WHAT DOES EDUCATION MEAN TO ME? - Global Fund for Children

WHAT DOES EDUCATION MEAN TO ME? 

THE GLOBAL FUND FOR CHILDREN Annual Report 2002–2003

Vision: A world where children grow up to be 

productive, caring citizens of our global society. 

Mission: Advancing the education and 

dignity of young people around the world. 

The Global Fund for Children pursues its mission by: 

• strengthening innovative community-based 

educational organizations that serve some of the 

world’s most vulnerable children; and 

• educating the public through a vibrant community 

education and outreach program, including a 

children’s-book-publishing venture, that helps children 

and adults value their place in the global community.

“ Education is a lifetime inheritance. It is a lifetime insurance. 

Education is the key to success, a bus to a brighter future for 

all our people. Without education, there is little that a person 

can do—actually there is nothing a person can do without an 

education. A person is never too old for knowledge; as my people, 

the Xhosa, always say, ‘Imfundo ayigugelwa’ (Every day is an 

education; you learn something new). We must be knowledge 

seekers and we must strive for a better life through education.” 

ZUKISWA, AGE 16 (Ubuntu Education Fund) Kwa Magxaki Township, Port Elizabeth, South Africa 

THE GLOBAL FUND FOR CHILDREN 1

Letter from 

THE BOARD CHAIR 

2 Annual Report 2002–2003 

At the end of each year, we look back and 

evaluate our progress, challenges, and 

achievements. This year we adopted and 

began to implement a strategic plan that 

captures the vision and mission of the 

Global Fund for Children while preserving its 

entrepreneurial spirit. We expanded our board 

of directors, most recently with the addition 

of Roy Salameh and Bob Scully. Both of these 

new members bring great energy to the board. 

We also honored founding board member 

Adele Richardson Ray by creating a special grant to recognize 

her invaluable contribution to the Global Fund for Children. Adele 

is an amazing woman who embodies the heart and soul of this 

organization, and we are all extremely fortunate to have benefited 

from her generosity and intelligence during her many years on the 

board. 

The Global Fund for Children’s founder and president, Maya 

Ajmera, continues to bring her extraordinary vision and creativity 

to the organization. We are grateful for her commitment and for 

that of a passionate, talented, and accomplished staff. Their hard 

work has made a difference in the lives of thousands of vulnerable 

children around the world. 

This year, in anticipation of the Global Fund for Children’s tenth 

anniversary, we’ve been asking ourselves, “What does education 

mean to me?” As I reflected on this, I was initially uncomfortable 

applying the question to myself, with all of the opportunities that I 

have had for educational enrichment in comparison to the children 

our grantee partners serve. Yet this is a fundamental question for 

all of us and focuses us on why we do this work. 

As the daughter of educators, I was taught early in life that 

academic achievement and the pursuit of excellence were 

paramount, and these values later became measures of my 

individual self-worth. Achieving a high level of intellectual curiosity 

and depth was valued above all things in my family. The serious 

pursuit of education was also viewed as the best route to self- 

sufficiency and financial independence. My parents believed that 

girls and boys alike needed to be able to support themselves and 

to contribute to their communities. 

My brother, my two sisters, and I were, therefore, exposed early 

to philosophy, politics, literature, music, and art, and encouraged to 

engage in vigorous discourse and debate with each other, as well 

as with the frequent visitors who gathered around our dinner table. 

My parents then sacrificed their own financial well-being to ensure 

our college studies. My family was not one of economic means, 

but we were rich in education. 

My story is common to the grandchildren of immigrants to the 

United States in the early twentieth century who believed that 

education was the way to succeed in America. We were fortunate 

to have access to excellent public schools that required all 

children of a certain age to enroll and become educated. Most of 

all, we were not hungry and our medical needs were met. This 

educational ethic that we sometimes take for granted is part of the 

fabric of this country. By law, education for all is a basic right in our 

country, not a privilege. 

Where children are less fortunate and where they are deprived 

of formal or informal educational opportunities because of class, 

gender, race, sect, or economic conditions, there is darkness 

instead of light, restraint instead of freedom, servitude without the 

potential for independence. Where education is withheld or denied, 

repression and exploitation thrive, physical conditions can be 

degrading and dangerous, and the human spirit cannot soar. 

I read recently about the ongoing sabotage of some Afghan 

schools for girls, schools that were able to emerge from hiding 

only after the Taliban fell. Unfortunately, even where progress has 

been made, difficult challenges remain. Our work is far from over. 

It requires passion, diligence, resources, and adherence to the 

fundamental belief that all children are entitled to be educated in 

ways that allow them to have dreams and to reach their potential 

as human beings and global citizens. This is an achievable goal, and 

if we pursue it, the world will be a better place for us all. 

Thank you to all of our friends, donors, colleagues, and grantee 

partners for another extraordinary year. With your help and support, 

we look forward to continuing to learn, grow, and carry out our 

mission. 

Laura B. Luger

Enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 

education is every child’s right. Unfortunately, it is a right denied 

to millions of young people around the world. At the Global Fund 

for Children we strive to eliminate this inequity, and we are making 

education a reality for more children than ever before. 

As I look outward to consider the impact our work is having around 

the world, I also look inward to consider what education meant 

to me as a young person. I grew up in eastern North Carolina, 

where I attended public schools with limited resources but some 

exceptional, dedicated teachers. These teachers found ways to 

inspire and excite me without the benefit of the latest tools or 

materials. They gave me a solid academic education and, more 

importantly, ignited in me a passion for learning. 

I learned many things at school, but I learned just as much from 

my family and my community. I was fortunate to live near a large 

public library, and the books within those walls opened new 

doors for me on every visit. Extracurricular activities expanded my 

horizons, introduced me to people from a variety of backgrounds, 

and taught me important lessons about interacting with others 

and being true to myself. 

Frequent visits to my extended family in India also helped give 

me a global perspective at an early age. On each visit I saw 

street children who lacked the basic necessities of life and were 

deprived of an education that could change their circumstances. 

Many of the children our grantee partners serve have severely 

limited access to education, an unstable home life or no home at 

all, and no semblance of a healthy, supportive community. Our 

grantee partners seek to meet both the academic and personal 

needs of these children through creative, holistic programs that are 

grounded in, but often move well beyond, basic education. 

Time and again I am impressed by the thirst with which children 

and young people seek education, despite extraordinary obstacles. 

Our grantee partners are tearing down these impediments and 

creating environments where some of the world’s most vulnerable, 

overlooked youth have a chance to fulfill their inherent potential. 

The pages that follow include snapshots of the work some of 

these extraordinary groups are doing to advance the education 

and dignity of young people around the world. 

With a focus on instructing and entertaining children and adults, 

our Shakti for Children book program is at the heart of our own 

innovative community education and outreach initiative. To date, 

we have produced fifteen top-quality children’s books and resource 

guides. This year we added A Kid’s Best Friend and Children of 

Native America Today, along with an accompanying resource guide, 

to our list of titles. By celebrating diversity and highlighting the 

countless things that children around the world 

have in common, Shakti for Children books help 

give young readers a global perspective that can 

influence their outlook and actions for the rest 

of their lives. 

The Global Fund for Children continues to be a 

thought leader, and we are growing comfortable 

with our role as an increasingly visible player in 

the global community. Our work is mentioned 

and discussed in a growing number of arenas, 

from book reviews to articles to conferences to 

academic publications. We are also sharing our message with a 

wider range of audiences while bringing attention to the work of 

our grantee partners, extending our networks, and expanding our 

own knowledge base. 

Our work is accomplished by a superb team, each member of which 

has had an incredible impact on our growth and our expanding 

influence. Our team continued to grow this year with the addition of 

Erin Hustings, Ellen Mackenzie, and Elizabeth Ruethling, who bring 

with them an impressive breadth of knowledge and experience. The 

Global Fund for Children is guided by a dedicated board of directors 

whose commitment and passion are invaluable. I am honored to 

have Roy Salameh and Robert Scully join our board of directors. 

Finally, I want to recognize founding board member Adele Richardson 

Ray. Adele is a passionate child advocate, social scientist, and 

philanthropist. She has been a strong leader and a generous supporter 

of the Global Fund for Children from the beginning, as well as 

being a true friend to the staff and a mentor and friend to me both 

professionally and personally. Adele rotated off our board this year, 

and she will be sorely missed. I am proud to announce that our first 

Board Emeritus Grant was made in recognition of the tremendous 

impact Adele has had on the Global Fund for Children. This grant 

was made to Ruchika Social Service Organisation and will enable 

four graduates of the Train Platform Schools to complete their next 

level of schooling in India’s formal education system. 

As ever, I am humbled by your generous support. As testament to 

the commitment of our donors, we have continued to grow during 

a prolonged economic downturn. You are making a tremendous 

impact in the lives of vulnerable children and young people around 

the world every day. I thank you for your commitment. 

Maya Ajmera 

Letter from 

THE PRESIDENT 


GOING FORWARD 

GFC is a grant-making organization 

designed specifically to target and 

strengthen small grassroots organizations 

that improve education for children who 

would otherwise be left behind. These 

organizations help to build the foundations 

of civil society by shaping local, regional, 

national, and even international policy 

and practices. During the past year, GFC 

introduced a portfolio-based approach to 

its grant making. By focusing on specific 

issue areas, GFC is able to direct its 

expertise and resources more effectively 

to the innovative organizations around 

the world that are addressing a common 

set of issues. As a central tenet of its 

mission, each GFC grantee partner 

offers nonformal education programs to 

the young people it serves. GFC’s four 

portfolios are: 

• Schools and Scholarships 

• Hazardous Child Labor 

• Child Prostitution and Exploitation 

• The Distinctive Needs of 

Vulnerable Boys 

Underscoring GFC’s grant making is 

a dynamic community education and 

outreach program, the core of which 

is a book-publishing venture, Shakti 

for Children. This innovative collection 

of children’s books and resource 


guides presents themes of diversity 

and tolerance that encourage children 

to respect the environment, different 

cultures, and their peers around 

the world. 

GFC’s vision of a world where children 

grow up to be productive, caring citizens 

of our global society remains just as 

vital today, after eight years of dynamic 

growth, as it did when GFC was founded. 

Now, with its operating budget doubling 

on an annual basis and with broad 

interest and support from a wide range 

of individual donors and foundations, 

GFC has the opportunity to expand 

dramatically and to encompass a broader 

spectrum of community groups 

and issues. 

Three years ago, GFC’s board of directors, 

in conjunction with the staff and an 

organizational-development consultant, 

began the process of evaluating 

the organization’s future needs and 

potential outcomes. This organizational- 

development process led to expanding 

the board of directors, hiring additional 

staff, building organizational systems, 

and developing concrete plans to extend 

and deepen GFC’s reach in both grant 

making and community education and 

outreach. This year, the planning process 

“ Education is the right we children have to learn, 

read, and write. It is also an inheritance from 

our parents.” MARÍA, AGE 9 (Fundación Apoyar) Cartegena, Colombia 

(Translated from Spanish) 

Education is a basic human right of all children, regardless of their individual circumstances. As Zukiswa 

Pukwana, a sixteen-year-old high-school student from South Africa’s Kwa Magxaki Township, writes, “Education 

. . . is a lifetime insurance . . . a bus to a brighter future for all our people.” Since its founding in 1994, the Global 

Fund for Children (GFC) has been committed to securing this right for the world’s most vulnerable children. 

culminated in the development of a 

strategic plan that will guide GFC over 

the next several years. The plan’s three 

overarching goals are: 

Expanding networks—going to scale 

and serving more children: GFC seeks 

to take its work to a larger scale to 

influence positively the lives of more 

children by strengthening grassroots 

nongovernmental organizations that 

serve vulnerable young people around 

the world. 

Generating knowledge: GFC seeks to 

acquire new knowledge about the work 

of its grantee partners, assemble existing 

knowledge in new ways through its 

children’s-book-publishing venture, and 

disseminate the knowledge it collects in 

innovative ways. 

Building sustainability: GFC seeks 

to make its work sustainable by 

strengthening the institution through the 

acquisition and retention of quality staff, 

engaged board members, and diverse 

financial resources.


6 Annual Report 2002–2003

“ I started coming to school because I 

wanted to learn how to write my name.” 

TRAIN PLATFORM SCHOOL STUDENT, AGE 15 

(Ruchika Social Service Organisation) Bhubaneswar, India (Translated from Oriya) 

From the beginning, the Global Fund for Children has been committed to forging open, productive collaborations 

with each of the organizations that it supports. GFC strives to balance the professionalism of an international 

funder with the accessibility of a small and community-oriented grant maker, continually exchanging experiences, 

practices, and ideas with its grantee partners. GFC’s grants support nonformal education programs that integrate 

basic subjects, such as literacy, numeracy, and language skills, with awareness building and training in vocational 

skills, reproductive health, hygiene, environmental issues, technological literacy, human rights issues, conflict 

resolution, and artistic expression. 

GFC maintains a strong commitment 

to supporting grassroots organizations 

whose missions focus on making 

nonformal education programs available 

to young people. Yet, after five years 

of funding small, indigenously led 

organizations, GFC concluded that the 

community of grassroots organizations 

working with vulnerable children would 

benefit from a grant-making approach that 

focuses on a defined set of issues. As 

mentioned in the previous section, GFC 

currently is concentrating its energies 

on the following four global areas: 

Schools and Scholarships—programs 

that afford children the opportunity to 

go to school where no such opportunity 

otherwise exists 

Hazardous Child Labor—programs 

that target individual children caught 

in harmful work situations 

Child Prostitution and Exploitation— 

programs that protect children from 

initial and continued exposure to 

the commercial sex trade and sexual 

exploitation 

The Distinctive Needs of Vulnerable 

Boys—programs that confront the special 

challenges of marginalized, at-risk boys 

GFC’s grant-making team actively seeks 

out and approaches potential grantee 

partners. These organizations are 

identified through a number of avenues, 

including referrals by like-minded grant 

makers, nonprofit groups, and GFC 

funders; exploratory site visits made five 

to six times a year by GFC’s program 

officers to countries around the world; 

and articles and newsletters about 

children, education, human rights, 

international development, and other 

pertinent topics. As GFC generally 

initiates contact with potential grantee 

partners, the ensuing dynamic is one of 

genuine interest, mutual learning, and 

cooperation. 

GFC’s partnerships with grantee partners 

extend beyond traditional funding 

relationships. In almost all cases, GFC 

makes an initial grant award with the 

expectation that it will renew its funding 

for three to five years. First-year grants 

from GFC range from $5,000 to $8,000. 

Depending on the annual organizational 

budget of the grantee partner, subsequent 

grants range between $5,000 and $15,000. 

In an effort to encourage partners to 

continually diversify their funding 

bases, GFC will not fund more than 25 

percent of a grantee partner’s annual 

GRANT MAKING 

budget. In response to the needs of 

grassroots organizations and the health 

and well-being of the children and youth 

they serve, GFC also provides a $1,000 

supplemental health and well-being 

grant to those grantee partners falling 

within GFC’s four priority portfolios. 

Beyond providing financial support, GFC 

works diligently to leverage additional 

resources on behalf of its grantee 

partners, offers tracking grants to former 

grantee partners, and works cooperatively 

with indigenous consultants to provide 

organizational-development assistance. 


