Our Partners

 
 

Our work is undertaken solely to support the difficult but life changing - often life saving - work of our partners. We are honored to assist the compassionate and dedicated leaders and staff of organizations serving children in peril, the many parents and community care givers and duty bearers protecting, educating and caring for children, and the many inspiring youth leaders that are emerging from their communities every day.

Below is a selection of current and previous partners that have provided a description and photographs highlighting their work and the specific Ross Foundation funded project.

 

Voices from the Field

Grants Made by Year

  •  Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation

    2023 Grants
                                            

    1.  Global Fund for Children:   $125,000

                To support and develop the capacity of 4 locally led, community-based organizations focused on disabled children and 4 organizations focused on trafficked and exploited children:       

                Children with Disabilities: 

                Enfold Proactive Health Trust | Bangalore , Kyrgyzstan

                Enfold works to address the sexual abuse of children with disabilities through education, training, research, advocacy, and programs for children and youth, including rehabilitative and restorative programs for children with intellectual and sensory disabilities. 

                Sama Foundation | Bangalore, India

                Sama promotes inclusive education for disabled children in Bangalore and has developed India’s first disabled-focused psychosocial care curriculum that they are introducing into Bangalore’s schools.

                Thai Child Development Foundation (TCDF) | Pak Song, Thailand

                TCDF works with local school and healthcare providers to create improved models of care for special needs children in rural Thailand and foster inclusion to lessen the isolation, stigma and shame that these children and their families often encounter in traditional rural society. 

                Zy Movement | Bangkok, Thailand


                Zy Movement’s mission is to ensure that children with movement disabilities grow up in an inclusive, nurturing environment; through a range of education, recreational, sports and vocational programs Zy helps children and parents create a future of autonomy and independent living.

                Child Trafficking:

                National Federation of Female Communities of Kyrgyzstan (NFFCK) | Novopavlovka Village, Sokuluk District, Kyrgyzstan


                NFFCK is a youth-led organization with a mission to empower rural girls to become agents of change in their communities in Kyrgyzstan. NFFCK promotes and protects girls' rights, improves recognition and respect for girls, and addresses child and forced marriages and violence against girls.  Its programs include leadership training and sexual and reproductive health education that promotes the prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, drug abuse, and smoking.

                Jointly Act Girls (JAG) | Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

                JAG is a youth-led organizations established in 2016 to promote the rights of rural girls in Kyrgyzstan. JAG and works to prevent and educate girls and their families about all forms of violence and harmful practices against girls, especially bride kidnapping and child marriages.

                Khiang Rim Khong (KRK) | Northern Thailand

                KRK is based in northern Thailand and works in close collaboration with other non-profits and local government agencies to provide important sexual and reproductive health information and rehabilitation to at-risk youth and survivors of sexual exploitation. KRK is a small organization that was ‘incubated’ by a former GFC partner. KRK works through schools and independent outreach at festivals and markets to share much-needed information on reproductive health and rights.

                Creative Life Foundation | Thailand

                Creative Life prevents exploitation and trafficking in hill-tribe and migrant communities, as well as among those most at risk of exploitation in rural and urban Thailand. The organization increases access to education for children with a focus on girls; helps families obtain citizenship, which enables them to access medical care and safe livelihood opportunities; facilitates adult literacy classes for women; and mentors youth to help them launch new businesses.

      

    2.  Choose Love/Help Refugees:  $30,000

    In response to the major earthquake that devastated Southern Turkey and Northwest Syria in February 2023, Choose Love - which for a number of years has funded scores of NGOs that provide services to Syrian refugees in Turkey - was able to provide critical support to local NGOs providing services to child survivors of the earthquake.

     

    3.  Humanity and Inclusion: $20,000

     In response to the 2023 earthquake, H&I – which for a number of years has funded organizations in Northwest Syria benefiting children with disabilities – was able to provide critical support to organizations providing services to child survivors of the earthquake. 

     

    4. Wings: $40,000

                “Supporting Guatemalan Youth with Reproductive Health” |

                            Four Departments, Guatemala

                The grant will allow Wings to deepen its capacity, and the capacity of a partner organization, to expand the number of youth receiving sex education and reproductive health services.  Key to this expansion is the hiring of an Adolescent Counseling Specialist, who will provide training to staff to ensure that adolescents receive differentiated, age appropriate sex education, counseling and services.

     

    5.  Perkins International:  $50,000

                “Helping Children with Disaiblities Learn and Thrive in Armenia” | Armenia

                To support an expansion of Perkins’ work in Armenia prompted by legislation adopted in Armenia in 2021 that protects the rights of the disabled and mandates inclusive education program in schools.   Recognizing the need for teacher training in those schools which are now disability inclusive, The Ministry of Education has asked Perkins to expand its work, teaching more teachers who work with greater numbers of children. 

     

    6.  Flying Kites: $40,000

                “Stand Together:  Building Capacity of Kenya School Communities to Address Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV)” | Njabini, Central Kenya       

                 Flying Kites provides education support programs for boys and girls in rural Kenya meant to ensure access to quality education and provide resources to keep students in school.  The grant increase the reach and expand the curriculum of its Girls United empowerment program to focus more on SGBV prevention, care and reporting and, importantly, to engage and activate the broader school and local community – including parents, teachers, local health care works, government social workers, police - in open discussion to bring wider attention to SGBV and understanding how to respond effectively when it occurs.  

     

    7.  Minga:  $44,000

                “Leadership, Schools and Radio: Consolidating Action for the Prevention of Youth Trafficking and Exploitation in the Peruvian Amazon” |  Iquitos, Peru and surrounding Amazon River basin settlements

                Minga’s core program utilizes radio to reach, inform, empower and mobilize thousands of isolated women in remote communities in the Peruvian Amazon region. The grant will allow Minga to produce and air an additional 40 new episodes of its signature Bievenida Salud radio program to feature or include information on child protection and trafficking prevention and response.  The grant will also enable Minga to train 23 additional women community promotors in trafficking awareness, prevention and best teaching practices for work in communities and in schools; expand the training of 26 youth leaders to present programs in schools and also to produce 220 radio ‘microprograms’ to be broadcast in schools and communities and  broadcast the 220 microprograms produced by youth leaders in indigenous languages.

     

    9.  Medical Aid for Palestinians:  $36,575

                “Identifying Hearing Impairments among Infants and

    young children in Lebanese Refugee Camps” | Palestinian Refugee camps in Southern Lebanon

    While early testing for disabilities and development delays has become the standard of care in much of the world, it is virtually non-existent is in the impoverished Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.   To fill this gap, the grant to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) will enable it to purchase modern audiology equipment essential in the early detection of hearing impairments in children under the age of one.   The grant will fund the purchase of eight Otoacoustic Emissions devices and the training of staff who would use the machines in five large Palestinian refugee health care clinics in Lebanon.

