Every year, Global Fund for Children presents the Juliette Gimon Courage Award to community-based organizations that demonstrate extraordinary bravery and commitment to children and young people. Often working in complex and challenging environments, these organizations remain deeply rooted in their communities while continuing to push for justice, dignity, and lasting change.

This year, we are proud to honor four remarkable organizations: Center for Girls Foundation in Thailand, Coletivo de Juventudes Guardiões do Bem Viver in Brazil, Espacio Migrante in Mexico, and Similar Ground in Uganda. Each of them shows us what courage looks like in action, whether it is standing up to violence and inequality, defending land and identity, protecting migrant rights, or creating safe spaces for children and young people to heal and lead.

Center for Girls Foundation – Thailand 

Center for Girls Foundation (CFGF) was founded in 1997 by Nunnaree  Luangmoi. Drawing on her lived experience as a teenage domestic worker, Nunnaree transformed personal adversity into a lifelong commitment to advancing safety,  dignity, and rights for women and children. She trained in social work and began creating spaces where survivors could access counseling, legal support, services, and livelihood opportunities to support their recovery, empowerment,  and self-reliance. What started as a grassroots initiative in a small village in Chiang Rai Province has grown into a multi-district initiative, working in partnership with ethnic minority communities across 102 villages to strengthen protection systems and expand access to services and opportunities.

Over time, CFGF has become a trusted community-based organization dedicated to strengthening child protection systems and supporting women and children affected by violence, trafficking, abuse, and exploitation. Recognizing that prevention requires long-term engagement and community ownership, CFGF  has invested in building trust at the village level, working alongside communities that have historically experienced discrimination and exclusion. Today,  the organization has supported the establishment of community-based child protection and reporting mechanisms and continues to advance locally led protection systems in partnership with government and civil society actors.

For CFGF, courage is not an abstract concept; rather, it is a daily reality. Nunnaree and her team have experienced threats and acts of violence and continue to face ongoing risks as a consequence of supporting survivors and intervening in cases of abuse and exploitation. Staff operate in increasingly complex and challenging environments, including rising cases of human trafficking and exploitation linked to criminal networks. In this context, courage means standing alongside women and children despite personal risk, refusing to be silenced in the face of intimidation, and remaining committed to those whose voices are often unheard.

With the support of GFC’s Juliette Gimon Courage Award, CFGF plans to strengthen its emergency response services for survivors of violence and expand scholarships that help girls remain in school. The organization will also continue its work to improve community-based protection systems and expand access to education and prevention programs. For CFGF, the award represents recognition while inspiring renewed strength to build a future where women and children can live safely and with dignity and equality.

Coletivo de Juventudes Guardiões do Bem Viver – Brazil

Coletivo de Juventudes Guardiões do Bem Viver is a youth collective from the Lago Grande Agro-Extractive Settlement Project (PAE Lago Grande), located in western Pará in the Brazilian Amazon. The collective emerged as a response to development projects that threaten life in their territory and as a way to demonstrate that the society they believe in is one grounded in the principles of Bem Viver (Good Living).

Their origins can be traced to the 2019 Pilgrimage for Good Living (Romaria do Bem Viver), a gathering held in defense of life, territory, and the forest. The event inspired local young people to take an active role in protecting their ancestral ways of life. Living in a territory of approximately 40,000 people spread across around 150 communities and villages, these young people came together in response to growing threats from deforestation, mining, overfishing, and land speculation, all of which continue to put their lands, livelihoods, and ways of life at risk.

From this moment of collective awakening, the group began organizing as a youth-led movement rooted in ancestry, culture, and the principle of Bem Viver. The collective emerged not only as a response to environmental and territorial threats but also as a space where young people could contribute to public dialogue and policy processes that affect their futures. Through community engagement, popular education, and grassroots organizing, the collective has worked to strengthen territorial rights and amplify the voices of young people living in the forests, along the rivers, and within rural communities across the Amazon.

For Guardiões do Bem Viver, courage is practiced daily and collectively. It means standing up in defense of the forest, the waters, and their ways of life, even in the face of economic pressures and attempts to silence Indigenous and riverine communities. Courage also means choosing to remain in the territory and strengthen their ancestral heritage and identity in contexts where young people are often pressured to leave or abandon their traditions. It is expressed through collective action: organizing, mobilizing, speaking out against injustice, and building alternatives grounded in local knowledge and care for the land.