GRANT MAKING 

Criteria for Choosing Grantee Partners 

Through an extensive network of locally based resources around the world, the Global Fund for Children actively 

seeks prospective grantee partners who are working at the community level. GFC bases its election of grantee 

partners on the following criteria: 

Service to Underserved or Persecuted 

Populations of Young People 

The organization should provide services 

to underserved or persecuted populations 

of young people, including street children, 

child laborers, AIDS orphans, sex 

workers, hard-to-reach populations in 

rural areas, or other vulnerable groups. 

Community Involvement 

The organization should embrace the 

community as an integral part of its 

success; the community should provide 

insight, financial support, evaluation, 

and inspiration. 

Innovation in Learning Methods and/or 

Intervention Methods 

The organization should demonstrate 

effective innovation in teaching basic 

education and life skills, including but not 

limited to job skills, the arts, multicultural 

awareness, conflict resolution, human 

rights awareness, health education, and 

environmental education. 


Leadership and Advocacy 

The organization should consistently 

demonstrate leadership qualities, 

including good management and 

communication skills, compassion for 

the population served, entrepreneurialism, 

and resourcefulness; the organization 

should make a longer-term impact 

on policy at the municipal, state, or 

national level. 

Replicable Model 

The organization’s programs should 

be replicable, with certain adjustments, 

to other sites, locally, nationally, and 

internationally, without compromising 

the cultural and social fabric of 

the communities. 

Sustainability 

The organization should possess plans 

and/or the means to sustain its programs 

into the future through income-generating 

activities, government support, and/or 

support from additional funders. 

Youth Participation 

The organization should value and 

encourage input on program and 

management issues from the young 

people it serves. 

Fiscal Responsibility 

The organization should demonstrate a 

solid accounting system and the means 

to manage its finances. 

Social Return on Monetary Investment 

The organization should realize a 

significant impact relative to GFC’s 

financial award, as measured by the 

number of people affected by a program 

and the manner in which their lives 

are changed. 

The Global Fund for Children does not 

accept unsolicited proposals.

“ My mother often said, ‘Come, Chayna, tell me what 

you have learned today from your group work,’ and I 

think it is also education for my mother.” 

CHAYNA, AGE 12 (Phulki) Dhaka, Bangladesh (Translated from Bangla) 

S C H O O L S A N D S C H O L A R S H I P S P O R T F O L I O 

Enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, education is every child’s 

right. Unfortunately, one in five school-age children around the world—120 to 125 

million children worldwide—are not enrolled in primary school. Even where government 

schools exist, teachers are often unable to teach class on a regular schedule; books and 

learning materials are scarce; classes are crowded; schools are unsafe; and communities 

have little say in what schools teach. In addition, in many countries where schools are 

nominally free, supplemental fees and other costs, such as those for books and uniforms, 

are higher than many families can afford. 

For millions of children, the choice appears to be either work and eat or study and starve. 

Despite the growing global awareness and concern surrounding the issue of universal 

education, effort and innovation must come from within the communities that are in 

need of education. GFC has identified the following grantee partners as highly effective 

and successful agents of change within their own societies, all of them profoundly 

changing the lives of thousands of children through nonformal education, skills training, 

youth empowerment programs, and scholarships for both primary- and secondary-school 

children to attend formal school. 

For more information about this issue, visit www.globalfundforchildren.org/news/whitepapers.htm. 



ASOCIACIÓN DE PROMOTORES 

DE EDUCACIÓN INICIAL Y 

PREPRIMARIA BILINGÜE MAYA 

IXIL (APEDIBIMI) (Association of 

Promoters of Early and Preprimary 

Bilingual Education in Maya Ixil) 

$6,000/47,280 quetzales* 

Nebaj, Guatemala 

Executive director: Benito Terraza Cedillo 

apedibimi@hotmail.com 

APEDIBIMI works to address the absence of 

bilingual preprimary education in the Ixil and 

Spanish languages by providing educational 

services in twenty preprimary centers in 

fourteen villages, serving more than 1,300 

children. GFC’s grant pays for APEDIBIMI’s 

preprimary-education centers and workshops 

for parents. 

ASOCIACIÓN DEPORTE Y VIDA 

(Sports and Life Association) 

$6,000/20,970 nuevos soles 

Lima, Peru 

Executive director: José Luis Quiroga Becerra 

sdiestro@yahoo.com 

Deporte y Vida encourages young people 

living in the sprawling slum of Villa El 

Salvador to become involved in education 

and life skills training by offering them the 

rare opportunity to play soccer, volleyball, 

and other sports they love. GFC’s grant is 

helping Deporte y Vida expand its work to the 

Villa El Salvador neighborhood of Jardines 

de Pachamac, serving an additional three 

hundred children. 

ASOCIACIÓN SOLAS Y UNIDAS 

(Alone and United Association) 


Lima, Peru 

Executive director: Sonia Borja Velazco 

solasunidas@hotmail.com 

Solas y Unidas is the only organization in Peru 

that aims to improve the quality of life for 

children and women living with HIV/AIDS by 

providing empowering personal and collective 

endeavors in the areas of health, leadership, 

and employment. GFC’s grant provides 

support for Solas y Unidas’s day school for 

children living with HIV/AIDS. 

2002 grant: $5,000 


CAMBODIAN VOLUNTEERS FOR 

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 

(CVCD) 

$11,000/42,185,000 riel 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

Executive director: Sothea Arun 

info@cvcd.org 

CVCD promotes community volunteerism 

and offers nonformal education programs 

to nearly two thousand disadvantaged 

children and youths, including those living 

in the slums, land mine survivors, and child 

prostitutes. GFC’s grant is for general support. 

www.cvcd.org 

1999 through 2001 grants: $19,000 total 

CHILDREN’S TOWN 

$11,000/46,750,000 kwacha 

Malambanyama Village, Zambia 

Executive director: Moses Zulu 

childaid@zamnet.zm 

Children’s Town is a residential school that 

assists AIDS orphans and other abandoned 

children with immediate needs, including 

food, shelter, and medical care; nurtures them 

in a secure, family-like environment; and 

provides high-quality education to students 

who have dropped out of or never attended 

government-run schools. GFC’s grant provides 

general support to Children’s Town, including 

high-school scholarships. 


CHRIST SCHOOL 

$6,000/10,380,000 shillings 

Bundibugyo, Uganda 

Executive director: Kevin Bartkovich 

kevinandjd@yahoo.com 

Christ School, a residential school, provides 

secondary education for children living in 

and around Bundibugyo, one of the poorest 

regions in Uganda, where residents live under 

constant threat of violence from rebel groups 

of the neighboring Democratic Republic of the 

Congo. GFC’s grant pays for a new Science, 

Technology, and Life Skills Education program 

that provides students with hands-on and 

practical educational experiences in and out of 

the classroom. 

1999 grant: $3,000 

CIDADELA DAS CRIANÇAS 

(Children’s Town) 

$7,000/160,090,000 meticais 

Maputo, Mozambique 

Executive director: Sarmento Preço 

cidadelamap@teledata.mz 

Cidadela provides a healthy environment 

in which over five hundred former street 

children, AIDS orphans, and children from 

impoverished families—nearly one hundred 

of whom both study and live at Cidadela—can 

*Currencies calculated on 3 January 2003 for fall grants and on 28 April 2003 for spring grants. 

attend formal academic classes, learn 

professional skills, and contribute to the 

daily functioning of the school. GFC’s grant 

provides general support for Cidadela’s 

academic and skills training programs. 

CONQUEST FOR LIFE 

$11,000/92,873 rand 

Westbury, South Africa 

Executive director: Glen Steyn 

info@conquest.org.za 

Conquest for Life is an organization run by 

young people for young people that aims 

to empower youth through its day camps, 

after-school programs, computer training 

center, vocational training program, victimoffender 

mediation, and HIV/AIDS counseling. 

GFC’s grant provides support for Conquest 

for Life’s Youth Enrichment Project, including 

a Just For Kids peace games celebration. 

www.conquest.org.za 

2001 grant: $5,000 

FRIENDS FOR STREET CHILDREN 

(FFSC) 

$11,000/163,378,000 dong 

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 

Executive director: Thomas Tran Van Soi 

hsc-hsma@cinet.vnnews.com 

FFSC is one of Vietnam’s pioneers in 

developing innovative programs that address 

the needs of street children and underserved 

youth by training teachers and educators 

in counseling, advocacy, intervention, 

and other traditional areas of social work. 

GFC’s grant provides general support and 

capacity building for FFSC’s Le Minh Xuan 

Development Center, which offers classes on 

literature, math, health, and natural sciences, 

in addition to vocational training, familycentered 

activities, and health care. 

2000 and 2001 grants: $11,000 total 

FUNDACIÓN APOYAR 

(Support Foundation) 

$6,000/17,082,000 pesos 

Cartagena, Colombia 

Executive director: Luz Dary Bueno 

albaricardo2000@yahoo.com 

Fundación Apoyar provides early-childhooddevelopment 

activities, a rarity in developing 

economies, through special toy libraries, 

supplemented by nonformal education for 

youth throughout Colombia. GFC’s grant pays 

for a new toy library in the urban slum area 

of San José de los Campanos in the city of 

Cartagena.

FUNDACIÓN LA PAZ: CENTRO 

DE CAPACITACIÓN TÉCNICA 

SARENTEÑANI (La Paz Foundation: 

Sarenteñani Technical Training Center) 

$6,000/45,024 bolivianos 

La Paz, Bolivia 

Executive director: Jorge Domic Ruiz 

flpsocioeduca@kolla.net 

The Sarenteñani Technical Training Center 

of the community-based Fundación La Paz 

provides quality, certified training in leather 

production, auto mechanics, carpentry, 

computer operation, metal working, and 

textile design to underprivileged youth. 

GFC’s grant provides general support for the 

Sarenteñani Technical Training Center. 

GRAMIN MAHILA SIKSHAN 

SANSTHAN (GMSS) 

(Sikar Girls Education Initiative) 

$11,000/527,230 rupees 

Sikar, India 

Executive director: Chain Singh Ayra 

gm_skr86@yahoo.co.in 

GMSS provides quality education for girls 

in rural Rajasthan who would otherwise be 

unable to attend school, enabling them to lead 

meaningful and prosperous lives and to make 

significant contributions to the well-being 

of their families and society. GFC’s grant 

provides general support for GMSS. 

2001 grant: $10,000 

HORN OF AFRICA RELIEF AND 

DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION 

$6,000/15,720,000 shillings 

Sanaag Region, Somalia 

Executive director: Fatima Jibrell 

horn-rel@nbnet.co.ke 

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. 

GFC’s grant is supporting the implementation 

and monitoring of youth-led community 

development projects in six villages, part 

of Horn Relief’s Pastoral Youth Leadership 

Outreach Program. www.hornrelief.org 

ITHUTENG TRUST 

$7,000/50,160 rand 

Soweto, South Africa 

Executive director: Jacqueline Maarohanye 

ithuteng@mweb.co.za 

The Ithuteng Trust is the only organization 

working in the Orlando section of Soweto 

that strives for the positive development of 

at-risk and traumatized youth and focuses 

in particular on preventing these young 

people from engaging in criminal activities. 

GFC’s grant provides general support for the 

Ithuteng Trust. 

JIFUNZE PROJECT 

(Learning Project) 

$6,000/5,338,000 shillings 

Kibaya, Tanzania 

Executive director: Yahaya Ndee 

info@jifunze.org 

The Jifunze Project aims to remedy the 

problem of education for the children of 

Tanzania’s impoverished and isolated Kiteto 

District by working alongside community 

members to help them create a sustainable 

educational system. GFC’s grant supports the 

Jifunze Project’s new Early Learning Center, 

the only center of its type in rural Tanzania. 

www.jifunze.org 

KAMPUCHEAN ACTION FOR 

PRIMARY EDUCATION (KAPE) 

$7,000/26,710,600 riel 

Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia 

Executive director: Sao Vanna 

kape.cambodia@bigpond.com.kh 

KAPE works with 172 schools serving seventy 

thousand children to promote its mission 

to provide every Cambodian child with a 

quality basic education. GFC’s grant funds 

scholarships and tutoring costs for forty-nine 

girls participating in KAPE’s Girls’ Lower 

Secondary School Program, as well as support 

and capacity building for Local Scholarship 

Management Committees. 

KEMBATTI MENTTI 

GEZZIMA-TOPE (KMG) 

(Kembatta Women’s Self-Help Center) 

$6,000/50,700 birr 

Kembatta Alaba and Tembaro Zone, Ethiopia 

Executive director: Bogaletch Gebre 

kmg.selfhelp@telecom.net.et 

KMG focuses on improving reproductivehealth 

awareness and practices, providing 

vocational and entrepreneurial skills 

training, and protecting and restoring the 

environment in rural areas, with improving 

and increasing access to basic education 

as the cornerstone of all its activities. GFC’s 

grant provides support for KMG’s nonformallearning 

center in rural Zato Shodera village. 

www.kmgselfhelp.org 

KIDS IN NEED OF DIRECTION 

(KIND) 

$6,000/36,720 dollars 

Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 

Director: Marlon Persad 

kind@kindkids.net 

KIND assists disadvantaged children 

and youth in the low-income area of 

Lavantille in Port-of-Spain by helping them 

overcome emotional or physical abuse, 

build self-esteem, and restructure broken 

family life. GFC’s grant provides support 

for KIND’s nonformal education program. 

www.kindkids.net 

KITEMU INTEGRATED SCHOOL 

$6,000/10,380,000 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. 

This grant is for general support. 

2001 grant: $4,000 

NEPALI-BHOTIA EDUCATION 

CENTER (NTEC) 

$6,000/451,320 rupees 

Singsa area, Nepal 

Project coordinator: Chhongduk Bhote 

ntecnepal@mos.com.np 

NTEC is an integrated education project 

that includes families and schools in its 

effort to increase the quality, relevance, 

and accessibility of formal and nonformal 

schooling for the isolated ethnic Tibetan 

Bhotia minority. GFC’s grant provides support 

for NTEC’s Nonformal Education/Out of 

School Children Program. 

NETWORK OF 

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND 

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 

(NEED) 

$6,000/284,100 rupees 

Lucknow, India 

Executive director: Anil K. Singh 

need@satyam.net.in 

NEED mobilizes and facilitates the grassrootslevel 

formation of self-help groups in order 

to create civil institutions that can respond 

to the needs of undereducated women and 

children in rural India. GFC’s grant supports 

four nonformal education centers that provide 

boys and girls aged five to fourteen with basic 

education, awareness training, and health 

education and that are operated by women 

from local NEED-facilitated self-help groups. 

www.indev.nic.in/need 

NISHTHA (Dedication) 

$11,000/527,230 rupees 

Baruipur, India 

Executive director: A. Raha 

minadas@vsnl.net 

Nishtha’s Balika Bahini and Kishori Bahini 

programs, which combine nonformal 

education, basic health care, and social 

activism, help girls in over sixty villages 

in rural West Bengal gain the skills and 

confidence that enable them to claim 

community roles equal to those of their male 

counterparts. GFC’s grant funds school- and 

activity-related fees for three hundred 

students. 



Project Profile 

PROJOVEN (FOR YOUTH) 

Asunción, Paraguay 

Some days, sixteen-year-old Felipe Zarza 

thinks he would like to be a farmer. On 

other days, he leans more toward becoming 

a mechanic, or perhaps an electrical 

repairman. His goals change from day to 

day, but Felipe knows that by studying 

hard and staying off the streets, he is 

building the foundation to pursue any of 

his dreams. Two years ago, Felipe was a 

member of a gang and spent little time at 

home. But for the past two years, he has 

been a student in ProJOVEN’s Literacy 

and Life Skills for Youth in Danger course. 