     

    10.  Mustard Seed:  $35,000

                “Caregiver Capacity Building and Training Development Program Expansion” | Jamaica

                The grant will enable Mustard Seed to improve and expand its caregiver training program increasing the number of medical missions that it hosts and further leveraging those missions by codifying the training provided by missions in MSC’s training program and curriculum.  

     

     

    11.  Girl Up Initiative Uganda:  $30,000

                “Expansion of the Quality, Gender-Transformative Education for Adolescent Girls and Boys Programme and Strengthening Emergency Response to Sexual and Gender Based Violence Survivors” | Bukedea, Eastern Uganda

                Girl Up Initiative Uganda (GUIU) works to advance education and economic opportunities for girls and young women through three primary programs: Gender-Responsive Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights Education; Skilling and Employability for Girls and Young Women; and Quality Gender Education for Adolescent Girls and Boys.  Realizing that sustained change requires a community wide approach, GUIU programs are ‘community inclusive’, meaning that schools, community leaders, law enforcement, parents and boys and involved in meaningful ways to lift the sights, aspirations and achievements of girls.   The grant will enable Girl Up to expand its program from urban Kampala to now benefit girls and communities in rural Eastern Uganda.

     

    12.  Kupenda:  $35,000

                “Equipping Community Health Volunteers to Support Children with Disabilities” | Kilifi County, Eastern Kenya 

                Kupenda has been working in Kenya for over 20 years to ensure access to education and medical care for children with disabilities.  The core of its work focuses on deep and sustained engagement with community members and leaders, faith leaders and traditional healers to dispel harmful superstitions and practices.  The grant will enable Kupenda to pilot a new comprehensive training program for community health workers, enabling them to provide informed medical referrals and sound treatment action plans for children with disabilities.

     

    13.  Children of Vietnam:  $20,112

                “Hope System of Care – Expansion” | Da Nang Province, Vietnam

                The grant will support the establishment of a new two-year cohort of 100 children with disabilities that will be served under Children of Vietnam’s Hope System of Care.   The program trains case managers to coordinate the services provided by various local and district level medical, education and social service agencies, to ensure delivery of the highest level of care and also works to educate and empower parents to play an active role in caring for, and advocating on behalf of, their children.   Two Year Grant ($47,762 in year 1; $20,112 in year 2) 

    14.     Range of Motion Project (ROMP):  $33,000

    ‘Improving the Mobility of Children with Amputation in Guatemala’ | Guatemala City, Guatemala

                The grant will allow ROMP to significantly expand its pediatric practice, and provide custom made, state of the art prosthetic devices to increased numbers of children from poor and indigenous families.  ROMP will expand its community-based rehabilitation program; increase outreach to surgeons to improve standards of pediatric amputation surgery; increase referrals from hospitals for prosthetic devices; and boost the availability of donated pediatric prosthetic components.    

    Two year grant ($33,681 in year one; $33,000 in year two)

     

    15.  Natun Guatemala :  $13,500

                “Amplifying Impact on Maya Children’s Health with Community Promotores” | Lake Atitlan area, Guatemala

                Natun will recruit, train and mobilize a team of 30 women and older youth to serve as Promotores (community outreach workers) to work in 5 indigenous communities where there has been long distrust between communities and the government.   These trusted and indigenous-language speaking workers will provide 900 families and 2,500 children with health and nutritional screening and referrals for care in the first year, and will also work with indigenous community leaders and officials from relevant government ministries to increase and improve communication and service delivery.  Three year grant ($13,500 in each year)

                                               

    Grants by Program Category:

    Disabilities: 

                Global Fund for Children                                 $62,500

                Choose Love                                                       30,000

                Humanity and Inclusion                                    20,000

                Perkins International                                          50,000

                Mustard Seed                                                      35,000

                Kupenda                                                              35,000

                Range of Motion Project                                    33,000

                Children of Vietnam                                           20,112

               

                                                                                         $ 285,612

     

    Trafficked and Exploited:

     

                Global Fund for Children                                 $62,500      

                Wings                                                                  40,000

                Flying Kites                                                         40,000

                Minga                                                                  44,000

                Girl Up Initiative Uganda                                   30,000

                Natun/Mayan Families                                      13,500

                                                     

                                                                                          $230,000

     

    Refugee:

     

                Medical Aid for Palestinians                            $36,575      

                           

                                                                                              $36,575     

     

    Other:

     

                Network of Engaged International Donors         $2,500                                

                (Child Philanthropy Focused Giving Circle)          

     

    Total Grants in 2023:                                                 $554,687

     

     

  • 1. Global Fund for Children: $125,000

    To support and develop the capacity of 4 locally led, community-based organizations focused on disabled children and 4 organizations focused on trafficked and exploited children:

    Children with Disabilities:

    Enfold Proactive Health Trust | Bangalore , Kyrgyzstan

    Enfold works to address the sexual abuse of children with disabilities through education, training, research, advocacy, and programs for children and youth, including rehabilitative and restorative programs for children with intellectual and sensory disabilities.

    Sama Foundation | Bangalore, India

    Sama promotes inclusive education for disabled children in Bangalore and has developed India’s first disabled-focused psychosocial care curriculum that they are introducing into Bangalore’s schools.

    Thai Child Development Foundation (TCDF) | Pak Song, Thailand

    TCDF works with local school and healthcare providers to create improved models of care for special needs children in rural Thailand and foster inclusion to lessen the isolation, stigma and shame that these children and their families often encounter in traditional rural society.

    Zy Movement | Bangkok, Thailand


    Zy Movement’s mission is to ensure that children with movement disabilities grow up in an inclusive, nurturing environment; through a range of education, recreational, sports and vocational programs Zy helps children and parents create a future of autonomy and independent living.

    Child Trafficking:

    Suprava Panchashila Mahila Uddyog Samity (SPMUS) | West Bengal, India


    SPMUS works to eliminate child trafficking and child marriage in West Bengal. Using a holistic program model, SPMUS staff – most of whom have been victims themselves – rescue and support girls and women subjected to trafficking, domestic abuse and abandonment and work closely with government and police leaders to ensure enforcement of relevant laws.

    National Federation of Female Communities of Kyrgyzstan (NFFCK) | Novopavlovka Village, Sokuluk District, Kyrgyzstan


    NFFCK is a youth-led organization with a mission to empower rural girls to become agents of change in their communities in Kyrgyzstan. NFFCK promotes and protects girls' rights, improves recognition and respect for girls, and addresses child and forced marriages and violence against girls. Its programs include leadership training and sexual and reproductive health education that promotes the prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, drug abuse, and smoking.

    Jointly Act Girls (JAG) | Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

    JAG is a youth-led organizations established in 2016 to promote the rights of rural girls in Kyrgyzstan. JAG and works to prevent and educate girls and their families about all forms of violence and harmful practices against girls, especially bride kidnapping and child marriages.