With the support of the Juliette Gimon Courage Award from GFC, the collective plans to strengthen youth-led advocacy and political education, expand popular education and communications initiatives, and deepen socio-environmental advocacy efforts throughout the territory. The award will also support community-led efforts to protect forests and waterways and promote Bem Viver as a guiding vision for collective life. For Guardiões do Bem Viver, this recognition reaffirms the importance of youth-led resistance in the Amazon and strengthens their commitment to building a future in which their territories are protected, their voices are heard, and their way of life is respected.

Espacio Migrante – Mexico

Espacio Migrante was founded by a group of young women committed to supporting migrants in Tijuana, a Mexican city on the border with the United States that receives hundreds of people who have been deported every day. Growing up in a context shaped by the presence of the border wall and the separation of families, the founders witnessed firsthand the human impact of migration policies. Many had personal or family experiences of migration, and all were deeply connected to the stories of those arriving at the border. Without resources to establish a shelter, they began their work through volunteering, using education, art, and culture as tools for resistance, storytelling, and community building.

As they engaged with migrant shelters and communities, the team listened to the experiences of people who had crossed borders, deserts, and jungles in search of safety and dignity. These stories became the foundation of Espacio Migrante’s work. Over time, the organization evolved into a safe and welcoming space for migrant families, combining humanitarian support with cultural exchange and collective healing. It has become a place where migrants and local communities come together to share experiences, build solidarity, and challenge dominant narratives about migration.

For Espacio Migrante, courage is embodied by the migrants themselves. It is seen in the journeys of people who leave everything behind in search of a better life, facing violence, detention, exploitation, and uncertainty along the way. Courage also lives within the organization’s team, many of whom are migrants or refugees themselves and continue to navigate precarity while supporting others. Despite threats, risks, and the realities of working in a context shaped by organized crime and institutional violence, Espacio Migrante continues to speak out against injustice and advocate for migrant rights. At the heart of the organization’s approach is Resistir Gozando – joyful resistance – which embraces art, culture, and community as acts of defiance and healing.

With the support of GFC’s Juliette Gimon Courage Award, Espacio Migrante will continue to strengthen its community-based programs at a time when humanitarian funding is shrinking. The organization plans to sustain its core services for migrant families, including food support, legal accompaniment, and safe community spaces, while ensuring that community organizers remain at the center of its work. The award will help Espacio Migrante continue to advocate for migrants’ rights, amplify migrant leadership, and build spaces where dignity, belonging, and joy can thrive even in the face of systemic injustice.

Similar Ground – Uganda

Similar Ground was founded in 2020 by refugee youth leaders in northern Uganda who wanted children growing up in displacement to have opportunities they themselves had often missed. Having experienced conflict, loss, interrupted education, and years of uncertainty, the founders understood how difficult it could be for children to feel seen, heard, and supported. They created Similar Ground to ensure that children and young people could access safe spaces where they could play, express themselves, build confidence, and shape their own futures.

Today, Similar Ground works with children in the Bidibidi Refugee Settlement and host communities, creating opportunities for children and young people to learn, heal, and lead. Through music, art, sports, play, and youth-led activities, the organization helps children build positive relationships, develop confidence, and find a sense of belonging. Its work is grounded in the belief that every child deserves support that reflects their individual experiences, strengths, and aspirations.

For Similar Ground, courage is found in showing up every day for children and young people, even in the face of uncertainty and limited resources. As this is a refugee-led organization, many team members share similar experiences with the children they serve. They understand both the challenges of displacement and the importance of being heard. That understanding drives their commitment to creating safe spaces where children can recover from difficult experiences, discover their strengths, and become leaders in their communities. Similar Ground also challenges the idea that refugees are only recipients of aid, demonstrating instead that young refugees can be powerful agents of change.

With the support of the Juliette Gimon Courage Award from GFC, Similar Ground will expand youth advocacy and creative wellbeing programs across Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, strengthening opportunities for children and young people to learn, lead, and support one another. The award will also help the organization strengthen safeguarding systems and support the youth leaders and facilitators who make this work possible. For Similar Ground, the award is both a recognition of refugee-led leadership and an investment in a future where children and young people have the power to shape the decisions that affect their lives.

We at Global Fund for Children are honored to celebrate this year’s Juliette Gimon Courage Award winners. Their stories remind us that courage takes many forms –sometimes quiet, often collective, always rooted in community – and that lasting change begins with those who choose to stand alongside children and young people every day.

Congratulations to our winners!