Participants study health, nutrition, 

and personal hygiene, and learn ways to 

prevent drug and alcohol abuse and the 

spread of sexually transmitted diseases. 

The program helps young people learn to 

communicate, to build self-esteem, and to 

make healthy decisions for their futures. It 

also teaches professional skills to give them 

greater opportunities for employment, 

thus lowering their likelihood of future 

delinquency. 

ProJOVEN works in the poor 

communities of Asunción to combat 

the effects of prevalent alcohol and drug 

abuse, single-parent homes, domestic 

and community violence, and high 

levels of unemployment. ProJOVEN 

recognizes that children like Felipe often 


have younger siblings who follow their 

examples, whether positive or negative. 

Felipe’s new attitude has already had an 

impact on his younger brother, fourteen- 

year-old Jorge, who has resisted peer 

pressure to join a gang. Jorge sees Felipe 

working hard and acquiring new skills 

through his classes and through his work 

at ProJOVEN’s community garden project. 

As a general assistant in this project, Felipe 

earns a small income and is learning 

valuable agricultural skills and lessons 

about responsibility and teamwork. The 

work also keeps him close to home and 

off the dangerous streets of Asunción. 

ProJOVEN prepares students to enter 

the formal education system or to take 

professional courses at a technical school, 

and it provides scholarships for students 

who complete the program and matriculate 

into formal schools. Most importantly, 

ProJOVEN helps young people think 

beyond their daily existence. Felipe says, 

“Thanks to ProJOVEN’s Literacy and Life 

Skills course, I have learned to read and 

write. I have also learned to communicate 

better with others and to choose my 

friends more carefully. I never thought 

about the future before, but now I know it 

is important to plan certain things and be 

more prepared to do them.” 

Maureen Herman, founder and executive 

director of ProJOVEN, spent two years in 

Paraguay as an urban youth development 

specialist with the Peace Corps. While 

growing up in inner-city Detroit, Michigan, 

she observed firsthand the stark contrast 

between the haves and the have-nots. 

Her commitment to closing this gap 

on a global level led her to return to 

Paraguay to fight for restorative juvenile 

justice. Ms. Herman was selected as an 

Artemisia Foundation fellow in 2003.

NORTHNET FOUNDATION: 

AIDS ORPHANS FUND 

$6,000/257,580 baht 

Chiang Mai, Thailand 

Director: Suchada Suwannathes 

nnp8@chmai2.loxinfo.co.th 

The AIDS Orphans Fund, a program of the 

NorthNet Foundation, works to provide 

educational, social, and employment support 

to AIDS orphans and their caregivers so that 

they can continue to live healthy lives in 

their own communities. GFC’s grant provides 

general support for the AIDS Orphans Fund, 

which furnishes school fees, uniforms, and 

school supplies. 

OUR CHILDREN, INC. 

$6,000/13,372,800 leones 

Freetown, Sierra Leone 

President: Nasserie Carew 

ourchildreninc@yahoo.com 

Our Children provides a residential program 

for war orphans, an accelerated learning 

program for disadvantaged children, 

and school supplies for children living in 

displacement camps in and around Freetown. 

GFC’s grant provides support for Our 

Children’s accelerated learning and tuition 

program located in the neighborhood of Kissy. 

www.ourchildreninc.com 

2002 grant: $4,000 

PRAYAS (To Wish) 

$6,000/287,580 rupees 

Jaipur, India 

Executive director: Jatindar Arora 

prayasjpr@hotmail.com 

Prayas pioneered and operates one of the 

first integrated nonformal schools in India 

for special-needs, low-income, and neglected 

children. GFC’s grant is for general support. 

2001 grant: $4,000 

PROJOVEN (For Youth) 

$8,000/54,208,000 guarani 


Executive director: Maureen Herman 

projoven@worldnet.att.net 

ProJOVEN uses a restorative justice model, 

along with education and youth guidance, 

training community volunteers and educators, 

and networking and creating awareness 

within the community, to help young people 

living in poor communities in Asunción who 

have had conflict with the law. GFC’s grant 

provides support for ProJOVEN’s Literacy and 

Life Skills for Youth in Danger project, which 

teaches reading and writing to adolescents 

aged thirteen to sixteen who are in danger of 

delinquency. www.projoven.org 

2002 grant: $5,000 

REENCONTRO (Mozambican 

Association for the Support and 

Development of Orphan Children) 

$7,000/160,090,000 meticais 

Maputo, Mozambique 

President: Olinda Mugabe 

olinda@realnet.co.sz 

Reencontro works to alleviate the plight of 

AIDS orphans through home-based care 

visits; identification of school vacancies that 

can be filled by orphans; provision of school 

fees, materials, and uniforms; registration of 

children’s citizenship; counseling and medical 

assistance; and family placement of orphans. 

GFC’s grant provides support for Reencontro’s 

projects serving the educational, health, and 

survival needs of over six hundred AIDS 

orphans. 

ROOM TO READ 

$5,000/76,990,000 dong 

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 

Executive director: Erin Keown 

info@roomtoread.org 

Room to Read partners with communities 

in underdeveloped rural areas of Vietnam 

and Nepal to build schools; to enhance 

educational facilities within schools by 

establishing libraries, computer labs, and 

language training centers; and to provide 

scholarships to underprivileged girls who, due 

to poverty and cultural bias, were previously 

unable to attend school. GFC’s grant is 

funding one-year scholarships for fifty girls 

living in rural Vietnam and providing support 

for the organization’s projects in Vietnam. 

www.roomtoread.org 

RUCHIKA SOCIAL SERVICE 

ORGANISATION (RSSO): 

TRAIN PLATFORM SCHOOLS 

$13,000/523,090 rupees 

Bhubaneswar, India 

Executive director: Inderjit Khurana 

rssobbs@hotmail.com 

The Train Platform Schools’ informal 

classrooms give more than four hundred 

children who live, work, or beg on or around 

the railway platforms daily access to books, 

worksheets, and arts and crafts. GFC’s grant 

is being used both for operating the Train 

Platform Schools, a project of RSSO, and for 

growing RSSO’s endowment to ensure the 

future sustainability of the organization. This 

grant was funded in large part by a readathon 

conducted by students at the Mirman School 

in Los Angeles, California. 



SHILPA CHILDREN’S TRUST (SCT) 

$6,000/578,700 rupees 

Colombo, Sri Lanka 

Executive director: Nita Gunesekera 

shilpa@dynaweb.lk 

SCT, inspired by the Montessori method, 

provides quality preschool and 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. GFC’s grant provides support for 

SCT’s free preschool. 

SOCIETY BILIKI 

$6,000/12,960 lari 

Gori, Georgia 

Executive director: Mari Mgebrishvili 

biliki@iberiapac.ge 

Biliki assists internally displaced, 

underprivileged, and special-needs 

children through its Day Center, which 

offers educational and creative programs, 

psychological services, a mothers-and-children 

club, and referrals to other community social 

services. GFC’s grant provides support to 

Biliki’s Day Center. 

VIKRAMSHILA EDUCATION 

RESOURCE SOCIETY 

$6,000/287,580 rupees 

Bigha, India 

Executive director: Shubhra Chatterji 

vikramshila@vikramshila.org 

Vikramshila establishes model community 

schools 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. GFC’s grant supports 

the school’s operational costs, including 

sports activities and cultural programs. 

www.vikramshila.org 


Around the world, 246 million young people—one in every six children aged five to 

seventeen—are engaged either part-time or full-time in work that falls under international 

definitions of child labor. Laws and standards, while necessary, are increasingly recognized 

as only one part of the answer to the complex problems that lead children into harmful, 

hazardous, exploitative, and inappropriate work. The roots of child labor lie in poverty, 

discrimination, traditional expectations, and lack of other opportunities. Exploitation 

and harsh working conditions occur both outside and inside the home, and even children 

working in less extreme conditions to help support their families suffer slower growth and 

diminished learning potential. 

GFC believes that not all children’s work is harmful, and in some cases it may well help 

families survive in developing economies. However, long hours of work in factories, at 

home, on the streets, or in the fields keep millions of children out of school and leave 

those who do attend school too exhausted to study and learn. Recognizing the special 

needs of child laborers, the following organizations have tailored their educational, skills 

training, and youth empowerment programs in ways that best engage those children who 

are otherwise excluded from the formal school system due to the demands of their work. 

By showing child laborers and their communities the positive and rewarding alternatives 

to menial employment, these educational organizations are making a real impact on the 

futures of communities throughout the world. 


14 

Annual Report 2002–2003 

“ I want to be educated very much, as education lasts 

through the whole life and it will help me in the future.” 

MAIAM, AGE 8 (Society Biliki) Gori, Georgia (Translated from Georgian) 

H A Z A R D O U S C H I L D L A B O R P O R T F O L I O

ASOCIACIÓN DE DEFENSA DE 

LA VIDA (ADEVI) (Association for 

the Defense of Life) 


Huachipa, Peru 

Executive director: Ezequiel Robles Hurtado 

adevi@terra.com.pe 

ADEVI operates a school for children who are 

employed in the brickyards of the community 

of Huachipa, with the aim of reintegrating 

them into the regular school system. GFC’s 

grant is helping ADEVI extend its nonformal 

educational services to eighty additional 

children. www.geocities.com/adeviperu 

CENTRO SAN JUAN BOSCO 

(CSJB) (San Juan Bosco Center) 

$8,000/102,660 lempiras 

Tela, Honduras 

Executive director: Dylcia de Ochoa 

sanjuan@hondutel.hn 

CSJB seeks to enhance and sustain the quality 

of life of working children and their families 

by promoting the values of responsibility, 

solidarity, innovation, and participation and 

by providing children with opportunities to 

continue their education. GFC’s grant supports 

CSJB in paying school fees and purchasing 

school uniforms, shoes, and backpacks for 

children working in the street markets. 

ESPACIO CULTURAL CREATIVO 

(Cultural Creative Space) 

$6,000/45,024 bolivianos 

La Paz, Bolivia 

Executive director: Washington Estellano 

pipoeste@ceibo.entelnet.bo 

Espacio Cultural Creativo invites shoeshine 

boys, market-working children, and street 

children to interactive workshops held in 

open spaces such as parks, encouraging 

them to take part in theatrical skits, music, 

storytelling, and other creative activities, and 

ultimately striving to channel participants into 

its basic literacy programs as well as those of 

other educational organizations. GFC’s grant 

provides general support for twenty-eight 

workshops. 

FUNDACIÓN JUNTO CON LOS 

NIÑOS DE PUEBLA (JUCONI) 

(Together with the Children 

Foundation of Puebla) 

$8,000/83,440 pesos 

Puebla, Mexico 

Director general: Alison Lane 

alison@juconi.org.mx 

JUCONI works with schoolteachers, parents, 

probation officers, employers, and other 

significant figures within a market-working 

child’s life, striving to empower family 

members to create permanent, positive 

relationships within their existing and future 

families and to break the cycle of abuse and 

violence prevalent in the homes of working 

children. GFC’s grant provides general support 

for JUCONI’s project to prevent and reduce 

violence in the families of market-working 

children. www.juconi.org.mx 

GLOBAL MARCH AGAINST 

CHILD LABOUR 

$5,000/236,750 rupees 

Worldwide (based in New Delhi, India) 

Chairperson: Kailash Satyarthi 

yatra@del2.vsnl.net.in 

Global March is the largest worldwide network 

focused on protecting and promoting the 

rights of child laborers, especially the rights 

to receive a free, meaningful education and to 

be free from performing any work that is likely 

to be damaging to a child’s physical, mental, 

spiritual, moral, or social development. GFC’s 

grant recognizes the capacity of Global March 

as a networking partner who identifies and 

recommends grassroots groups working 

in the area of child labor for GFC and other 

international grant makers and organizations. 

www.globalmarch.org 

JEEVA JYOTHI (JJ) 

(Everlasting Light) 

$8,000/378,800 rupees 

Chennai, India 

Managing director: V. Susai Raj 

jyothij@vsnl.com 

JJ aims to treat both the symptoms and 

underlying causes of child labor in Chennai’s 

rice mills through programs that include 

workplace-based nonformal education for 

children, adult literacy classes, incomegeneration 

training, and awareness and 

advocacy campaigns. GFC’s grant provides 

general support for JJ’s rice-mill-based 

education project, which provides preschool 

and nursery programs for children of mill 

workers. www.jeevajyothi.org 

2002 grant: $5,000 

LA CONSCIENCE 

$7,000/4,179,700 francs 

Lomé, Togo 

Executive director: Kodjo Djissenou 

laconscience@hotmail.com 

La Conscience’s education project to combat 

child trafficking endeavors to prevent the 

exploitation of Togo’s impoverished children, 

who are easily lured to neighboring countries 

to work in corn, banana, manioc, coffee, 

and cocoa plantations. GFC’s grant provides 

monetary support for one school year for 

eighty-nine formal-school students whose 

family, economic, and geographic situations 

make them vulnerable to child traffickers. 

H A Z A R D O U S C H I L D L A B O R P O R T F O L I O 

RURAL INSTITUTE FOR 

DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION 

(RIDE) 

$11,000/527,230 rupees 

Kanchipuram, India 

Executive director: S. Jeyaraj 

ride@md3.vsnl.net.in 

RIDE’s goal is to ease the educational, social, 

and emotional transition for child laborers 

working in the silk looms of Kanchipuram. 

GFC’s grant provides support for three Bridge 

School Centers, which offer nonformal 

education as a means to integrate children 

into regular schools, and three new Child 

Labor Prevention and Information Centers. 

www.rideindia.org 

2001 grant: $4,000 

SECDO WOMEN 

DEVELOPMENT CENTRE 

$6,000/578,700 rupees 

Matale, Sri Lanka 

Executive director: D. M. C. Dissanayake 

arda2000@sol.lk 

SECDO focuses on the children and women 

working in the tea plantations surrounding 

Matale, where it is estimated that between 

100,000 and 500,000 children are illegally 

employed, working up to twelve hours a day 

and denied the right to attend school. GFC’s 

grant provides general support for SECDO’s 

programs in literacy, health education, human 

rights awareness, English-language courses, 

and computer skills training. 

YAYASAN BINA POTENSI 

MASYARAKAT (YAPIM) (Institute of 

Community Potency Motivator) 

$6,000/52,457,520 rupiahs 

Sidorahayu, Indonesia 

Director: Muh. Iswanto 

yapim_ngo_mlg@yahoo.com 

YAPIM’s skill education service for children 

working in construction, cigarette rolling, 

and automobile production strives to give 

them skills for safer alternative jobs while 

advocating for the rights and development of 

their rural communities. GFC’s grant provides 

general support for YAPIM’s skill education 

service for child laborers. 



RURAL INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION 

Kanchipuram, India 

At thirteen, Shanthi is learning to read 

and write, has established friendships, and 

is preparing to enter public school and 

pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. 

But less than a year ago, she was facing 

a narrow and dismal future. Like many 

school-age children in Kanchipuram, 

Shanthi worked full-time in one of the 

city’s silk looms. She had no chance to 

attend school, to socialize with other 

children, or to learn other skills. 

The owners of the silk looms readily loan 

impoverished families large sums of money 

in exchange for enlisting their children as 

low-wage laborers. Parents are rarely able 

to repay the original loans and often seek 

to borrow additional money from the loom 

owners, effectively bonding their children 

into labor far into the future. Since 1984, 

the Rural Institute for Development 

Education (RIDE) has been a leading 

advocate for the eradication of child labor 

in Kanchipuram and other cities in the 

state of Tamil Nadu. RIDE has directly 

secured the release of more than two 

thousand children from the looms and has 

assisted in the release of many more. 