    Khiang Rim Khong (KRK) | Northern Thailand

    KRK is based in northern Thailand and works in close collaboration with other non-profits and local government agencies to provide important sexual and reproductive health information and rehabilitation to at-risk youth and survivors of sexual exploitation. KRK is a small organization that was ‘incubated’ by a former GFC partner. KRK works through schools and independent outreach at festivals and markets to share much-needed information on reproductive health and rights.

    Ukraine Crisis Emergency Response: $90,000

    In response to the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ross Foundation allocated funds to assist in the immediate humanitarian relief and protection for Ukrainian children forced to flee Ukraine and become refugees or internally displaced within Ukraine. Believing that the greatest need is exists where children are being evacuated, our grants were made to long-term Ross grantees who have specific expertise in locating and funding the typically small, grass roots organizations on the front line of crisis situations.

    2. Choose Love/Help Refugees: $40,000

    With deep expertise in deploying to rapidly unfolding refugee crisis situations, Choose Love has been able to identify, vet and fund over 40 Polish, Romanian and Moldovan grass roots organizations that are providing emergency humanitarian and child protection services to Ukrainian children with disabilities forced to flee the Russian invasion.

    3. Global Fund for Children: $30,000

    With a long history and experience funding child-facing social service and child protection organizations in Ukraine, Global Fund for Children is supporting the critical, unplanned needs facing over 20 organizations serving Ukrainian children displaced within Ukraine.

    4. CARE: $20,000

    Is providing significant financial and logistical support to four major child-facing NGOs in Poland and Romania that are providing services for sizable numbers of Ukraine refugee children.

    5. Range of Motion Project (ROMP): $66,681 (two year grant)

    Improving the Mobility of Children with Amputation in Guatemala | Guatemala City, Guatemala

    The grant will allow ROMP to significantly expand its pediatric practice, and provide custom made, state of the art prosthetic devices to increased numbers of children from poor and indigenous families. ROMP will expand its community-based rehabilitation program; increase outreach to surgeons to improve standards of pediatric amputation surgery; increase referrals from hospitals for prosthetic devices; and boost the availability of donated pediatric prosthetic components.

    Two year grant ($33,681 in year one; $33,000 in year two)

    6. MiracleFeet: $50,000

    Miracle Feet’s Expansion in Nigeria | Southern, Central and Northern Districts, Nigeria

    To support an expansion of MiracleFeet work to treat clubfoot in Nigeria, the grant will fund 5 new clinics in the central and northern part of the county which provide the minimally invasive Ponseti treatment method. Related media and public information campaigns will focus public and health system attention in Nigeria on clubfoot, and the reversibility of one of the world’s leading causes of disability.

    7. Safe Passage: $50,000

    Jardin Pilot Classroom for three-year old students’ Expansion of Pre-School for Children Living in the Guatemala City Dump | Guatemala City, Guatemala

    The grant will enable Safe Passage to ‘expand-down’ its pre-school to include 3-year-olds. Safe Passage, a long-standing Ross grantee, serves extremely poor, usually indigenous children and families who live and work in the Guatemala City dump with nutrition, health and vocational programs and education through its fully accredited, award winning, pre-, primary- and middle schools.

    8. One World Children’s Fund (OWCF): $60,000

    Thriving Through Transitions Capacity Building Program | OWCF partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America

    The project will enable OWCF to create and deliver a series of informational training programs for the staffs of its community-based members. The substantive focus of this initial two-year program would be on navigating the challenges that arise from changes in organizational leadership, including financial, governance, communication, program, and funding dimensions. OWCF member organizations were closely consulted in developing this program and, as nearly 80% are led by their founders, leadership transitions and organizational continuity were identified as a key area of concern.

    9. Trickle Up: $50,000

    Powering Up Change Makers for Lasting Impact | Jharkhand State, India

    The grant would allow Trickle Up to expand greatly its ‘graduation’ model of poverty reduction and savings group programs through close partnership with the Indian government’s National Rural Livelihood Mission program. TU will train 300 government anti-poverty workers to engage with 15,000 poor, tribal women in Jharkhand State in individualized income development activities and community savings groups. An estimated 30,000 children will benefit as household incomes rise, and child and family nutrition, health, education, and social inclusion improve as will access to other government assistance programs.

    10. EMpower: $47,998

    Safety, Support and Meaningful Participation for Istanbul’s Marginalized Children | Istanbul, Turkey

    The grant will enable EMpower to deliver its Positive Adolescent Development Program (PERGEL) to 150 girls in Istanbul. PERGEL, which has been customized to meet the needs of girls from poor and refugee communities in Istanbul, encourages and provides opportunities for girls to participate in their local community, to develop their voice and organizing and leadership experience.

    11. CIYOTA: $40,000

    Unlocking Potential of Youth in Conflict-Afflicted Areas of Uganda through Access to STEM Education | Kyangwali Refugee Camp, Uganda

    To support the purchase of furnishings, lab equipment and a solar power system to complete the construction and finishing of the secondary school built by CIYOTA, a long-standing refugee youth-founded and led Ross grantee.

    12. Penta Medical Recycling: $50,000

    Helping Children Walk: Expanding Penta’s Pediatric Care | Haiti, India, Liberia, Morocco and Palestine

    Penta collects unneeded prosthetic limb components in the United States, and ships that equipment to scores of prosthetic care and other orthopedic health care partners throughout the world, where the components are reassembled into new and customized prosthetic limbs. The grant will enable Penta to greatly expand its pediatric practice, benefiting the unique needs of children in five countries who have had limb amputation and who require prosthetic devices.

    13. Nepal Youth Foundation: $30,000

    Nutrition Outreach Camps Aiding Musahar and Madhesi Dalit Communities | Saptari, Nepal

    The grant will enable Nepal Youth Foundation to send four, two-day, Nutrition Outreach Camps to remote areas of Saptari district aimed specifically at low caste, marginalized, Musahar and Madhesi children and families. Each camp, which will be staffed by a team of 20 doctors, nutritional specialists, family educators and outreach personnel, will reach approximately 1,000 children and 800 caregivers, for a total of 4,000 children and 3,600 caregivers during the grant program. The project is the first program component in Nepal Youth Foundation’s multi-year Cast Equity Project.

    14. Natun/Mayan Families: $40,500

    Amplifying Impact on Maya Children’s Health with Community Promotores | Lake Atitlan area, Guatemala

    Natun will recruit, train and mobilize a team of 30 women and older youth to serve as Promotores community outreach workers to work in 5 indigenous communities where there has been long distrust between communities and the government. These trusted and indigenous-language speaking workers will provide 900 families and 2,500 children with health and nutritional screening and referrals for care in the first year, and will also work with indigenous community leaders and officials from relevant government ministries to increase and improve communication and service delivery.

