide them with sanitary pads. The organization also uses its extensive community relationships to rescue girls who are at risk of FGM/C, trafficking, or abuse, and provides mentorship to out-of-school girls, especially those who have left school due to unplanned pregnancies.
Women Against Violence and Exploitation in Society (WAVES) develops the capacity of girls in Bo, Sierra Leone, both in and out of school, to speak out against sexual and gender-based violence, advocate for sexual and reproductive rights, and become agents of change in their communities. The organization also conducts extensive community outreach and advocates for policy change to benefit girls and women.
Working with girls and young women between the ages of 18 and 28 from underserved communities, 18twenty8 promotes their educational and personal development, encouraging them to pursue higher education and empowering them through life skills workshops, mentoring, career guidance, and financial assistance.
Jelly Beanz Inc. (JBI) promotes child protection and safety through direct services for sexually abused children and those who have experienced trauma, abuse, or neglect, offering in-depth individual and group counseling, as well as life skills training on such topics as HIV/AIDS prevention and management, how to report abuse, and career opportunities.
Founded by an award-winning South African filmmaker, Nayanaya Trust empowers young people – particularly young women – to tell their stories, develop career skills, and drive social change through the power of filmmaking.
In the township of Tembisa, where 95% of the population is low-income, Xtreme Youth Projects offers a range of programs to empower children and youth, including life skills development, an entrepreneurship program, and performing arts activities that break down stereotypes, encourage positive self-image, and nurture young talent.
As a youth-led organization serving vulnerable girls who have been forced into early marriage or trafficked into domestic servitude, Action for Children (AfC) provides psychosocial support and medical and legal assistance to victims and their children, establishes children’s rights clubs in schools, and operates a child abuse helpline.
Actions pour le Développement Durable: Le Rônier specializes in educating rural children who are abandoned or are survivors of child trafficking; some of the children have lost both parents and have joined the labor force to support themselves.
Fondation Secours Universel (FSU) offers a safe environment for abandoned and severely neglected infants and children, providing them with early childhood education, care, and development, and identifies and assists the children’s mothers, most of whom are teenage girls forced into commercial sex work, through a transitional home and access to primary and secondary education.
Homeland Kids and Family (HOKIFA) offers educational and other opportunities to street-based children, most of whom were abused and involved in child labor.
ONG Dedome Amis du Père Franck educates rural children from low-income families, some of whom are living with HIV/AIDS and most of whom are involved in child labor and are at risk of being trafficked, through its own school, access to public schools, and a community library program.
Organisation pour la Femme et le Développement (OFED) provides skills training and library services to children and youth who have been involved in domestic servitude, commercial sex, or other forms of child labor, as well as those who are at a high risk of being trafficked, and assists the young children of these beneficiaries through an early childhood development program and programs at its community library.
Children of the World (COW) Foundation works in conflict-affected areas of Uganda to support adolescent girls, most of whom were abducted or abused by the Lord’s Resistance Army and are now young mothers, disabled, HIV-positive, stigmatized, or psychologically alienated, by offering cost-effective education and employment skills training, in addition to psychosocial support to strengthen the girls’ coping mechanisms for managing post-war trauma.
Foundation for Inclusive Community Help (FICH) responds to the needs of conflict-affected children and youth, mostly girls who were abducted and abused by the Lord’s Resistance Army, through opportunities to obtain second-chance education and job skills training, savings and entrepreneurship initiatives, and counseling and psychosocial support.
Hope and Peace for Humanity (HPH) works with schools, local entrepreneurs, and traditional authorities to support conflict-affected children, especially girls, most of whom were involved in severe forms of forced labor by the Lord’s Resistance Army, are orphaned or disabled, or were sexually abused.
Using a youth-participation approach and working with local government structures and community volunteers, Rural Initiative for Community Empowerment – West Nile (RICE-WN) addresses challenges such as stigmatization in order to provide girls in post-conflict communities with opportunities to access education, stay in school, acquire employment skills, and earn an income.
Global Fund for Children (GFC) UK Trust, created in 2006, is a UK registered charity (UK charity number 1119544). We work to generate vital income, create new fundraising opportunities, and raise awareness of the invaluable work of GFC’s grassroots grantees. Our aim is to extend the reach of GFC in the United Kingdom, Europe, and beyond.
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