Shanthi is a student in one of RIDE’s ten 

Bridge School Centers, which provide 

children with an educational, social, and 

emotional transition from the silk looms 

and other types of child labor to public 

schools. They offer remedial education to 

help children like Shanthi catch up with 

other students and acquire productive 

learning habits. In addition, they provide 

health care, vocational skills training, 

recreation, rehabilitation, and counseling. 

Bridge School Centers also offer services 

to the parents of child laborers. RIDE 

seeks to eradicate one of the basic causes 

of child labor by encouraging alternative 

sources of income. In exchange for 

releasing their children from the looms, 

parents may participate in RIDE’s Rural 

Entrepreneurship Development Program, 

which trains mothers of former child 

laborers to start and run their own 

businesses. Shanthi’s mother completed 

this program and both of Shanthi’s 

parents are now involved in one of RIDE’s 

Self-Help Groups, in which participants 

learn how to pool their savings and obtain 

low-interest bank loans. By working 

with children, their parents, and their 

communities, RIDE hopes to achieve its 

goal of declaring the Kanchipuram district 

free of child labor. 

S. Jeyaraj has been a teacher, journalist, 

program evaluator, community organizer, 

trainer, and social worker. He founded 

RIDE in 1984 with the goal of improving 

the lives of the rural poor by increasing 

education and awareness. Because of 

his commitment to rural development, he 

was chosen as a 2003 fellow by the Ford 

Motor Company International Fellowship 

Program of the 92nd Street Y.

“ Education is an innate human right. It enables the 

development of our personal and individual potential. 

I believe that one never finishes one’s education. . . . ” 

JEANNE, AGE 12 (La Conscience) Lomé, Togo (Translated from French) 

Worldwide, approximately ten million children are engaged in some form of 

the sex industry, and each year at least one million additional children, mostly 

girls, become prostitutes. Major forms of commercial sexual exploitation of 

children include prostitution, trafficking for sexual purposes, pornography, 

and sex tourism. Children remain vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation 

for many reasons, most notably poverty. In addition, discrimination against 

certain racial and ethnic groups, domestic abuse in families, and the rising 

numbers of street children and AIDS orphans are other major causes of child 

exploitation. 

Eliminating the commercial sexual exploitation of children around the world 

is a daunting task, but one that is achievable if programs that address not 

only the effects but also the roots of the problem receive adequate funding 

and recognition. GFC supports the following organizations—all of which 

provide a comprehensive range of nonformal educational instruction—in their 

innovative and successful approaches to protecting children from initial and 

continued exposure to the commercial sex industry. 

C H I L D P R O S T I T U T I O N A N D 

E X P L O I T A T I O N P O R T F O L I O 



C H I L D P R O S T I T U T I O N A N D E X P L O I T A T I O N P O R T F O L I O 

ECPAT INTERNATIONAL 

$5,000/214,650 baht 

Worldwide (based in Bangkok, Thailand) 

Executive director: Carmen Madrinan 

info@ecpat.net 

ECPAT International is a network of groups 

and organizations around the world that are 

working for the elimination of commercial 

sexual exploitation of children. GFC’s grant 

provides institutional support in order 

for ECPAT International to continue and 

strengthen its collaboration with GFC in 

providing referrals and other services. 

www.ecpat.net 

FUNDACIÓN DAR Y AMAR 

(CASA DAYA) 

(To Give and To Love Foundation) 

$11,000/114,213 pesos 

Mexico City, Mexico 

Executive director: Guillermina Guevara 

casadaya1@hotmail.com 

Casa Daya provides a structured and loving 

environment in which over 150 adolescent 

street mothers, whose new maternal 

responsibilities place them at high risk of 

using prostitution as a means to support 

themselves and their children, receive 

counseling, vocational training, and day care 

for their children. GFC’s grant is helping to 

expand Casa Daya’s candle-making workshop, 

which gives these young mothers the 

opportunity to channel their energies into 

creative design. 


KHMER KAMPUCHEA KROM 

FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND 

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION 

(KKKHRDA) 

$6,000/22,894,800 riel 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

Director: Son Yoeung 

kkkhrda@hotmail.com 

Amid girls lured to the red-light villages on 

the outskirts of Phnom Penh and elsewhere in 

Cambodia, KKKHRDA promotes and protects 

basic human rights through nonformal 

schooling, monitoring of human rights 

abuses, and community and professional 

development. GFC’s grant provides general 

support for KKKHRDA’s nonformal-education 

and vocational skills training program for girls 

who are at risk of entering the sex trade. 

18 


LUNA NUEVA (New Moon) 

$6,000/43,080,000 guarani 


Executive director: Natalia Cerdido 

lunanue@supernet.com.py 

Luna Nueva, the only organization in 

Paraguay that is working against the 

commercial sexual exploitation of children, 

aims to eradicate violence against women 

and children by developing and implementing 

education, health care, confidence building, 

human rights awareness, and violence 

prevention programs. GFC’s grant is helping 

to expand Luna Nueva’s outreach program to 

an additional two hundred at-risk girls. 

MOLO SONGOLOLO 

(Hello Millipede) 

$5,000/35,850 rand 

Cape Town, South Africa 

Directors: Zurayah Abass and Patric Solomons 

info@molo.org.za 

Molo Songololo focuses on the survival, 

development, and protection of children 

and their rights in South Africa. GFC’s grant 

provides support for Molo Songololo’s 

trafficking and prostitution prevention 

campaign, which, in partnership with local, 

national, and international organizations, 

promotes awareness of and action against 

child trafficking and prostitution. 

MOVIMIENTO PARA EL AUTO- 

DESARROLLO INTERNACIONAL 

DE LA SOLIDARIDAD (MAIS) 

(Movement for International Self- 

Development and Solidarity) 

$6,000/120,000 pesos 

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic 

Executive director: María Josefina Paulino 

maispto.pta@codetel.net.do 

MAIS strives to motivate children to stay in 

school and to prevent them from entering 

Puerto Plata’s lucrative sex tourism industry 

by offering academic support and social 

services to at-risk and exploited youth. GFC’s 

grant provides general support. 

2001 grant: $5,000 

PHULKI (Spark) 

$11,000/634,260 taka 

Dhaka, Bangladesh 

Executive director: Suraiya Haque 

phulki@citechco.net 

Phulki is dedicated to creating a world where 

working women will not have to sacrifice 

their children’s well-being in order to achieve 

economic emancipation, and the organization 

is now beginning to direct more attention 

to the dangers of trafficking and sexual 

exploitation of children. GFC’s grant provides 

support for Phulki’s Bow Bazar slum child-tochild 

program, which trains child leaders to 

spread information to other children about 

health and hygiene, child rights, gender 

equality, sexual abuse and exploitation, and 

social values. 

2002 grant: $5,000 

PRERANA (Inspiration) 

$11,000/527,230 rupees 

Mumbai, India 

Executive director: Priti Pravin Patkar 

preranaworks@vsnl.net 

Prerana’s Night Care Centre, one of the first 

in the world, provides children of prostitutes 

with basic education, nourishment, baths, 

recreation, regular medical checkups, 

counseling, and a safe place to sleep from 

5:30 pm until 9:30 am, thus sparing them the 

harmful realities of the red-light district and 

discouraging them from becoming secondgeneration 

prostitutes. GFC’s grant is for 

general support. 

2001 grant: $3,000 

PROTECTING ENVIRONMENT AND 

CHILDREN EVERYWHERE (PEACE) 

$11,000/1,060,950 rupees 

Colombo, Sri Lanka 

Executive director: Maureen Seneviratne 

peacesl@sri.lanka.net 

PEACE conducts a wide range of projects 

aimed at preventing children from entering 

the commercial sex trade and at creating 

community awareness of the scope and social 

ramifications of child abuse and sexually 

transmitted diseases. GFC’s grant provides 

general support for the organization, including 

the operation of ten nonformal-education 

centers and a vocational training program for 

350 boys and girls. 


TASINTHA PROGRAMME 

$6,000/28,536,600 kwacha 

Lusaka, Zambia 

Director: Clotilda Phiri 

tasinthaprog_zm@yahoo.co.uk 

Tasintha works to prevent women and 

children from entering the sex trade by giving 

them alternative income-generating skills and 

raising community awareness about the issue 

of prostitution, among other activities. GFC’s 

grant provides general support for Tasintha’s 

education, health-care, and professionaldevelopment 

activities for children and youth.

“ It’s very important to have education, because without 

it you can’t go far in life. You will also not be able 

to achieve your goals in life. It’s your future, so make 

the best of it.” JOSHUA, AGE 12 (Conquest for Life) Westbury, South Africa 

T H E D I S T I N C T I V E N E E D S O F 

V U L N E R A B L E B O Y S P O R T F O L I O 

While the cultural, social, and economic challenges facing girls have been 

well documented, much less attention has been focused on the world’s one 

hundred million boys who are deprived of educational opportunities. At the 

very least, these boys and young men, trapped by dire circumstances, become 

disillusioned, hopeless, and angry, making them vulnerable to negative forces 

such as extremism, sexism, and intolerance. In the worst cases, these young 

men turn their frustrations and despair violently outward. With few life 

choices and little to lose, this pool of males provides an endless supply of foot 

soldiers for the world’s local, national, and international conflicts. 

While GFC in no way wishes to detract from the important work that is being 

done on behalf of girls and women—indeed, nearly half of its grants have 

funded and continue to fund educational initiatives specifically for girls—it 

cannot fail to recognize the social, economic, and even security implications 

of neglecting this combustible population of marginalized young males. In 

order to respond to the needs of these boys and to make every community 

safer and stronger, GFC is committed to supporting the following educational 

organizations that confront the special challenges of at-risk boys. 



T H E D I S T I N C T I V E N E E D S O F V U L N E R A B L E B O Y S P O R T F O L I O 

AFGHAN INSTITUTE OF 

LEARNING (AIL) 

$11,000/470,690 afghani 

Nangahar and Kabul Provinces, Afghanistan 

Executive director: Sakena Yacoobi 

sakenay@aol.com 

AIL, in addition to promoting continuing 

and higher education as a means of 

empowering Afghan adults and girls, has 

begun to focus some of its attention on the 

unique educational needs of Afghan boys. 

GFC’s grant provides general support for 

two boys’ schools that incorporate AIL’s 

positive teaching methods and its specially 

designed peace and tolerance curriculum. 

www.creatinghope.org 


AÏNA: AFGHAN MEDIA AND 

CULTURE CENTER 

$6,000/258,000 afghani 

Kabul, Afghanistan 

Executive director: Reza 

info@ainaworld.org 

In an effort to motivate Afghan boys to 

stay in school and to prevent them from 

adopting many of the violent tendencies that 

are prevalent in Afghanistan’s troubled and 

vulnerable society, AÏNA is collaborating 

with Afghan Street Working Children and 

New Approach (ASCHIANA) to expand a 

literacy program bringing education to 

alienated and displaced boys living on the 

streets of Kabul. GFC’s grant is funding the 

purchase of school supplies for participants 

of ASCHIANA’s literacy and basic-education 

programs, and AÏNA’s printing costs of Parvaz, 

an independent magazine that helps boys 

understand the value of literacy and learning. 

www.ainaworld.org 

AMY BIEHL FOUNDATION TRUST 

(ABFT) 

$6,000/43,020 rand 


Director: Linda Biehl 

info@amybiehl.co.za 

ABFT works to provide both boys and girls 

with access to education, health care, gender 

awareness training, recreation, arts and music, 

and employment training—positive options 

that make young people less likely to commit 

violent crimes and more likely to lead healthy 

and productive lives. GFC’s grant supports 

four of ABFT’s Mural Exchange Projects, which 

provide disadvantaged boys aged thirteen 

to twenty-one with training by local artists 

to create murals focusing on the themes of 

peace and safety. www.amybiehl.org 


ASOCIACIÓN PARA LA ATENCIÓN 

INTEGRAL DE NIÑOS DE LA 

CALLE (AIDENICA) (Association for 

the Intensive Care of Street Boys) 


Lima, Peru 

Executive director: Arturo Flores Paz-Soldan 

casahogaraidenica@hotmail.com 

AIDENICA operates a specialized program 

that focuses on the rehabilitation of Peruvian 

street boys, mostly former substance abusers, 

through prevention, promotion, and protection 

interventions, including a semi-open home 

that provides boys with a stable, healthy 

environment in which to live. GFC’s grant 

provides general support for AIDENICA. 

www.geocities.com/aidenica 

IKAMVA LABANTU 

(The Future of Our Nation) 

$2,000/15,502 rand 


Managing director: Sipho Puwani 

info@ikamva.co.za 

Ikamva Labantu’s Boys/Men Project works 

with boys aged three to six in order to shape 

how they develop as boys and men and 

how they conceptualize masculinity in terms 

of respect and gentler approaches to daily 

interactions. GFC’s grant provides general 

funding for the pilot phase of this project, with 

the intent to use the results to expand to new 

areas and to help guide the development of a 

project for GFC’s vulnerable-boys issue area 

and to strengthen the body of knowledge on 

the impact on men’s gender issues in social 

development. 

INSTITUTO DEL MAÑANA 

(Institute of Tomorrow) 

$7,000/47,432,000 guarani 

Itagua, Paraguay 

Director: Carlos Noguera 

cnoguera@telesurf.com.py 

Instituto del Mañana operates the only 

residential program in Paraguay for boys 

aged seven to fourteen, many of whom 

have had some contact with the Paraguayan 

juvenile justice system, and provides them 

with basic education, occupational training, 

and other support while they live in a family 

setting with foster parents and other children. 

GFC’s grant provides general support. 

LIFE PIECES TO MASTERPIECES 

(LPTM) 

$9,000 

Washington DC, United States 

Executive director: Larry B. Quick 

lifepieces@hotmail.com 

LPTM provides creative-arts opportunities for 

boys aged three to twenty-one living in lowincome 

communities east of the Anacostia 

River in Washington DC and runs a variety of 

programs, including leadership development 

activities, field trips, homework assistance, 

and tutoring. GFC’s grant provides general 

support. www.lifepieces.org 

2000 grant: $5,000 

LOST BOYS FOUNDATION 

$6,000 

Atlanta GA, United States 

Executive director: Barbara Obrentz 

info@thelbf.org 

The Lost Boys Foundation empowers the 

Lost Boys of Sudan, a group of approximately 

3,800 young refugees from Sudan now 

living in the United States, with educational 

opportunities, cultural experiences, and the 

social skills necessary to become productive, 

self-sufficient members of the global 

community. GFC’s grant provides general 

support for the Lost Boys Foundation’s 

math tutoring program. 

www.lostboysfoundation.org 

SALAAM BAALAK TRUST (SBT) 

$6,000/284,100 rupees 

New Delhi, India 

Chairperson: Praveen Nair 

salaambt@vsnl.com 

SBT works in and around the New Delhi 

railway stations, bus stops, and congested 

business areas and slums, targeting runaway 

children who have no family or support 

system within the city. GFC’s grant provides 

general support for SBT’s drop-in shelter, 

which provides boys with a safe environment 

in which to sleep and eat, away from the 

police, drug dealers, and sexual predators 

who routinely harass the boys on the streets. 

www.salaambaalak.com 

SYNAPSE NETWORK CENTER 

$8,000/4,776,800 francs 

Dakar, Senegal 

Executive director: Ciré Kane 

synapse@refer.sn 

Synapse’s Education to Fight Exclusion Project 

works to empower street boys, who are easily 

influenced by negative and harmful teachings 

of fundamentalist Islamic daaras, to stand up 

for their rights, pursue their goals, and take 

greater responsibility in their communities. 


the Education to Fight Exclusion Project. 

www.synapsecenter.org 

2002 grant: $4,000

Abdul Ba is a talented painter and 

musician who dreams of becoming a 

professional artist. The eighteen-year-old 

Wolof speaker is learning French and 

English, studying math, developing his 

artistic skills, and learning how to run 

his own business. He is already selling 

some of his paintings and saving the 

money to invest in his own studio. Just 

fourteen months ago, life for Abdul was 

very different. His parents could no 

longer afford to send him to school, so he 

dropped out and spent most of his time 

hanging out on the streets with a group 

of directionless and sometimes violent 

young men. 

