The Global Fund For Children

Kolkata Sanved (Kolkata Sensitivity), a GFC grantee partner since 2007, promotes dance as a therapeutic tool for street children, victims of trafficking or violence, children of prostitutes, youth living in slum areas, and other at-risk children.

Washington, DC–Over lunch, Bharati Chaturvedi, the director of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, and I shared our excitement at what lies ahead for her organization. Chintan, a Global Fund for Children grantee partner in Delhi, India, had just received the first Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls for training and organizing [...]

Washington, DC – I sat with my eyes glued to the screen for the 84th Academy Awards, anxiously awaiting the announcement of the best documentary short film. On the edge of my seat, I jumped up in excitement when Saving Face, directed by Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, was announced as the winner. The documentary [...]

Hyderabad, India—Rafia, the program manager for Mahita, a Global Fund for Children grantee partner in Hyderabad, took me on a journey back to three years ago, when her team faced this Muslim-minority community’s initial reaction to girls’ involvement in Mahita’s video storytelling program, introduced by GFC. Girls’ mobility in this community is often restricted, Rafia [...]

Hyderabad, India–Today, on the first day of GFC grantee partner Mahita’s digital media workshop* in Hyderabad, India, 17-year-old Shakeela mentioned that she wanted to create a video story that addressed the issue of girls being bullied. She said that girls are often bullied on their way to school, and she wanted to create a story [...]

Washington, DC – Parul Sheth, the executive director of Shaishav Trust, a GFC grantee partner located in Bhavnagar, India, was able to visit GFC’s office to share Shaishav’s incredible work in ensuring children’s rights. Parul is currently in the US as a Hubert H. Humphrey fellow—a fellowship that GFC helped her to get. At GFC’s [...]

“Many times I have told the story about the boys with guns in their hands, stopping our car and wanting to talk to me,” says Sakena Yacoobi, director of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL). “Although I was afraid, I got out of the car.”

Yacoobi was used to fear—since 1995 she had been bringing educational opportunities to women and girls in Afghanistan, and for years she operated directly in conflict with the Taliban government.

In the height of monsoon season in northern Bangladesh, a young girl runs to the riverbank near her village. Her regular school building is closed due to floodwaters, but a different kind of classroom awaits her—one that floats.

“A boat school is the combination of a school bus and schoolhouse,” says Mohammed Rezwan, executive director of Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha and the social entrepreneur behind its mobile boat schools.

They live in slums, on train platforms, and on the streets. They work on fishing docks and in marketplaces and as domestic servants. They are migrants, moving with their families between villages and the city. These are Mumbai’s uncounted and undocumented children, and they are everywhere—except in school.

Door Step School is trying to change that.

Washington, DC – She said her mom was her inspiration to pursue an education when education for girls was looked down upon. In 2004, along with a few of her peers, Sana Sohail founded GFC grantee partner Chanan Development Association (CDA), a youth-led organization in Pakistan dedicated to supporting the active participation of youth and [...]