    15. Perkins International: $50,000

    Helping Children with Disabilities Learn and Thrive in Armenia | Yerevan, Armenia

    This grant will enable Perkins International to expand its teacher training and mentoring program in Armenia as that country increases the pace of its deinstitutionalization of children with disabilities and many of those children will attend public schools for the first time. The project will reach 800 teachers in 14 schools and benefit 3,750 students in the first year.

    Grants by Program Category:

    Disabilities: $309,181

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. Range of Motion Project: $66,681

    3. MiracleFeet: $50,000

    4. Penta Medical Recycling: $50,000

    5. Nepal Youth Foundation : $30,000

    6. Perkins International: $50,000

    Trafficked and Exploited: $250,998

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. Safe Passage: $50,000

    3. Trickle Up: $50,000

    4. EMpower: $47,998

    5. Natun/Mayan Families: $40,500

    Refugee: $130,000

    1. Choose Love: $40,000

    2. Global Fund for Children: $30,000

    3. CARE: $20,000

    4. CIYOTA: $40,000

    Other: $60,000

    1. One World Children’s Fund: $60,000

    Total Grants Commitment in 2022: $750,179

    1. Global Fund for Children | $125,000
      To support and develop the capacity of 4 locally led, community-based organizations focused on disabled children and 4 organizations focused on trafficked and exploited children:

      Children with Disabilities:

      Hand in Hand | Bishkek , Kyrgyzstan
      Hand in Hand is the first and only organization in Kyrgyzstan that is devoted entirely to assisting children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Since its registration, Hand by Hand has become a leader in developing care, diagnosis, and advocacy for children with ASD in Kyrgyzstan.

      Sama Foundation | Bangalore, India
      Sama promotes inclusive education for disabled children in Bangalore and has developed India’s first disabled-focused psychosocial care curriculum that they are introducing into Bangalore’s schools.

      Thai Child Development Foundation (TCDF) | Pak Song, Thailand
      TCDF works with local school and healthcare providers to create improved models of care for special needs children in rural Thailand and foster inclusion to lessen the isolation, stigma and shame that these children and their families often encounter in traditional rural society.

      Zy Movement | Bangkok, Thailand
      Zy Movement’s mission is to ensure that children with movement disabilities grow up in an inclusive, nurturing environment; through a range of education, recreational, sports and vocational programs Zy helps children and parents create a future of autonomy and independent living.

      Child Trafficking:

      Suprava Panchashila Mahila Uddyog Samity (SPMUS)
      | West Bengal, India
      SPMUS works to eliminate child trafficking and child marriage in West Bengal. Using a holistic program model, SPMUS staff – most of whom have been victims themselves – rescue and support girls and women subjected to trafficking, domestic abuse and abandonment and work closely with government and police leaders to ensure enforcement of relevant laws.

      National Federation of Female Communities of Kyrgyzstan (NFFCK) | Novopavlovka Village, Sokuluk District, Kyrgyzstan
      NFFCK is a youth-led organization with a mission to empower rural girls to become agents of change in their communities in Kyrgyzstan. NFFCK promotes and protects girls' rights, improves recognition and respect for girls, and addresses child and forced marriages and violence against girls. Its programs include leadership training and sexual and reproductive health education that promotes the prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, drug abuse, and smoking.

      Jointly Act Girls (JAG) | Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
      JAG is a youth-led organizations established in 2016 to promote the rights of rural girls in Kyrgyzstan. JAG and works to prevent and educate girls and their families about all forms of violence and harmful practices against girls, especially bride kidnapping and child marriages.

      Khiang Rim Khong (KRK) | Northern Thailand
      KRK is based in northern Thailand and works in close collaboration with other non-profits and local government agencies to provide important sexual and reproductive health information and rehabilitation to at-risk youth and survivors of sexual exploitation. KRK is a small organization that was ‘incubated’ by a former GFC partner. KRK works through schools and independent outreach at festivals and markets to share much-needed information on reproductive health and rights.

    2. Restavek Freedom | $30,000
      Restavek Reproductive Empowerment Program | Haiti

      UNICEF estimates that 250,000 Haitian children – some as young as 5 years – have been given up by their impoverished families to serve as indentured servants to ‘host family’ in a widely practiced, but largely secreted, system known as ‘Restavek’. Restavek children are often exposed to overwork and abuse, inferior food and education; with little knowledge of sexual and reproductive functioning, and a degraded sense of self-worth, Restavek girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse in the host home and larger community. This grant will allow Restavek Freedom to deliver a reproductive health and empowerment curriculum to 850 Restavek children based on the innovative LETS (Lunar Essential Tracker System) program, and imbed the LETS curriculum in all of its future work with Restavek youth.

    3. CARE | $50,000
      Laptops and Digital Curriculum for Middle School Girls in Afghanistan | Khost Province, Afghanistan

      The grant will allow CARE to strengthen its Lower Secondary Community Based Education Program (LSCBE) for girls in Afghanistan’s Khost province. This community-supported home school program has provided middle-school level education for nearly 10,000 girls since 2006, and CARE will use the grant funds at its discretion to support the evolving needs of girl’s education in Afghanistan at this time.

    4. Fund for Global Human Rights | $40,000
      Supporting Education for Karen Refugee Children with Disabilities in Myanmar and Thailand | Karen State, Myanmar and Refugee Camps, Western Thailand

      The grant will allow Fund for Global Human Rights, and its Myanmar-based partner the Karen Women’s Organization, to provide services for children with disabilities, their families, communities and teachers in the current period of unrest in the region. Working within refugee camps and also with IDP populations, the project will provide inclusive education, therapy and health care services for children; community education on disability and inclusion; and specialized training to therapists and teachers.

    5. Polus Center | $50,000
      Wings of Peace II: Mosul | Mosul, Iraq

      The grant will enable Polus Center to establish the Wings of Peace expressive arts therapy program in Mosul, Iraq. Initially funded by the Ross Foundation, the program was created to treat traumatized and war wounded Syrian refugee children in Jordan. This expansion of Wings of Peace will provide intensive trauma treatment for children in Mosul , Iraq, who have been exposed to years of devastating violence, including the brutalizing ISIS occupation. Working with local Iraqi partners, Polus will 1) hire initial staff to create the program and formulate a sustainably plan; 2) train 32 local therapists and clinicians in a range of child trauma, PTSD and arts therapy processes; 3) provide direct counseling to 600-700 children; and 4) disseminate the Wings of Peace trauma treatment model throughout the region.
      Two Year Grant ($50,000 in year 1; $45,000 in year 2)

    6. Save the Children | $42,250
      Education and Protection for Children with Disabilities in the Dadaab Refugee Camps | Dadaab, Kenya

      This grant will enable Save the Children to expand education and protection services for children with disabilities in the Dadaab refugee camp, one of the world’s largest and isolated camps. Grant activities include expanding access to education for children with disabilities, providing them with assistive learning devices and making renovations to school structures to ensure accessibility; training camp officials and teachers on child safeguarding; providing emergency support items to newly arriving families; and holding camp-wide programs focusing on stigma reduction and inclusiveness.