Many of Senegal’s young people, with 

scarce opportunities for employment, have 

few positive options available to them. Like 

Abdul, an increasing number of young 

people turn to life on the streets. These 

youth, most of them boys, grow up in the 

shadow of drugs, diseases, delinquency, 

violence, and street gangs. They often 

resort to begging and working at an early 

age and thus expose themselves to various 

forms of exploitation. More and more of 

these boys are entering daaras, schools that 

generally offer a narrow education based 

on extreme religious teachings. In many 

cases these boys, known as talibes, do not 

receive the education they are promised 

and instead spend much of each day on 

the street, working, begging, or stealing 

money to support their teachers. 

Synapse Network Center, which is 

based in Dakar and the surrounding 

neighborhoods, targets boys in the 

daaras and boys like Abdul who have few 

opportunities or are at risk of becoming 

involved in negative activities. Through 

its Education to Fight Exclusion Project, 

Synapse provides basic education, 

health and hygiene training, and lessons 

on personal responsibility to Dakar’s 

vulnerable boys and young men. By 

addressing larger social and personal 

welfare issues as well as the three Rs, 

Synapse strives to prepare these young 

people for adulthood and entry into the 

labor force. Synapse has certainly made a 

difference for Abdul. He says, “I feel more 

responsible for my future. I have come 

to believe that my future depends mostly 

on me, on the way I behave and on my 

willingness to succeed. I have gained much 

self-confidence, and I now have learned to 

trust others.” 


SYNAPSE NETWORK CENTER 

Dakar, Senegal 

Ciré Kane, founder and executive director 

of Synapse Network Center, has studied 

education psychology and professional 

counseling and holds an undergraduate 

degree in sociology. He was honored by 

the Berkana Institute, a global foundation 

supporting nonprofit leaders around 

the world, as a Pioneer of Change. Mr. 

Kane also was selected as an Artemisia 

Foundation fellow in 2003. 


G E N E R A L P O R T F O L I O 

GFC’s grantee partners characteristically take 

creative new approaches to complex social issues. 

GFC values the imagination of those it funds, 

and continues to encourage innovative solutions. 

Therefore, GFC has created a general portfolio 

through which it is able to direct grants to a 

handful of organizations that do not fall within the 

other four portfolios. The general portfolio area 

will contribute to GFC’s ongoing learning and may 

well lead to the creation of new approaches within 

its grant-making program. 

22 


“ Education will determine and shape my future and 

fulfill my goal of becoming a teacher.” SANDRA, AGE 13 

(Foundation for Development of Needy Communities) Mbale, Uganda (Translated from Lugisu) 

ARK FOUNDATION OF AFRICA (AFA) 

$5,000/4,865,000 shillings 

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 

Executive director: Rhoi Wangila 

info@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 lessons in HIV prevention, personal 

hygiene, job skills training, and academic 

development to low-income orphans and 

vulnerable children living in the impoverished 

and overpopulated suburb of Kirondoni. 

www.arkafrica.org 

CENTRO DE APOYO A NIÑAS 

CALLEJERAS (ANICA) 

(Support Center for Street Girls) 

$5,000/52,150 pesos 

Mexico City, Mexico 

Executive director: Alma Rosa Colín 

colectivoninas@terra.com.mx 

ANICA helps girls and young women improve 

their understanding of personal responsibility 

and sexual health through street education 

workshops on issues such as sexuality, sexually 

transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies, 

parent-infant education, and gender violence. 


ANICA’s reproductive health and responsibility 

workshops. 

2002 grant: $5,000

CHILD RELIEF AND YOU (CRY) 

$5,000/236,750 rupees 

New Delhi, India 

Chief executive officer: Pervin Varma 

ic.del@crymail.org 

CRY is an intermediary grant-making 

organization that supports grassroots 

children’s organizations throughout India. 

GFC’s grant supports CRY’s policy and 

research center, which works with central 

and state governments to influence childrelated 

policies and actions. www.cry.org 

2002 grant: $5,000 

EDUCATION AS A VACCINE 

AGAINST AIDS, INC. (EVA) 

$5,000/642,950 nairas 

Abuja, Nigeria 

Executive directors: Damilola Adebiyi and 

Fadekemi Akinfaderin 

fadekemi@evanigeria.org 

EVA utilizes informal and formal education 

initiatives that aim to empower Nigerian 

youth living with HIV/AIDS as well as to raise 

awareness and foster positive habits among 

those who are uninfected. GFC’s grant provides 

support for EVA’s Youth Health Curriculum, a 

comprehensive reproductive-health program 

designed to meet the special reproductivehealth 

needs of Nigerian secondary-school 

students. www.evanigeria.org 

FOUNDATION FOR DEVELOPMENT 

OF NEEDY COMMUNITIES (FDNC) 

$10,000/18,300,000 shillings 

Mbale, Uganda 

Executive director: Samuel W. Watulatsu 

fdncuganda@hotmail.com 

FDNC provides programs on youth development 

and reproductive health, counseling for street 

children, girl advancement programs, farming, 

and, very uniquely, a brass band to help 

children discover their inherent talents. GFC’s 

grant pays for general support of FDNC’s 

health-care center. www.fdncuganda.8m.net 

2001 grant: $5,000 

MAGIC BUS 

$6,000/287,580 rupees 

Mumbai, India 

Executive director: Matthew Spacie 

info@magicbusindia.org 

Magic Bus brings underserved, exploited, and 

working children from the streets of Mumbai 

to the hills and surrounding countryside, 

where they participate in outdoor exploration, 

various team sports, trust-building 

exercises, and drama sessions. GFC’s grant 

is funding fifty camping trips serving fifty 

children each, along with general support. 

www.magicbusindia.org 

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN 

OF KENYA (NCWK) 

$5,000/387,250 shillings 

Laikipia District, Kenya 

Executive director: Jane Kiano 

ncwk@insightkenya.com 

NCWK works to educate community leaders, 

parents, teachers, and children about the 

dangers of female genital mutilation and the 

alternatives to this traditional rite of passage. 

GFC’s grant helps to support a training center, 

awareness education for circumcisers, and 

a drama and arts competition for program 

participants. 

NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR 

EARTHQUAKE TECHNOLOGY 

(NSET) 

$5,000/376,100 rupees 

Kathmandu, Nepal 

General secretary: Amod Mani Dixit 

nset@nset.org.np 

NSET is dedicated to ensuring that all 

communities in Nepal will be earthquake 

safe by 2020, and its School Earthquake 

Safety Program works to train masons 

to build earthquake-safe schools; to train 

teachers, parents, and students on earthquake 

preparedness; and to assist in earthquakeresistant 

reconstruction of schools. GFC’s 

grant supports the construction of three 

public schools. www.nset.org.np 

NIHEWAN FOUNDATION: 

CRADLEBOARD TEACHING 

PROJECT 

$1,000 

Kapaa HI, United States 

President: Buffy Sainte-Marie 

info@cradleboard.org 

The Cradleboard Teaching Project partners 

classrooms of Native American and 

non–Native American children in order to 

create understanding and increase learning 

about Native American culture, utilizing a 

core-enriching curriculum that addresses 

geography, history, social studies, music, 

and science with cultural sensitivity and 

awareness. GFC’s grant provides general 

support for the project. 

PUEBLO DE COCHITI: COCHITI 

LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION 

PROGRAM 

$1,000 

Cochiti Pueblo NM, United States 

Program coordinator: Richard Pecos 

The Cochiti Language Revitalization Program 

teaches Cochiti youth their native Keres, 

a language that was almost extinct thirty 

years ago, in an attempt to revive the 

native traditions through an innovative 

immersion program that includes recreational, 

cultural, and ceremonial linkages between 

the language and the culture. GFC’s grant 

provides general support for the project. 

THAI YOUTH AIDS PREVENTION 

PROJECT (TYAP) 

$6,000/257,580 baht 

Chiang Mai, Thailand 

Executive director: Amporn Boontan 

tyap@loxinfo.co.th 

TYAP aims to reduce the impact of the AIDS 

epidemic in Thailand by creating opportunities 

for northern Thai youth to develop their 

leadership skills. GFC’s grant provides general 

support for TYAP’s Leadership Training for 

Social Change project, which trains local 

young people to educate children and others 

about HIV/AIDS transmission, prevention, and 

care. www.tyap.org 

1997, 1998, 2001, and 2002 grants: $6,500 total 

UBUNTU EDUCATION FUND 

$5,000/42,050 rand 

Port Elizabeth, South Africa 

Executive directors: Banks Gwaxula 

and Jacob Leif 

info@ubuntufund.org 

Ubuntu is a community-run organization 

dedicated to improving literacy, health, and 

technology in impoverished neighborhoods in 

South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. GFC’s 

grant provides project support for a new counseling, 

referral, and advocacy program, which 

offers one-on-one weekly counseling sessions 

to children, an HIV/AIDS youth support group, 

and wilderness retreats for participants of the 

counseling sessions. www.ubuntufund.org 

WAR CHILD CANADA: 

IRAQ RELIEF AND RECOVERY 

$3,000 

Karbala and Baghdad, Iraq 

GENERAL PORTFOLIO 

Executive director: Samantha Nutt 

info@warchild.ca 

War Child Canada is dedicated to providing 

urgently needed humanitarian assistance to 

war-affected children around the world to 

help them overcome the trauma of war. GFC’s 

grant supports War Child Canada’s initiatives 

to provide clothing, blankets, books, health 

and hygiene items, medical supplies, trauma 

counseling, and other much-needed support 

to children and families in Karbala and 

Baghdad, Iraq. www.warchild.ca 


GRANT MAKING 

Supporting GFC’s Grantee Partners 

Supplemental Health and 

Well-Being Grants 

Health is defined generally as freedom 

from physical disease or pain. Yet truly 

healthy children are not merely free 

of illness; rather, the well child is one 

with an improved quality of life due to 

enhanced physical health, adequate 

emotional and economic support, 

access to educational resources, and 

environmentally sound surroundings. 

A child who is ready to learn is a child 

who is healthy, well nourished, and has 

had his or her basic needs met. GFC’s 

grantee partners have witnessed firsthand 

the impact of childhood morbidity and 

mortality on community progress and the 

ways in which illness thwarts children’s 

ability to thrive, learn, and take advantage 

of life opportunities. 

GFC’s partners are calling increasingly for 

additional resources to address not only 

the education and welfare needs of the 

children they serve, but the health needs 

as well. Recognizing the promise that an 

integrated and holistic approach holds for 

at-risk children around the world, GFC 

offers a $1,000 supplemental health and 

well-being grant to each of its grantee 

partners within the four priority portfolios. 

Each organization uses its grant to 

address the most pressing health 

needs of the children it serves. 

While the uses of GFC’s supplemental 

health and well-being grants are varied, 

they include: 


“ For me, education is the best means of opening 

myself up to the world and discovering other realities. 

Education trains and prepares us to confront the 

future with much more courage and peace of mind.” 

GLORIA, AGE 9 (La Conscience) Lomé, Togo (Translated from French) 

• Developing sanitary pit toilets for 

increased hygiene, including a model 

hand-washing station outside of the pit 

toilets (Jifunze Project, Tanzania) 

• Providing hepatitis A and B 

vaccinations, iron supplements, and 

oral rehydration supplements (NEED, 

India) 

• Hiring a physical therapist for treatment 

of scoliosis (Biliki, Georgia) 

• Distributing hygiene packets containing 

soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, 

detergent, hair oil, and undergarments 

(Nishtha, India) 

• Hiring a counselor for sexually abused 

children (JUCONI, Mexico) 

• Providing delousing treatment, 

mosquito repellant, and nets to protect 

against malaria (SCT, Sri Lanka) 

• Facilitating anti-parasite campaigns, 

including stool samples and educational 

materials and workshops (Deporte y 

Vida, Peru) 

During the 2002–2003 fiscal year, GFC 

provided supplemental health and 

well-being grants to fifty-eight of its 

seventy-two grantee partners. While the 

knowledge that GFC has been able to 

acquire through this process is invaluable, 

so too is the work on behalf of children’s 

health that these grants are supporting. 

These grants not only strengthen grantee 

partners’ health efforts, they also are 

helping these organizations make a 

greater impact on the children they serve 

by facilitating a more holistic approach to 

the children’s well-being. To learn more 

about this issue, visit www.globalfundfor 

children.org/news/whitepapers.htm. 

Leveraging on Behalf of 

Grantee Partners 

GFC takes every opportunity to connect 

its grantee partners with other potential 

donors. Over the course of the year, 

GFC leverages additional funds for 

its grantee partners by initiating 

relationships, making referrals, and 

publicizing its grantee partners’ work. 

To date, GFC has leveraged more 

than $560,000 on behalf of its grantee 

partners from other funding organizations, 

including the Emerging Markets 

Foundation, American Jewish World 

Service, the Global Catalyst Foundation, 

and the Firelight Foundation. Yet GFC’s 

leveraging efforts extend beyond the 

foundation community. In Vietnam, for 

example, GFC initiated a partnership 

between one of its grantee partners 

in Ho Chi Minh City, Friends for Street 

Children (FFSC), and the local Citibank 

management team. As a result, Citibank 

employees have become active FFSC 

volunteers, serving as tutors and mentors 

to children in the program. Through this 

relationship, FFSC has gained an engaged 

partner whose expertise and resources 

will help strengthen the organization into 

the future.

Tracking Grants 

In contrast to many other grant-making 

institutions, GFC maintains relationships 

with former grantee partners, many 

of whom have grown beyond GFC’s 

funding criteria. Within the past year, GFC 

initiated a new set of grants to recognize 

the benefits that both GFC and its past 

partners derive from their continued 

relationship. These $1,000 tracking 

grants allow GFC to monitor its former 

partners’ progress and to collect data that 

will strengthen GFC’s knowledge base. 

While no longer serving in a traditional 

funding capacity, GFC remains involved 

through its tracking grants in each 

organization’s present and future—a 

relationship that benefits both parties. 

In 2002–2003, GFC provided tracking 

grants to seven organizations, including 

Grupo Cultural Afro Reggae in Brazil, the 

Global Education Partnership in Kenya and 

Guatemala, and the Children First Agency 

in Jamaica. 

Organizational Development 

GFC works with indigenous groups to 

provide technical assistance and project 

evaluation services to its grantee partners. 

Presently, two evaluation partners are 

working with GFC-funded organizations 

in different parts of the world. Dasra, in 

India, and THAIS, in Mexico, are staffed 

with well-trained local professionals who 

are knowledgeable about the operations 

of nongovernmental organizations, cultural 

practices, the political climate, and social 

issues facing children in their countries. 

Among other services, Dasra and THAIS 

offer capacity-building and fund-raising 

expertise to GFC’s grantee partners in 

India and Mexico. They also monitor 

the operations of these organizations, 

gathering qualitative and quantitative data 

from which metrics are established. This 

past year, THAIS provided evaluation 

services and technical assistance to four 

GFC grantee partners in Mexico under a 

contract valued at $4,000. GFC contracted 

with Dasra to perform a similar set of 

services for five grantee partners in India 

for $5,450. 

Building Community among Donors 

and Grantee Partners 

Throughout the year, GFC hosts the 

executive directors of its grantee partners 

and invites them to tell their stories to 

audiences in the United States. In the 

past year, GFC hosted the executive 

directors of several of its grantee 

partners, including Priti Patkar of Prerana 

in India and Moses Zulu of Children’s 

Town in Zambia, both of whom spoke at 

the Global Philanthropy Forum at Stanford 

University. Friends of GFC have hosted 

awareness-building events, in which 

GFC’s grantee partners have participated, 

to inspire and engage individuals on 

innovative grassroots education programs. 

More than fifteen grantee partners 

visited the United States last year to 

participate in knowledge exchanges. GFC 

also represents its grantee partners and 

their interests in a variety of forums. For 

example, GFC’s president spoke at the 

Hilton Humanitarian Prize Conference, 

the Global Philanthropy Forum, and other 

global conferences during the year. 

For many of its donors, GFC serves as a 

conduit through which they can exercise 

greater personal impact internationally. 

In support of its grant-making portfolios, 

GFC has released a series of white 

papers that summarize its four issue 

portfolios (www.globalfundforchildren. 

org/news/whitepapers.htm). With its 

innovative grant-making model, GFC is 

helping to create distinctive communities 

that link grantee partners with donors 

who have a strong interest in a specific 

portfolio area. For example, the child 

prostitution and exploitation portfolio 

has a strong community of donors: 

the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 

the Teresa and Bill Unger Fund, the 

Keare/Hodge Family Foundation, the 

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the 

Overbrook Foundation, the Virginia 

Wellington Cabot Foundation, and the 

Flora Family Foundation. GFC is hopeful 

that in the near future it will bring 

grantee partners from this portfolio 

together with this community of donors 

in a knowledge exchange. GFC continues 

to develop similar communities around 

other portfolios. 


COMMUNITY EDUCATION 

AND OUTREACH 

Education is critical to the future of every child in every community 

around the world. While definitions of education may vary, educating 

the world’s young people is fundamental to creating a more responsible, 

peaceful, and safe global society. Grounded in the principles of social 

marketing, the Global Fund for Children’s community education and 

outreach program is directed toward affecting the attitudes and actions 

of young readers, parents, educators, and donors. By developing 

children’s books that promote multicultural understanding, GFC 

is engaging new audiences in its efforts to advance educational 

opportunities for young people around the world. 

Shakti for Children 

At the core of GFC’s community 

education and outreach program is 

its book-publishing venture, Shakti for 

Children. Evoking the Hindi word for 

empowerment, Shakti for Children’s 

innovative collection of books presents 

themes of diversity and tolerance. 

These books encourage children—and 

adults—to respect cultural differences 

while presenting the many common 

experiences that children around the 

world share. In addition to producing 

beautiful books and resource guides 

that make compelling teaching tools, 

Shakti for Children supports GFC’s overall 

mission of promoting young people’s 

access to education by allocating a 

portion of the royalties from the sale of 

its books to GFC’s grant-making program. 

By presenting photographic images of 

young people with hope, resilience, and 

dignity, Shakti for Children captures GFC’s 

organizational vision of a world where 

children grow up to be productive, caring 

citizens contributing to their communities. 


“ To me, education is something that brings you or 

leads you to good things.” DEGELO, AGE 9 (Kembatti Mentti 

Gezzima-Tope) Kembatta Alaba and Tembaro Zone, Ethiopia (Translated from Kembatta) 

The recently redesigned Shakti for 

Children Web site (www.shakti.org) 

reinforces the educational value of the 

books by heightening awareness of 

diversity and highlighting things children 

around the world have in common. This 

colorful online resource also features 

descriptions and pictures of all the 

books, profiles of the books’ authors and 

photographers, and games that build on 

and enhance children’s experiences with 

the books. 

Shakti for Children represents a unique 

social-enterprise venture between the 

Global Fund for Children, a nonprofit 

organization, and Charlesbridge 

Publishing, a for-profit children’s-book 

publisher in Watertown, Massachusetts. 

Foundations also play a vital role in 

the growing success of Shakti for 

Children books. In particular, the W. K. 

Kellogg Foundation and the Flora Family 

Foundation have generously funded the 

research and development of most of the 

Shakti for Children books.

SHAKTI FOR CHILDREN BOOKS 

Animal Friends 

Winner of the 2002 Oppenheim Toy 

Portfolio Gold Award 

Children from Australia to 

Zimbabwe, with a foreword by 

Marian Wright Edelman 

Winner of the 1998 Early Childhood News 

Directors’ Choice Award and the 1998 

Read, America! Collection Award 

Children of Native America Today, 

with a foreword by Buffy Sainte-Marie 

Extraordinary Girls, with a foreword 

by Isabel Carter Stewart 

Selected as a 2000 Notable Social Studies 

Trade Book for Young People 

Let the Games Begin, with a 

foreword by Bill Bradley 

Winner of the 2001 Early Childhood 

News Directors’ Choice Award 

To Be a Kid/Ser Niño, with a foreword 

by Chris Kratt and Martin Kratt 

Winner of the 2000 Early Childhood News 

Directors’ Choice Award and selected as 

a 2000 Notable Social Studies Trade Book 

for Young People 

Xanadu: The Imaginary Place, 

with a foreword by John Hope Franklin 

Book Series: It’s a Kid’s World 

• Back to School, with a foreword by 

Dr. Marilyn Jachetti Whirry 

• Come Out and Play, with a foreword 

by Kermit the Frog 

• A Kid’s Best Friend, with a foreword 

by Super Gus of Planet Dog 

Winner of the 2002 ASPCA Henry Bergh 

Children’s Book Award 

SHAKTI FOR CHILDREN 

RESOURCE GUIDES 

Children of Native America Today: 

An Activity and Resource Guide 

Creating Xanadu: A Resource Guide 

for Creating the Ideal World 

Extraordinary Activities for 

Extraordinary Girls 

Raising Children to Become Caring 

Contributors to the World 


New Books 

Since the publication of its first book, 

Children from Australia to Zimbabwe, in 

1997, the Shakti for Children collection 

has grown to include fifteen titles. This 

past year, Shakti for Children had the 

honor of developing the landmark book 

Children of Native America Today, written 

by the distinguished children’s-book 

authors Arlene Hirschfelder and Yvonne 

Wakim Dennis, with a foreword by Buffy 

Sainte-Marie. Children of Native America 

Today highlights twenty-five of the more 

than five hundred Native nations and 

cultural groups living in the United States 

and celebrates the diversity, traditions, 

and everyday lives of today’s Native 

American children. Kirkus Reviews 

praised the book as a “well thought-out, 

neatly executed, and extremely attractive 

volume.” And the School Library Journal 

wrote, “this special book belongs in all 

libraries.” In conjunction with the book, 

Shakti for Children published Children of 

Native America Today: An Activity and 

Resource Guide, a companion resource 

for educators and parents. 

To honor Native American children, GFC 

is directing 100 percent of the royalties it 

earns from the sale of Children of Native 

America Today to organizations working 

with Native children. This past year, 

GFC awarded grants to the Cradleboard 

Teaching Project, which facilitates 

exchanges and dialogue between Native 

American and non-Native schoolchildren, 

and the Cochiti Language Revitalization 

Program, which is working to revitalize 

the native language and traditions of the 

Cochiti people of New Mexico. 


Another new Shakti for Children book, A 

Kid’s Best Friend, represents a joint effort 

between GFC and Planet Dog Philanthropy 

(www.planetdogphilanthropy.org), the 

nonprofit grant-making arm of Planet Dog, 

a manufacturer and retailer of innovative, 

earth-friendly products for animals. A 

Kid’s Best Friend, the third book in the 

It’s a Kid’s World series, looks at the very 

special bond that children and dogs share 

around the world. The American Society 

for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 

(ASPCA) awarded A Kid’s Best Friend 

its prestigious Henry Bergh Children’s 

Book Award, which “honor[s] books that 

promote the humane ethic of compassion 

and respect for all living things.” 

Books for Kids 

Around the world, the ability to read— 

more than any other single skill—is seen 

as a sign of education. Books have the 

power to open new doors and spark new 

ideas, but for most of the world’s schoolage 

children, books are a scarce resource. 

The situation is dire in developing 

countries and in many communities in the 

United States as well. GFC’s Books for 

Kids program donates Shakti for Children 

books and materials to community-based 

literacy groups worldwide. 

Complementing GFC’s grant-making 

program and its education and outreach 

mission, Books for Kids assists 

community organizations in expanding 

their educational resources as well as 

facilitating dialogue about diversity 

and multiculturalism. Books for Kids 

specifically targets local groups that focus 

on literacy issues for children and families 

and that demonstrate a pressing need 

for educational materials. By identifying 

nonprofit and grassroots projects that 

typically do not receive government 

funding, GFC reaches children who may 

not otherwise have access to new and 

quality books. 

In this past year, Books for Kids donated 

more than 3,500 books, with a retail 

value of more than $45,000, to groups 

promoting children’s literacy. Among 

the groups that received donations of 

Shakti for Children books is Reading Is 

Fundamental (RIF), the national literacy 

organization that serves more than five 

million children annually. Through RIF, 

GFC donated 1,350 copies of Children of 

Native America Today and close to 1,300 

copies of A Kid’s Best Friend to schools 

throughout the United States with a 

predominantly Native American student 

population. GFC also donated Shakti for 

Children books to Books for America, 

the Cradleboard Teaching Project, and 

Teachers for a Better Belize. To date, the 

Books for Kids project has donated close 

to 50,000 books, with a retail value of 

$650,000, to organizations and programs 

promoting children’s literacy.

Generating Knowledge 

Several Shakti for Children books were 

the subject of an academic study 

conducted by the Frank Porter Graham 

Child Development Institute (FPG) 

between 1999 and 2001. The study was 

completed in 2002 and is now available 

online (www.globalfundforchildren.org/ 

shakti_for_children/overview.htm). The 

study pointed out that exploring the local 

human diversity that children experience 

on a daily basis is just as important as 

learning about global diversity. Shakti for 

Children is now developing books that 

explore diversity in the United States, 

with Children of Native America Today 

being the first of several such projects. 

Based on the findings of the first study, 

the W. T. Grant Foundation awarded a 

$300,000 grant to FPG to fund a related, 

longitudinal study that examines how 

elementary-school children of different 

cultural and economic backgrounds 

understand and negotiate human 

differences. GFC is a learning partner of 

this long-term study to inspire new book 

ideas and projects. 

“ Education means everything to me. . . . My education 

is key to my future, and the key to success in today’s 

world.” MAURICE, AGE 17 (Life Pieces to Masterpieces) Washington DC, USA 

Social Marketing Efforts 

Social marketing was first introduced 

as an academic and business discipline 

in the 1970s by Kellogg School of 

Management professors Philip Kotler and 

Gerald Zaltman. In contrast to product 

marketing, social marketing seeks to 

benefit a specific target audience or 

society in general. Social-marketing 

techniques, applied effectively, have 

the power to motivate people and 

affect their behavior. GFC’s efforts 

are directed toward inspiring distinct 

audiences—young people, who are the 

next generation of philanthropists, and 

current and prospective donors—to 

give globally and raise awareness of 

international children’s issues generally. 

Shakti for Children books are an effective 

tool to engage potential donors about 

children’s lives globally. The books are 

a graphic, stimulating, and tangible 

demonstration of GFC’s ideals. In many 

instances, a person’s first connection to 

GFC comes not through its grant-making 

model but through its books. The value 

of the Shakti for Children collection is 

reinforced again and again as donors 

report that they were first captured by 

the books, which opened the door to the 

organization and its work as a whole. By 

reaching a wide variety of audiences, the 

books extend GFC’s awareness-building 

efforts and impart valuable messages to 

people everywhere. 

Providing philanthropic education for 

young people is another social-marketing 

effort that GFC has identified as a 

growing interest for the organization. 

Five years ago, fourth-grade teacher 

Candace Corliss of the Mirman School in 

Los Angeles became inspired by Shakti 

for Children books. Her appreciation for 

the books and their message led her to 

GFC’s grant-making program. Ms. Corliss 

in turn inspired her fourth-grade students 

to partner with one of GFC’s grantee 

partners, the Train Platform Schools of 

the Ruchika Social Service Organisation. 

Through an annual readathon program 

held during each of the last five years, the 

Mirman School’s fourth-grade students 

have raised more than $50,000 to 

support the Train Platform Schools and 

its endowment. GFC is now testing the 

replicability of the Mirman School model. 



“ Education means always listening, thinking 

about your future and the thing you are going 

to do to let your dreams come through.” 

RAMON, AGE 10 (Conquest for Life) Westbury, South Africa 

DONOR LIST 

July 1, 2002–June 30, 2003 

The Global Fund for Children receives support from a wide range of donors, including individuals, family 

foundations, national foundations, and corporations. We recognize all of our donors for their generosity and 

for affirming our mission to expand opportunities for children around the world. 