    7. Choose Love/Help Refugees | $50,000
      Assisting Unaccompanied Children and Families with Children on the US Mexico Border | US/Mexico Border, Mexico and United States

      The grant will enable Choose Love/Help Refugees to fund 5 small, community-based, refugee serving organizations that provide aid to unaccompanied minors and impoverished families in the midst of the humanitarian crisis at the US/Mexico border. Choose Love/Help Refugees - a refugee-focused intermediary organization and prior Ross grantee - has vetted dozens of organizations that is deems reputable and doing vital work on the US Mexico border, including the provision of food, clothing, shelter and legal assistance for these children, teens and families on both side of the border and offering protection from gangs and traffickers who prey upon them.

    8. ACEDO | $50,000
      Enriching Education and Reconnecting Roma Children in Rural Romania | Curcani and Soldanu, Romania

      With this grant, ACEDO - a Romanian NGO, formed and led by leaders in the Roma community – will provide remedial educational programs to several hundred Roma children and basic literacy instruction for the children’s mothers and caregivers. Working in two impoverished Roma villages, ACEDO will also provide enrichment activities, such as theater clubs, sports teams and rebuilt playgrounds, that will benefit the broader school and local community.

    9. ANERA | $30,000
      Gaza Back to School Project: Helping Gaza Preschoolers Return to Kindergarten | Gaza Strip, Palestine

      In the aftermath of the dual traumas of the May 2021 war with Israel and ongoing COVID dislocations, this grant will allow ANERA to ensure that 10 Gaza kindergartens are re-stocked and ready to open in September and also that teachers are trained to deliver expressive arts therapeutic programs to the children. In addition to ensuring school re-openings and providing 50 teachers with intensive week-long training, 1,000 kindergarteners will also be given ‘Lets Read’ book bags that contains story books, drawing and coloring books and art materials that they can share with siblings.

    10. WEEMA | $39,208

      Expanding Inclusive Education in Rural Ethiopia | Tembaro District, Southwest Ethiopia

      The grant will enable WEEMA to expand the successful pilot inclusive education program it developed in partnership with local and national educational ministries, from 1 school to 4. The program is the first of its kind in Ethiopia, and the expansion will include building improvements to make the 3 new schools accessible to students with disabilities; training 300 teachers and directors; working with parents of students to ensure success; providing students needed mobility and assistive devices; and conducting community outreach work to lessen stigma and discrimination.

    11. Halo Trust | $40,000
      Keeping Children Safe in Mosul Old City | Mosul, Iraq

      The grant will allow Halo Trust ensure the safety of children, teens and their families returning to mine- and unexploded ordinance ridden Mosul, Iraq. Recognizing that it will take years to completely de-mine Mosul, Halo’s program will train 167 teachers in 28 schools in Old City Mosul to become mine and explosive ordinance risk educators and reach nearly 10,000 children within the first year with life-saving information on spotting and avoiding mines and ordinance. The grant will also help fund the building of a safe and fun park in the heart of Mosul’s Old City and adding enhancements (wifi and gym equipment) to attract children and teens to gather and play in the park rather than in neighboring abandoned buildings.

    12. Kupona Foundation / CCBRT | $45,000
      Wheelchairs for Kids in Tanzania | Moshi, Tanzania

      The grant will enable CCBRT – the leading disability care and rehabilitation facility in Tanzania – to provide 166 children in the Moshi region with sturdy, advanced wheelchairs. CCBRT will ensure that these children, selected because they have severe postural or spinal cord issues, receive properly fit chairs and also customized accessories such as trays, posturing pads, blankets and toys; and that the chairs are continually re-fit and maintained by trained technicians to meet the needs of growing children.

    13. American Friends for the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem | $45,000
      Creating Access to Audiology Services for Palestinian Children at Princess Basma Center | East Jerusalem and West Bank, Palestine

      The grant will allow the Jerusalem Princess Basma Center, East Jerusalem’s leading children’s disability rehabilitation center and school, to create the first comprehensive diagnostic and treatment Audiology Unit in East Jerusalem for Palestinian children from East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

    14. Momentum Wheels for Humanity | $40,150
      Expanding Children’s Lives with Mobility in the Republic of Georgia | Republic of Georgia

      The grant will allow Momentum to work with local partner MAC Georgia, to provide high quality child wheelchairs and at the same time highlight and educate leaders and officials about the value and need for these chairs. Specifically, the grant will: 1) import and distribute a mix of 70 wheelchairs appropriate for children with a range of mobility impairments (chairs supplied by joint USAID/Momentum program); 2) educate the children’s caregivers on wheelchair use and maintenance and also how to advocate on behalf of their children’s needs and the needs of all children requiring wheelchairs; and 3) educate the public and 4) raise awareness about the importance of appropriate wheelchairs and, in time, expand official support and funding for child wheelchairs.

    15. Kenya Drylands Education Fund | $13,277
      Leveraging Technology to Improve Enrollment/Retention of Learners | Marsabit and Samburu Counties, Kenya

      This grant will enable KDEF to complete the implementation of a Salesforce technology-based platform to collect, share and analyze data on its youth education and mentorship programs in the drylands of Kenya; to develop and implement rapid program modifications when needed and to report on its program outcomes to donors, other NGOs and local government officials.

    16. Children of Vietnam | $47,762
      Hope System of Care – Expansion | Da Nang Province, Vietnam

      The grant will support the establishment of a new two-year cohort of 100 children with disabilities that will be served under Children of Vietnam’s Hope System of Care. The program trains case managers to coordinate the services provided by various local and district level medical, education and social service agencies, to ensure delivery of the highest level of care and also works to educate and empower parents to play an active role in caring for, and advocating on behalf of, their children.
      Two Year Grant ($47,762 in year 1; $20,112 in year 2)

    17. Project H.O.P.E – Haiti Outreach Pwoje Espwa | $38,750
      The Borgne Initiative for Vulnerable Children | Borgne, Haiti

      The grant will enable Project H.O.P.E. leverage its 30-year experience in health, education, and development programs to implement a focused and integrated model of disease prevention, mental and behavioral support and basic literacy and numerary for 1,000 marginalized and extremely vulnerable children in Haiti’s northern Borgne region. The project has been developed in partnership with local community members and leaders, who have identified the vulnerability of this population of orphaned or abandoned 13 to 17 year-olds to disease, trafficking and gang violence, as the community’s greatest concern.