Individuals 

Anonymous (3) 

Victoria and Jack Aberbook 

Maya Ajmera 

Ravi and Richa Ajmera 

Roopa and Ramesh Ajmera 

Arlyn Alonzo and Carlos Cuevas 

Bruce Altschuld 

Barbara and Bill Ascher 

Clare O’Donnell-Bailhé and Jacques Bailhé 

Jocelyn Balaban-Lutzky 

and David Lutzky 

Thomas C. Barry 

Milton Becker 

Lois Becker and Mark Stratton 

Katherine Bell 

Judy Bennington 

Julia Blanchard 

Dena Blank 

Roberta Denning Bowman and 

Steven Denning 

Ellen and Steven Bresky 

Eli Bresky 

Ezabel Broukhim 

Anne and Wren Brown 

Jennifer and W. Michael Brown 

Brenda Buckner 

Rachel Burnett and Evan McDonnell 

Karen Krysher Carrey 

Amy and Charles Carter 

Janna and Steven Cesinger 

Katherine Alice Chang and Thomas Einstein 

Cheryl and Andrew Charles 

Cesar Chavarria 

Minam and Sam Chin 

Alisa Witlin Chodos and 

Jonathan Chodos 

Michael Chodos 

Lisa and Mitchell Chupack 

Jean Clem 

Steven Cohen 

Julia Candace Corliss 

Toni Cupal and Michelangelo Volpi 

Stacy Dalgleish and Piero Selvaggio 

Linda Bona-D’Angelo and Mark D’Angelo 

Darsha Davidoff and Donald Drumright 

Afroditi Davos 

Angelle Dayan and Jonathan Weber 

Margaret and Victor Dayan 

Jodi and Mike Detjen 

Ulrike Christine Dieter 

Cheryl and James Dodwell 

Jeanne Donovan and Richard B. Fisher 

Valerie and David Dorfman 

Cheryl Dorsey 

Gina Dowden and Jerry Durante 

John Driscoll 

Constance and Arthur Driver 

Suzanne Duryea and Timothy Waidmann 

Danica Ebner 

Jo Anne and Warren Ebner 

Richard Ehrlich 

Gloria and Charles Ellman 

Suzie El-Saden 

David Epstein 

Sarah Epstein 

Jana and George Eshaghian 

Anna Faber 

Nora Faber 

Danielle and Brian Fairlee 

Art Fasbender 

Tina Fasbender and Marvin Goodfriend 

Lynn and Greg Fields 

Jeffrey Fiskin 

Glen Forman 

Nella and Paul Fulton 

Valerie Gardner and Jonathan Tiemann 

Ani and George Garikian 

Randi Geffner 

Amilcare Gentili and Ziao-Yi Xie 

Jonah Gerard-Grossman 

Noah Gerard-Grossman 

Sandy and Daniel Geschwind 

Eleanor Hewlett Gimon 

Juliette Gimon 

Barbara and Benjamin Ginther 

Steve Ginther 

Jill Norwood Gobel 

Juan Gobel 

Harriet Goldstein 

Sonia and Jay Goldstein 

Beth and Jeffrey Green 

Renee and Lloyd Greif 

Maria Fe and Alvin Guerrero 

Meenakshi and Ashok Gupta 

Robert Haile 

Rozina and Pratyush Harit 

Susan Carter Harrington and Tom Harrington 

Jeanie Hayes Hatch and Timothy Hatch 

Alicia and Matthew Hawk 

Barbara Henley 

Lillian and Carlos Hernandez 

Esther Hewlett 

Mary Hewlett 

Sally Hewlett 

Pamela Hilpert and Philip Kellman 

Adam Hirschfelder 

Jennifer Hodges and Alexander Fisher 

Judy and Jameel Hourani 

Amanda Howell 

Lori and Gregg Ireland 

Maxine Isaacs 

Milinda Jaffe-Bork 

Victoria and Robert Jarvis 


32 

DONOR LIST continued 

Bridget Jorgensen 

Namrita Kapur 

Karen and Martin Katz 

Susan and Michael Kaufman 

Sylvia Kaufman 

Leslie Kautz and Jack Weiss 

Mizin and Arnold Kawasaki 

Alexia Kelley 

Martin King 

Robin Kirk and Orin Starn 

Sylvia Klapow 

Tovah Klein and Kenneth Boockvar 

Stanley Kohn 

Barbara Kohnen and James Adriance 

Richard Kraft 

Sonja Nelson Kraft 

Lata Krishnan and Ajay Shah 

Paula Kuhn 

Anjalie Kumar 

Lois Kwasigroch and George Alexander 

Madeline Lacovara 

Shana Landsburg and Bradley Scott Putman 

Patricia and Daniel Lavigna 

Jussara Lee 

Mimie Lee 

Tracy and Stephen Lee 

Valeria Lee 

Joni and Fred Lerner 

Kara LeRose 

Darla and Scott Lesh 

Rhoda and Morton Lesh 

Alice Lewis 

Sarah and Frank Lewis 

Maria and Marty Licker 

Kristin Olson Lieberman 

Frank Lopez 

Marcena W. Love 

Frances Lubin 

Laura and Michael Luger 

Kimberle and Ronald Lynch 

Geraldine Lynyak 

Elizabeth and Joseph Mandato 

Jimena Martinez and Michael Hirschhorn 

Sima and Kamyar Mateen 

Mary Patterson McPherson 

Laila Merali 

Constance Meyer and Stuart Spottiswoode 

Leonore Meyer 

Stephanie and Nicholas Meyer 

Mary E. Moebius 

Mary M. Moebius 

Robert Moebius 

Zindaine and John Mooney 

Anne and Alan Morrison 

Florabel and Umesh Mullick 

John Murdock 

Yvette Nan 

Susan Nash and Andrew Lundberg 

Dale Nelson and Paul Meier 

Toy Nickol 

Maureen and Lee Norwood 

Fariba and Farhad Nourafshan 


Navnit Padival 

Mavis Pakier 

Pamela Palmer 

Marcia Paonessa 

Miriam and Chris Parel 

Deeptika and Bharat Patel 

Audrey Pauly 

Susan and Andrew Pauly 

Nancy Peretsman and Robert Scully 

Angela Pierce 

Sandra Pinnavaia and Guy Moszkowski 

Winnie Poon-Pak 

Mary Phillips Quinn and Michael Quinn 

Isabel and Julio Ramos 

Adele Richardson Ray 

Kristin D. Rechberger 

Linda Netzer Richman and 

Steven Richman 

Gay A. Roane 

Jennifer and Manley Roberts 

David Rockefeller 

Stan Rogow 

Natasha Roit 

Patricia Rosenfield 

Nadine and Edward Rosenthal 

Jennifer and Mark Rubin 

Elizabeth Ruethling 

Melissa Cleveland Salameh 

and Roy Salameh 

Elyse Sauber 

Jessica Sauber 

Pamela and Richard Sauber 

Max Schwartz 

George McCall Secrest, Jr. 

Fredi and Paul Seraydarian 

Shefali and Uresh Shah 

Karen Share 

Gloria Sherwood 

Joan Shifrin and Michael Faber 

Catherine and Rony Shimony 

Stanley Shuman 

Rona Silkiss 

Carol and Thomas Snyder 

Jennifer and David Snyder 

Carmela and Charles Speroni 

Kim Spile 

Steven Spile 

Margaret Clover Stillman 

Donna Stone and Anderson Evans 

Susan Jane Stone and Chris Secrest 

Donna and Henry Strunk 

Sarah Strunk and Kent Lewis 

Linda and Charles Swerdlow 

Arlene Sylvers 

Jodi Zucker Taksar and Alan Taksar 

Yap Ling Tan 

Rosalie Tenenbaum 

Roseanne and Andrew Tenenbaum 

Elaine and Philip Thielstrom 

Pamela and Patrick Thomason 

Sally Tilton 

Eduardo Torres, Jr. 

Kelly Swanson Turner and Mark Turner 

Sylvia Vein 

Kimberly West Vogt and Scott Vogt 

Mal Warwick 

Angela Paura Wechsler 

Edward Weiss 

Alison Whalen and Steven Marenberg 

Frederick B. Whittemore 

Jann and Kenneth Williams 

Judith and Bayard Wilson 

Sandra W. and John H. T. Wilson 

Frank Wolf 

Susan and David Wolf 

Lee and Sam Wood 

Jeffrey Work 

Randi and Julius Woythaler 

Francke Wurzelbacher 

Laura Shapiro Young and David Young 

Nan Zhang and William Shaw 

Corporations 

Charlesbridge Publishing 

Chinaberry, Inc. 

Condor Ventures, Inc. 

Danya International, Inc. 

Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. 

R & M Enterprise, Inc. 

Rampart Investment Management 

Silver Lake Partners 

Telcom Ventures 

Wild Planet Toys, Inc. 

Foundations 

Bank of America Foundation 

Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation 

Bridgemill Foundation 

The Virginia Wellington Cabot Foundation 

Emanuel and Anna Cohen Foundation 

The Draper Foundation 

The Stanley and Fiona Druckenmiller Fund 

Flora Family Foundation 

Frees Foundation 

Frank and Brenda Gallagher Family Foundation 

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 

Goldman Sachs Foundation 

Helen Hotze Haas Foundation 

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation 

Journey Charitable Foundation 

JustGive.org 

Keare/Hodge Family Foundation 

W. K. Kellogg Foundation 

Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation 

Mariposa Foundation 

The McKnight Foundation 

The Omidyar Foundation 

The Overbrook Foundation 

Grace Jones Richardson Trust 

Skoll Foundation 

Smith Richardson Foundation, Inc. 

Robert K. Steel Family Foundation 

Tosa Foundation 

The John Whitehead Foundation

Gift Funds 

Blumenthal Family Philanthropic Fund 

of the Jewish Community 

Endowment Fund 

Friday Night Shoebox Fund of the 

East Bay Community Foundation 

Ethan Grossman Family Fund of the 

Fidelity Investments Charitable 

Gift Fund 

David and Laurie Hodgson Fund of the 

New York Community Trust 

Laura and Gary Lauder Philanthropic 

Fund of the Jewish Community 

Endowment Fund 

Gib and Susan Myers Fund of the 

Peninsula Community Foundation 

Robert D. Stillman Charitable Fund of 

the Fidelity Investments Charitable 

Gift Fund 

Tisch Family Fund of the 

Community Foundation 

Silicon Valley 

Teresa and Bill Unger Fund of 

the Community Foundation 

Silicon Valley 

Gifts In Honor Of 

Sara Arshad from 

Alison and Shergul Arshad 

Alexa Harley Boltax from 

Arlene and Dennis Hirschfelder 

Ellie Clelland from Michael Chertok 

Mary Jane De Shon from 

Lauren Madden and Family 

Nora Faber and Anna Faber from 

Catherine Hirsch 

Jeffrey Hoffman and Danya 

International from Sheri Singer 

Pearl Lumberry from 

the Joseph Madden Family 

Prajna Parasher from Cynthia Pon 

Julia Marcela Perloe from 

Arlene and Dennis Hirschfelder 

Sander Zebedee Stein from 

Mary Ann Stein 

Harriet and Donald Welna from 

Elizabeth Station and 

Christopher Welna and Family 

Kristin Zagorski from 

Emily Madden and Family 

In-Kind Support 

Jagdish and Guriq Basi 

Andy Singh 

Moore & Van Allen, PLLC 

Matching-Gift Programs 

Carnegie Corporation of New York 


Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation 

Schools 

Stevens Creek Elementary School 

Esther Hewlett, Mary Hewlett, and Inderjit Khurana, executive director of the Ruchika Social 

Service Organisation, with students from the Train Platform School in Bhubaneswar, India 

A Travel Note from GFC Friends 

It is amazing how much one’s perspective can be changed by a visit to a developing country. 

Our trip to India last March has opened our eyes to many new things. On our journey we 

spent several days with Inderjit Khurana in Bhubaneswar, the capital of the state of Orissa. 

Inderjit runs the Ruchika Social Service Organisation (RSSO), which has programs for 

children, including the Train Platform Schools, where teachers create classroom settings 

for children who live in and around train platforms; schools in the slums; shelters; and 

a vocational training center. We feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see 

firsthand Inderjit’s heartening work, and we hope this brief report will help to share our 

wonderful experience with other Global Fund for Children friends. 

New sights and sounds were all around us during our ten-day trip. We spent our first night 

in Calcutta. A frequent sight on the streets was that of cows ambling along the sidewalks, 

accompanied by shouts and horns from taxis and rickshaw drivers. There were people 

everywhere, many of them homeless children. One little boy came up to our taxi and 

tapped a coin at my window. I felt so bad because I had to just sit there, without being able 

to do anything for him. 

The next day we left Calcutta in the early-morning darkness to take the 6:00 am train to 

Bhubaneswar, accompanied by Mr. Dwivedy from RSSO. Here we had our first glimpse of 

the lives of the platform children. Over the next four days we visited various RSSO sites. 

It was incredible to see the children’s dedication to their schoolwork. Even when the trains 

came screeching into the station, the kids kept their heads buried in their books! Seeing the 

effect of RSSO’s programs on the children’s lives gives me hope for the future. 

—Mary Hewlett, age 14 

And from a mother’s perspective— 

It was especially significant for me to share this visit with my teenage daughter. It is so 

important for our American young people to relate to the problems of children in other 

parts of the world, and to recognize and value the interconnectedness of people in the 

global community. The need to build an informed and compassionate international civil 

society, beginning with our children, has never been clearer. 

Leaving for India on the very night that war was declared on Iraq, we set out feeling acutely 

aware of the unstable state of our world. In troubled times like these, a focus on the positive 

things that Global Fund for Children grantees are doing to make the world a better place 

is tremendously effective. Relatively small amounts of money can make a huge difference 

when placed in the hands of local partners like the Ruchika Social Service Organisation, 

led by Inderjit. 

—Esther Hewlett 

Global Fund for Children’s 


F I N A N C I A L H I G H L I G H T S 

Fiscal Year 2002–2003 

The Global Fund for Children’s 

success is based on its 

commitment to four principles: 

building close relationships 

with its funders; committing 

long-term support to its grantee 

partners; focusing strategically 

on organizational capacity and 

infrastructure building; and 

directing its work to achieve 

specific outcomes. 

With these guiding principles, 

the Global Fund for Children 

experienced another year of 

remarkable growth and set a 

record in the area of fund-raising. 

The Global Fund for Children 

raised $1.5 million for fiscal 

year 2002–2003. Of these gifts, 

approximately 62 percent were 

from individual donors and family 

foundations, reflecting a 15 

percent increase from last year. 

GFC’s fund-raising approach 

is distinguished by its success 

in forming close, engaged 

relationships with its funders. 

The benefits derived from these 

partnerships provide not only 

financial capital but a long-term 

commitment by many of its 

funders to GFC’s success. 

With support from the Omidyar 

Foundation, the Goldman 

Sachs Foundation, and the 

W. K. Kellogg Foundation, 

among others, GFC continued 

to strengthen its operational 

infrastructure. GFC used these 

grants to support staff positions, 

conduct a strategic-planning 

process, build its strategic 

communications capacity, and 

strengthen its technological 

capacity. In addition, GFC also 

moved to larger office space to 

accommodate increased staff. 

For fiscal year 2002–2003, 

GFC’s operating budget totaled 

$1,466,269, almost double from 

the previous year. GFC’s program 

costs totaled $1,181,170, or 81 

percent of the operating budget. 

GFC continued to manage its 

growth strategically with an 

emphasis on maximizing the 

funds available for programs. 

Total fund-raising and general 

management costs were 19 

percent of GFC’s total budget, 

remaining below the industry 

standard of 25 percent and 2 

percent lower than in fiscal year 

2001–2002. GFC established 

a reserve fund to ensure the 

stability of its programs in times 

of economic downturn. 

A full audited financial report prepared by Strack & Associates can be found on GFC’s Web site: www.globalfundforchildren.org.