    18. Medical Aid for Palestinians | $40,450
      Preventing Blindness in High-Risk Newborns in Gaza | Gaza Strip, Palestine

      The grant will allow Medical Aid for Palestinians to assist neo-natal hospital units in Gaza identify and treat all cases of Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP), a condition which, if untreated, can lead to blindness in premature babies. Treatment of RoP is part of the basic standard of neonatal care throughout much of the world, but currently there is no RoP treatment available in Gaza, one of the few areas on earth where the rate of premature births is increasing. The grant activities that will take Gaza from no RoP service to full, sustainable, RoP service include: 1) conducting screening each of the estimated annual 200 at risk newborns in Gaza; 2) training for 240 doctors and nurses who work within the six NICUs in Gaza and creation of information and awareness material; 3) advanced training for 20 ophthalmologists throughout Gaza; 4) selection of a senior Gaza ophthalmologist to undergo a six month training fellowship in Egypt, who would become the lead specialist in the area; 5) purchase of two pieces of needed and essential equipment used in detection; and 6) purchase of essential medicine used in RoP treatment.

    19. Spoon | $55,000
      Transforming Feeding and Nutrition for Children with Disabilities in Croatia | Zagreb, Croatia

      The grant will allow Spoon, which works to eliminate preventable malnutrition by training the caregivers of children with disabilities in safe feeding techniques and nutrition, to work with Ross grantee Perkins International to expands its training and community outreach work in Croatia. This partnership will leverage Perkins’ deep experience working with children with multiple disabilities and their caregivers in Croatia, and Spoon’s substantial knowledge of nutrition and feeding , to operate a pilot program in Croatia, specifically to: 1) develop the capacity of 100 therapists and caregivers to be trained in nutrition and feeding techniques; 2) directly improve the care and nutrition of 800 children in the first year; 3) build on-ground capacity through training five advanced training facilitators who will remain in country to provide follow-up support, mentoring and monitoring; and 4) achieve measurable improvement in the multiple disabilities of at least 500 of the children.

    Grants by Program Category:

    Disabilities: $ 412,310

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. Save the Children: $42,240

    3. WEEMA: $39,208

    4. Halo Trust: $40,000

    5. Kupona Foundation /CCBRT: $45,000

    6. American Friends of Jerusalem Episcopal Diocese/Princess Basma Center: $45,000

    7. Momentum Wheels for Humanity: $40,150

    8. Children of Vietnam: $47,762

    9. Medical Aid for Palestinians: $40,450

    10. Spoon: $55,000

    Trafficked and Exploited: $244,527

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. Restavek Freedom: $30,000

    3. CARE: $50,000

    4. ACEDO: $50,000

    5. Kenya Drylands Education Fund: $13,277

    6. Haiti Outreach Pwoje Espwa (H.O.P.E.): $38,750

    Refugee: $170,000

    1. Polus Center: $50,000

    2. Choose Love: $50,000

    3. ANERA: $30,000

    4. Fund for Global Human Rights: $40,000

    Total Grants Made in 2021: $826,837

    Total Commitments Made in 2021: $891,949

    1. Global Fund for Children | $125,000
      To support and develop the capacity of 4 locally led, community-based organizations focused on disabled children and 4 organizations focused on trafficked and exploited children:

      Children with Disabilities:

      Hand in Hand | Bishkek , Kyrgyzstan
      Hand in Hand is the first and only organization in Kyrgyzstan that is devoted entirely to assisting children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Since its registration, Hand by Hand has become a leader in developing care, diagnosis, and advocacy for children with ASD in Kyrgyzstan.

      Sama Foundation | Bangalore, India
      Sama promotes inclusive education for disabled children in Bangalore and has developed India’s first disabled-focused psychosocial care curriculum that they are introducing into Bangalore’s schools.

      Thai Child Development Foundation (TCDF) | Pak Song, Thailand
      TCDF works with local school and healthcare providers to create improved models of care for special needs children in rural Thailand and foster inclusion to lessen the isolation, stigma and shame that these children and their families often encounter in traditional rural society.

      Zy Movement | Bangkok, Thailand
      Zy Movement’s mission is to ensure that children with movement disabilities grow up in an inclusive, nurturing environment; through a range of education, recreational, sports and vocational programs Zy helps children and parents create a future of autonomy and independent living.

      Child Trafficking:

      Center for Girls | Chiang Khong, Thailand
      Center for Girls (CFG) works in schools and community centers to encourage young girls to continue their education, empower them with knowledge of their rights as citizens of the country, and equip them to become leaders for future generations. Founded by a survivor of trafficking, CFG understands the social and economic dynamics that enable gender based violence and trafficking to exist and works through a community engagement and leadership model to ensure CFG’s work is sustainable.

      Our Voice | Bishek, Kyrgyzstan
      Our Voice focuses on transitioning teenage orphanage residents, often without any support, safety net or life skills, and at high risk of substance abuse, prostitution and trafficking, to successful independent living. Services include psychological, legal aid, job placement and securing housing and vocational education.

      Suprava Panchashila Mahila Uddyog Samity (SPMUS) | West Bengal, India
      SPMUS works to eliminate child trafficking and child marriage in West Bengal. Using a holistic program model, SPMUS staff – most of whom have been victims themselves – rescue and support girls and women subjected to trafficking, domestic abuse and abandonment and work closely with government and police leaders to ensure enforcement of relevant laws.

      National Federation of Female Communities of Kyrgyzstan (NFFCK) | Novopavlovka Village, Sokuluk District, Kyrgyzstan
      NFFCK is a youth-led organization with a mission to empower rural girls to become agents of change in their communities in Kyrgyzstan. NFFCK promotes and protects girls' rights, improves recognition and respect for girls, and addresses child and forced marriages and violence against girls. Its programs include leadership training and sexual and reproductive health education that promotes the prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, drug abuse, and smoking.

      Jointly Act Girls (JAG) | Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
      JAG is a youth-led organizations established in 2016 to promote the rights of rural girls in Kyrgyzstan. JAG and works to prevent and educate girls and their families about all forms of violence and harmful practices against girls, especially bride kidnapping and child marriages.

      Khiang Rim Khong (KRK) | Northern Thailand
      KRK is based in northern Thailand and works in close collaboration with other non-profits and local government agencies to provide important sexual and reproductive health information and rehabilitation to at-risk youth and survivors of sexual exploitation. KRK is a small organization that was ‘incubated’ by a former GFC partner. KRK works through schools and independent outreach at festivals and markets to share much-needed information on reproductive health and rights.