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION 

June 30, 2003 and 2002 

Assets 

Current Assets 2003 2002 

Cash and cash equivalents (Note 3) $ 222,352 $ 204,267 

Accounts receivable 1,250 5,000 

Prepaid expenses 10,184 16,016 

Total current assets 233,786 225,283 

Property and equipment, net (Note 4) 49,517 10,127 

Rental deposit 23,291 

Total Assets $ 306,594 $ 235,410 

Liabilities and net assets 

Liabilities 

Accounts payable $ 15,508 $ 5,251 

Accrued vacation 9,161 8,952 

Total Liabilities 24,669 14,203 

Net Assets 

Unrestricted net assets 281,925 135,647 

Temporarily restricted net assets (Note 5) 85,560 

Total net assets 281,925 221,207 

Total Liabilities and Net Assets $ 306,594 $ 235,410 

STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES 

For the Year Ended June 30, 2003 

With Comparative Totals as of June 30, 2002 

Revenues and other support 

2003 2002 

UNRESTRICTED TEMPORARILY TOTAL TOTAL 

RESTRICTED 

Gifts and grants $ 789,637 $ 708,405 $ 1,498,042 $ 819,982 

Book revenues and royalties 22,225 22,225 17,756 

Interest income 6,720 6,720 7,455 

Other 1,535 

Total revenues and other support 818,582 708,405 1,526,987 846,728 

Net assets released from restrictions (Note 5) 793,965 (793,965) 

Total revenues, support, and reclassifications 1,612,547 (85,560) 1,526,987 846,728 

Expenses 

Program services (Note 6) 

Community education and outreach 381,565 381,565 229,647 

Grant making 806,605 806,605 381,118 

Total program services 1,188,170 1,188,170 610,765 

Management and general 95,518 95,518 76,942 

Fund-raising (Note 8) 182,581 182,581 86,808 

Total expenses 1,466,269 1,466,269 774,515 

Change in net assets 146,278 (85,560) 60,718 72,213 

Net assets 

Beginning of year 135,647 85,560 221,207 148,994 

End of year $ 281,925 $ $ 281,925 $ 221,207 


STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS 

For the Years Ended June 30, 2003 and 2002 

Cash flows from operating activities 2003 2002 

Cash received from contributors, grants, and book royalties $ 1,519,050 $ 839,273 

Interest received 6,720 7,455 

Cash paid to employees, suppliers, and grantee partners (1,457,097) (781,521) 

Net cash provided by operating activities 68,673 65,207 

Cash flows from investing activities 

Purchase of equipment (50,588) (2,612) 

Net cash used for investing activities (50,588) (2,612) 

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 18,085 62,595 

Cash 

Beginning of period 204,267 141,672 

End of period $ 222,352 $ 204,267 

Reconciliation of change in net assets to net cash 

provided by operating activities 

Change in net assets $ 60,718 $ 72,213 

Adjustments to reconcile change in net assets to net cash 

provided by operating activities 

Depreciation 11,198 2,424 

Decrease (increase) in accounts receivable 3,750 (5,000) 

Decrease (increase) in prepaid expenses 5,832 (13,063) 

(Increase) in deposits (23,291) 

Increase (decrease) in accounts payable 10,257 (319) 

Increase in accrued vacation 209 8,952 

Net cash provided by operating activities $ 68,673 $ 65,207 


REVENUES 2002–2003 

Corporate Donors = 15% 

Individual Donors = 30% 

Total Foundations = 54% 

Family Foundations = 32% 

Institutional Foundations = 22% 

Revenue (Shakti for Children book sales) = 1% 

EXPENDITURES 2002–2003 

Management and Administration = 7% 

Fund-Raising = 12% 

Community Education and Outreach = 26% 

Direct Grants = 35% 

Program Services = 20% 

Interest income is less than 1% of total revenue.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL 

STATEMENTS 

June 30, 2003 and 2002 

1. Organization and purpose 

The Global Fund for Children (“the Organization” or 

“GFC”) is a national nonprofit organization that helps 

young people develop the knowledge and skills they 

need to become productive, caring members of our 

global society. The Organization identifies and invests 

in community-based programs around the world to 

enhance the lives of children. The Organization is 

particularly sensitive to the needs of street children, 

child laborers, AIDS orphans, girls, and other 

vulnerable groups of children. 

The Global Fund for Children recognizes that 

promoting global understanding is essential to 

helping children become responsible and caring 

citizens of the world. The Organization’s children’sbook-publishing 

venture, Shakti for Children, offers 

children insight into cultural, social, and environmental 

diversity. These award-winning books are powerful 

educational and advocacy tools to inform children 

and adults everywhere about the lives of young 

people. By combining thoughtful grant making and 

an innovative communications strategy, the Global 

Fund for Children is helping to expand opportunities 

for children around the world. 

2. Summary of significant accounting policies 

Basis of Accounting 

The Organization’s financial statements are prepared 

on the accrual basis of accounting. Therefore, 

revenue and related assets are recognized when 

earned, and expenses and related liabilities are 

recognized as the obligations are incurred. 

Basis of Presentation 

Financial statement presentation follows the 

recommendations of the Financial Accounting 

Standards Board in its Statement of Financial 

Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 117, Financial 

Statements of Not-for-Profit Organizations. Under 

SFAS No. 117, the Organization is required to report 

information regarding its financial position and 

activities according to three classes of net assets: 

unrestricted net assets, temporarily restricted net 

assets, and permanently restricted net assets. 

Use of Estimates 

The preparation of financial statements in conformity 

with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles 

requires management to make estimates and 

assumptions that affect certain reported amounts 

of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent 

assets and liabilities at the date of the financial 

statements and reported amounts of revenues and 

expenses during the reporting period. Actual results 

could differ from those estimates. 

Contributions 

Contributions received are recorded as unrestricted, 

temporarily restricted, or permanently restricted 

support, depending on the existence and/or nature 

of any donor restrictions. All other donor-restricted 

support is reported as an increase in temporarily or 

permanently restricted net assets, depending on the 

nature of the restriction. When a restriction expires, 

that is, when a stipulated time restriction ends 

or the purpose of the restriction is accomplished, 

temporarily restricted net assets are reclassified to 

unrestricted net assets and reported in the Statement 

of Activities as net assets released from restrictions. 

Contributed Services 

Donated services of pro-bono legal counsel are 

recorded at their fair market value. The total amount 

of these donated services for the years ended 

June 30, 2003 and 2002 was $4,967 and $6,335, 

respectively. In 2003, pro bono legal services were 

dedicated to research, evaluation, and redesign of 

GFC’s grant-making procedures to be compliant with 

the new Treasury/IRS guidelines formed under the 

Patriot Act and Executive Order 132224. 

Income Taxes 

The Organization is exempt from federal income 

taxes on related income under Section 501(c)(3) of 

the Internal Revenue Code. Accordingly, no provision 

for income taxes has been made in the 

accompanying financial statements. All donations 

received by the Organization qualify as charitable 

contributions. 

Intangible Assets 

The Organization has internally developed the 

trademark Shakti for Children. Since the trademark 

has been internally developed, costs associated 

with the trademark have been expensed when 

incurred. The value of the trademark, along with its 

useful life, is neither infinite nor specifically limited, 

but is indeterminate. Consequently, the trademark 

has not been capitalized and no amortization has 

been recognized. Books and curricula, which are 

authored and published under this trademark, 

represent intellectual property which belongs to 

the Organization, and upon which it earns copyright 

royalties. As of June 30, 2003 and 2002 the 

Organization owned the intellectual property for 22 

and 18 of these books and curricula, respectively. 

3. Cash and cash equivalents 

Cash and cash equivalents for the statement of cash 

flows includes cash on hand, cash held in checking 

accounts and cash held in money market funds, and 

mutual funds. 

Pursuant to Financial Accounting Standards Board 

Statement No. 105, the following summarizes the 

Organization’s cash as of years ended June 30, 2003 

and 2002 that was not covered by insurance provided 

by the federal government. 

2003 2002 

Cash in federally chartered banks $ 161,847 $ 208,788 

Morgan Stanley Reserve Fund 50,000 

The funds in the Reserve Fund are protected through 

alternative coverage. 

4. Property and equipment 

Property, plant, and equipment are stated at cost 

at the date of acquisition or, in the case of gifts, 

fair market value at the date of the donation. 

Depreciation is recorded over the estimated useful 

lives of the respective assets (5 years) using the 

straight-line method. 

A summary of property, plant, and equipment follows: 

2003 2002 

Office equipment $ 36,744 $ 14,296 

Leasehold improvements 28,140 

64,884 14,296 

Less accumulated depreciation (15,367) (4,169) 

Property, plant, and equipment, net $ 49,517 $ 10,127 

5. Temporarily restricted net assets 

Purpose 

New Income 

Available Temporarily Released 

Beginning Restricted from 

of Year Income Restrictions 

Grant Making $ 14,854 $ 503,405 $ 518,259 

Capacity Building 53,763 155,000 208,763 

Community Education 16,943 - 16,943 

and Outreach 

Strategic Planning - 50,000 50,000 

Totals $ 85,560 $ 708,405 $ 793,965 

6. Program services 

Program services are segregated by type of activity 

within the Statement of Activities. The following 

indicates the specific activities, which are included 

in each program area: 

Grant Making 

The Global Fund for Children makes grants 

to innovative community-based educational 

organizations around the world that help young 

people develop the knowledge and skills they need 

to become productive, caring members of our global 

society. GFC’s grants are allocated into portfolios 

concentrating on the following specific issue areas: 

schools and scholarships; hazardous child labor; child 

prostitution and exploitation; and educating neglected 

boys. Since 1997, GFC has awarded approximately 

$1 million in grants to community groups doing vital 

work with children in thirty-eight countries. 

Community Education and Outreach 

The Global Fund for Children’s community education 

and outreach program is grounded in the discipline of 

social marketing, which uses traditional marketing 

techniques to “sell” ideas, attitudes, and behaviors 

with the goal of benefiting society in general. GFC 

creates materials, programs, partnerships, and other 

opportunities to raise awareness of global children’s 

issues. 

At the core of GFC’s community education and 

outreach program is its book-publishing venture, 

Shakti for Children. This innovative series presents 

themes of diversity and tolerance, which encourage 

children to regard the environment, individual 

cultures, and their peers around the world with 

respect. Of the fourteen books and resource guides 

published since 1996, three were added this year: A 

Kid’s Best Friend; Children of Native America Today; 

and Children of Native America Today: An Activity 

and Resource Guide. 

Among other educational endeavors, GFC staff 

members regularly speak at and participate in 

conferences that focus on philanthropy, education, 

literacy, and specific global issues. In addition, 

GFC creates targeted campaigns to promote the 

contents and themes of Shakti for Children books. 

For example, GFC developed audience-specific 

communications materials about Children of Native 

America Today for educators, museum directors, 

leaders in Native American communities, book 

retailers, and general audiences. 

Through its Books for Kids project, GFC donates 

Shakti for Children books to community 

organizations that serve children in need. For many 

children, the books they receive through this program 

are the first books they have ever owned. This year, 

GFC donated more than 3,500 books through its 

partnerships with RIF (Reading Is Fundamental), the 

Cradleboard Teaching Project, and other educational 

groups. To date, GFC has donated close to 50,000 

books, with a retail value of $650,000, to schools and 

organizations in the U.S. and around the world. 

7. Minimum future lease payments 

Real Property Lease 

The Organization is obligated under a new lease 

agreement for larger office space. This lease expires 

in July 2007. Future minimum rental payments under 

this operating lease are as follows: 

Year ending June 30: 2004 $ 95,298 

2005 $ 97,681 

2006 $ 100,123 

2007 $ 102,626 

Thereafter $ 8,570 

$ 404,298 

Rent expense for the years ended June 30, 2003 and 2002 

was $89,005 and $23,352 respectively. 

8. Capacity building 

In August 2001, the Organization was awarded a 

three-year grant in the amount of $400,000 from 

the Omidyar Foundation for the specific charitable 

purpose of building organizational capacity. Payment 

is conditional upon the Organization meeting several 

reporting and other requirements. During the years 

ended June 30, 2003 and 2002 the Organization 

received $130,000 and $160,000 respectively to 

cover the salaries of several key staff members, 

including the Director of Community Education 

and Outreach, Director of Development, and 

Administrative Officer. In addition, the Omidyar grant, 

along with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, funded the 

strategic-planning process to assist the Organization 

with visioning and planning for its evolution and 

growth within the first decade of the 21st century. 

9. Promises to give 

Unconditional promises to give are recognized as 

receivables and as revenues in the period in which 

the Organization is notified by the donor of his or 

her commitment to make a contribution. Conditional 

promises to give are recognized when the conditions 

on which they depend are substantially met. At June 

30, 2003 and 2002 the Organization had $530,000 

and $435,000 in promises to give contingent upon 

certain grant-making and reporting activities, and 

had $250,000 and $240,000 in promises to give 

contingent upon the achievement of building 

organizational capacity and participating in the 

grantor’s communication management system 

(See Note 8). The Organization expects to fulfill 

these conditions over the next two years. 



“ Education is everything good that our parents teach us at home, 

our teachers teach us in school, and also what you learn in the 

neighborhood. For example, how to respect one another.” 

JAIME, AGE 13 (Asociación De Defensa De La Vida) Huachipa, Peru (Translated from Spanish) 


Board of Directors 

Laura Luger, Chair 

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice 

Durham, North Carolina 

Maya Ajmera 

President, Global Fund for Children 

Washington, DC 

William Ascher 

Vice President and Dean of the Faculty 

Claremont McKenna College 

Claremont, California 

Dena Blank 

Executive Director, Bay Area Girls Center 

Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation 

San Francisco, California 

Valerie Gardner, Treasurer 

Atherton, California 

Juliette Gimon 


San Francisco, California 

Sandra Pinnavaia, Secretary 

New York, New York 

Adele Richardson Ray* 

Trustee, Smith Richardson Foundation 

Pittsboro, North Carolina 

Roy Salameh 

Managing Director, Commodities 

Goldman Sachs 


Robert Scully 

Vice-Chairman, Investment Banking 

Morgan Stanley 


Robert D. Stillman, Vice-Chair 

President, Milbridge Capital Management 

Chevy Chase, Maryland 

*Rotated off the board on October 1, 2002 

Photo Credits 


Staff 

Maya Ajmera 

President and Founder 

Greg Fields 

Director of Development 

Steve Ginther 

Program Officer 

Erin Hustings 

Development and Social Marketing Associate 

Ellen Mackenzie 

Director of Finance and Operations 

Elizabeth Ruethling 

Assistant Program Officer 

Joan Shifrin 

Director of Community Education 

and Outreach 

Contact Information 

The Global Fund for Children 

1101 Fourteenth Street, NW, Suite 910 

Washington, DC 20005 

Tel: 202-331-9003 

Fax: 202-331-9004 

www.globalfundforchildren.org 

info@globalfundforchildren.org 

Front cover: © 1999, Jon Warren (Pakistan). Inside front cover: © 2000, Jon Warren (Bhutan). Pgs. 2–3: 

© Stephanie Maze/Woodfin Camp (China); © Anne B. Keiser (Mexico). Pgs. 4–5: © Annie Griffiths Belt 

(Guatemala); © 2002, Jon Warren (Pakistan). Pgs. 6–7: © 2000, Jon Warren (Pakistan); © Steve Ginther 

(Cambodia). Pg. 8: © 1999, Jon Warren (Honduras). Pg. 12: © Sharon Neale (Guatemala). Pg. 16: 

© Moorani/Woodfin Camp (Bangladesh). Pg. 21: © 2000, Jon Warren (Niger). Pg. 25: © Monkmeyer/ 

Press (Tanzania). Pg. 29: © Katrina Thomas/Aramco World (Saudi Arabia); © Elaine Little (South Africa). 

Pgs. 30–31: © Jon Warren (India); © Press/Woodfin Camp (Nigeria). Pg. 33: © Esther Hewlett and Mary 

Hewlett (India). Pgs. 38–39: © Betty Press/Woodfin Camp (Rwanda). Inside back cover: © 2000, Jon 

Warren (Nepal). Back cover: © 1998, Jon Warren (Mozambique). 

This annual report was funded by a portion of the royalties from Shakti for Children, 

a children’s-book-publishing venture of the Global Fund for Children. 

Design: Catalone Design Co.

T H E G L O B A L F U N D F O R 

1101 Fourteenth Street, NW, Suite 910 

Washington, DC 20005 

tel: 202-331-9003 

www.globalfundforchildren.org 

Today’s children face many challenges. 

Here in the United States, and elsewhere 

in the industrialized world, young 

people must learn to thrive in rapidly 

changing and diverse societies. In the 

developing world, severe poverty and a 

lack of education limit many children’s 

lives. As our world becomes increasingly 

interdependent, the problems that cloud 

so many children’s futures, from lack of 

basic education to ethnic conflict, require 

global solutions. The Global Fund for 

Children believes that all of the world’s 

children must be empowered to reach 

their full potential in order to meet the 

challenges that the future will bring.

WHAT DOES EDUCATION MEAN TO ME? - Global Fund for Children

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