    2. COVID-19 Response Fund | $80,000
      In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ross Foundation grantees that operate safe-spaces and shelters for children, or provide direct food assistance to children, faced greatly increased costs to provide that vital support. The Foundation’s Board allocated funds to be used by a small group of current grantees to meet these needs. Grant made under this program were:

      1. Women for Afghan Women | $5,000 (for Children’s Support Centers in Afghanistan)

      2. Freedom for All | $5,000 (for Voice of the Free shelters for trafficked girls, Philippines)

      3. Street Child | $10,000 (split between support for Musahar girls in Nepal and Street Child’s COVID-specific health information work)

      4. Freedom Fund | $5,000 (for Taabar children’s shelter in Jaipur India)

      5. Nepal Youth Foundation | $5,000 (child care in Kathmandu, Nepal)

      6. Global Fund for Children | $25,000 (for GFC COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund)

      7. Hagar USA | $5,000 (For shelters trafficked boys in Kabul, Afghanistan)

      8. Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund | $5,000 (for feeding an care of children at Gaza Oncology Center)

      9. Blue Dragon | $5,000 (For Children’s Shelter in Hanoi, Vietnam)

      10. NOMI Project | $5,000 (For feeding and care of children at the NOMI Daniel shelter in Jharsuguda, India)

      11. Visualiza/ Vision for the Poor | $5,000 (For food distribution to children who are Visualiza patients in Guatemala)

    3. USA Committee for UNWRAC | $30,000

      UNWRA Education in Emergency Program in the West Bank | West Bank, Palestinian Territories
      The grant allowed UNWRA to purchase IT equipment needed to boost the capacity of its Education in Emergencies Program meet expanded needs for distance learning necessitated by the COVID crisis. Laptops and other equipment will continue to be used post-COVID by teachers in expanded E-learning offerings.

    4. AVSI/FDP Protagonists in Education | $30,000

      Expansion of the Wonder Center for Children with Special Educational Needs | Bucharest, Romania
      The grant will allow AVSI/FDP to create a pilot model of comprehensive services for children with special education needs called the “Wonder Center.” In the first year the Center will: 1) provide individualized case management and therapeutic services for 50 children; 2) train 75 parents in the needs of their children so that they are able to better advocate for the children’s needs and also play a more informed roll in their children’s care; 3) provided detailed in-service training to 80 mainstream teachers to boost their practical skills to teach SEN children based on inclusive educational methods.
      Three Year Grant ($30,000 in year 1; $20,000 in year 2; $10,000 in year 3)

    5. Minga Peru/The Resource Foundation | $45,000

      Protection and Care of Children and Youth in the Peruvian Amazon | Iquitos and 22 villages in the Amazon
      The grant will allow Minga Peru to produce 24 episodes of its Bienvenida Salud weekly radio program that will focus on child protection and anti-trafficking messages (the program reaches, informs, empowers and mobilizes thousand of isolated women in remote communities in the Peruvian Amazon region); train women community leaders in child protection and anti-trafficking who will in turn train other women in their home communities and reach out to high school students with protection and anti-trafficking messages and information.

    6. A Breeze of Hope | $40,000

      Prevention of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children for Bolivia’s Survivors of Childhood Sexual Violence | Cochabamba, Bolivia
      The grant will allow Breeze of Hope to create an intensive program for the most vulnerable adolescent survivors of non-commercial sexual violence avoid commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). The three main objectives for this project are to: (1) codify the CSE intervention to guide staff and others in the field, (2) help 40 CSE vulnerable adolescents reduce their vulnerability by developing robust self-esteem, deep self/body-acceptance, dreams for the future, and healthy exercise patterns, and (3) help 40 CSE vulnerable adolescents learn practical knowledge and skills for recognizing commercial sexual exploitation and seeking effective help.

    7. Kagando Mission Hospital Foundation | $20,000

      Construct New Water System for Kagando Hospital and Neighboring Community | Kasese, Uganda

    8. Perkins School for the Blind International | $45,000

      Preventing Institutionalization for Children in the context of COVID-19 | Serbia and Croatia
      This grant will allow Perkins School for the Blind to strengthen four community-based care centers in Serbia, and establish eight centers in Croatia, to increase community and family capacity to educate and care for disabled children, enabling disabled children to return to, or stay with, their families. The program will also train teachers and special education professionals and create a program of education and support for parents and home caregivers.

    9. Miracle Feet | $28,300

      Miracle Feet’s COVID-19 Recovery in Guatemala | Six states in Guatemala
      This grant will enable MiracleFeet to provide treatment to children whose treatment was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic through creating and deploying mobile teams of therapists; to provide travel subsidies for poor families to enable them to reach treatment; and develop and provide audio visual materials to help families improve at-home care.

    10. Trickle Up | $33,000

      Reviving the Financial Health and Building Resilience of Young Women in Extreme Poverty | Chahal and Ixcan, Guatemala
      The program will enable Trickle Up to help 500 participants in an earlier Ross Foundation funded program to back on track and revive their income producing business and reengage their saving groups after the COVID-19 caused disruptions.

    11. Freedom Fund | $40,000

      Improving the Care of Trafficked Children in Jaipur | Jaipur, India
      The program will enable Freedom Fund to fund shelter Taabar to address needs brought on by COVID; to codify its high quality care guidelines for rescued children and train counselors at 4 other child shelters in Jaipur; to work with other Jaipur-based child advocacy organizations to develop standards of care for medical exams for children.

    12. Street Child | $48,960

      Last Mile Learning for Rohingya Refugee Children | Cox’s Bazar Refugee Camp, Bangladesh
      The grant will enable Street Child to adapt and deliver its Last Mile Learning program to 1,680 Rohingya refugee children in the Cox Bazaar-area refugee camps.

    13. Cooperative for Education (CoEd) | $29,950

      Blended Learning Adaptations for Education in Guatemala | 50 Communities in Guatemala
      The program will enable CoEd to provide training to 250 teachers at 50 schools to enable them to effectively distance-teach 12,500 students during the COVID-19 crisis; and also to adapt and implement its Rise youth development program in an on-line format.

    14. Little Sisters Fund | $25,000

      Providing At-Risk Nepalese Girls Access to Online Education | 19 Communities in Nepal

      The grant will enable Little Sisters Fund to provide cell phones for 300 girls and data packages for 1,800 girls to enable them to access virtual education programs during the pandemic period.

    Grants by Program Category:

    Disabilities: $ 165,800

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. AVSI/FDP Protagonists in Education: 30,000

    3. Perkins International: 45,000

    4. Miracle Feet: 28,300

    Trafficked and Exploited: $275,450

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. Minga Peru: $45,000

    3. A Breeze of Hope: $40,000

    4. Trickle Up: 33,000

    5. Freedom Fund/Childcare Jaipur: $40,000

    6. Cooperative for Education: $29,950

    7. Little Sisters Fund: $25,000

    Refugee: $78,960

    1. USA Committee for UNWRA: $30,000

    2. Street Child: $48,960

    Other: $100,000

    1. Covid-19 Response Fund: $80,000

    2. Kagando Hospital Mission Foundation: $20,000

    Total Grants Made in 2020: $620,210

    Total Commitments Made in 2020: $650,210

    1. Global Fund for Children | $125,000
      To support and develop the capacity of 4 locally led, community based organizations focused on disabled children and 4 organizations focused on trafficked and exploited children:

      Children with Disabilities:

      Hand in Hand
      | Bishkek , Kyrgyzstan
      Hand in Hand is the first and only organization in Kyrgyzstan that is devoted entirely to assisting children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Since its registration, Hand by Hand has become a leader in developing care, diagnosis, and advocacy for children with ASD in Kyrgyzstan.

      Sama Foundation | Bangalore, India
      Sama promotes inclusive education for disabled children in Bangalore and has developed India’s first disabled-focused psychosocial care curriculum that they are introducing into Bangalore’s schools.

      Thai Child Development Foundation (TCDF) | Pak Song, Thailand
      TCDF works with local school and healthcare providers to create improved models of care for special needs children in rural Thailand and foster inclusion to lessen the isolation, stigma and shame that these children and their families often encounter in traditional rural society.

      Zy Movement | Bangkok, Thailand
      Zy Movement’s mission is to ensure that children with movement disabilities grow up in an inclusive, nurturing environment; through a range of education, recreational, sports and vocational programs Zy helps children and parents create a future of autonomy and independent living.

      Child Trafficking:

      Center for Girls
      | Chiang Khong, Thailand
      Center for Girls (CFG) works in schools and community centers to encourage young girls to continue their education, empower them with knowledge of their rights as citizens of the country, and equip them to become leaders for future generations. Founded by a survivor of trafficking, CFG understands the social and economic dynamics that enable gender based violence and trafficking to exist and works through a community engagement and leadership model to ensure CFG’s work is sustainable.

      Our Voice | Bishek, Kyrgyzstan
      Our Voice focuses on transitioning teenage orphanage residents, often without any support, safety net or life skills, and at high risk of substance abuse, prostitution and trafficking, to successful independent living. Services include psychological, legal aid, job placement and securing housing and vocational education.

      Suprava Panchashila Mahila Uddyog Samity (SPMUS) | West Bengal, India
      SPMUS works to eliminate child trafficking and child marriage in West Bengal. Using a holistic program model, SPMUS staff – most of whom have been victims themselves – rescue and support girls and women subjected to trafficking, domestic abuse and abandonment and work closely with government and police leaders to ensure enforcement of relevant laws.

      National Federation of Female Communities of Kyrgyzstan (NFFCK) | Novopavlovka Village, Sokuluk District, Kyrgyzstan
      NFFCK is a youth founded and led organization that promotes and protects girls rights and empowers rural girls to influence their families and communities to reduce bride kidnapping, physical abuse and improve their knowledge of sexual and reproductive health.

    2. American Himalayan Foundation (AHF) | $41,273

      Expanding Quality Community-Based Care for Children with Physical Disabilities in Nepal | 8 Districts in 3 Provinces in Central and West Nepal

    3. Manos Unidas | $32,500

      Vocational Training Program for Youth with Disabilities | Cusco, Peru
      This grant allow Manos Unidas, which works to improve the lives of children in Cusco, Peru with Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and other cognitive disabilities, to develop and pilot a transitional education and functional life skills program for adolescents and to introduce an inclusive and innovative vocational education program for developmentally disabled youth. The vocation program will be offered at one of Cusco’s traditional vocational education schools, and will include targeted supportive services for Manos Unidas students to ensure their success.

    4. No Means No Worldwide | $25,000

      IMpower South Africa – NACOSA Exapnsion | Four Provinces, South Africa

      Gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual assault against girls and young women inflicts multiple, damaging and life changing consequences, including trauma, pregnancy, disease transmission, social isolation and stigma, and forced marriage. No Means No Worldwide (NMNW) signature program ‘IMpower’ is based on education and training, empowerment and physical defense skills; a key concept is that girls learn to sense and react to dangers, set boundaries, are empowered to use a set of verbal negotiation, diffusion and distraction tactics. This grant will allow NMNW to establish ‘IMpower in South Africa through a partnership with South African NGO NACOSA; in its first year 30 women will be trained to become IMpower instructors and will teach the empowerment and self defense curriculum to 1,500 girls in four South African provinces.

    5. Trickle Up | $50,000

      Inclusive Graduation Programs for Rural Indigenous Girls in Guatemala | Ixan and Chahal, Guatemala
      Building on prior Ross Funded Trickle Up work, the “Inclusive Graduation Programs for rural Indigenous Girls in Guatemala” grant will 1) extend ‘graduation style’ programs of economic strengthening, customized mentoring and social supports to 500 girls and young women in two municipalities and 2) assist these two municipalities codify and develop government ministry staff capacity to establish and operate graduation programs in their jurisdiction independently in the future.

    6. Palestine Children’s Relief Fund | $35,600

      Gaza Youth Amputee Summer Camp | Gaza Strip, Palestine
      This grant will allow Palestine Children’s Relief Fund to provide a summer camp for 50-60 children and youth who use prosthetic devices, either due to medical issues or who have undergone traumatic injuries and amputations and are now learning to adjust to a life of disability. PCRF will bring together international and local medical, rehabilitation and psychological specialists to help these children begin to make the difficult physical, psychological and rehabilitative adjustments necessary. The camp will also help the children’s’ families to be more knowledgeable caregivers; will lead to formal and informal peer networks of children and families to lessen isolation and provide support; and will be fun, enjoyable and inspirational for the children who have endured deep trauma.

    7. Help Refugees | $40,000

      Rehabilitation Center in Kills, Turkey, for Syrian Refugee Children | Kilis, Turkey
      This grant will enable Help Refugees partner Independent Doctors Association (IDA, founded and formerly based in Alepo, Syria) to create a physiotherapy and rehabilitation center in for children with congenital and existing disabilities, which had been treated in Syria before they were forced to flee, and for children that have war-related injury caused disabilities. Many of these children also have need for trauma and psychological counseling, which the center will provide. The program will: 1) renovate and fully equip a physiotherapy and rehabilitation center; 2) provide expanded and focused training to medical staff on the needs of children; 3) provide 12 months of services to 1,269 children and 4) provide psychological services to 1,114 women and children.

    8. Rain for the Sahel and Sahara | $30,000

      Middle School Mentoring Program in Niger | Tillabery, Niger
      This grant will enable Rain for the Sahel and Sahara to fund the ‘Middle School Mentoring Program in Niger’ and expand the organization’s successful elementary school mentoring project. The 101 women in 12 villages trained to become middle school mentors will mentor 505 children in the project’s first year; the project will also provide after school tutoring to 350 additional students.

    9. Plan International | $50,000

      Prevention of Trafficking of Venezuelan Migrant Adolescents | Lima Peru
      There are currently over one million Venezuelan refugees in Peru, many of whom are vulnerable and/or unaccompanied youth; this grant will allow Plan to: 1) finalize a multi-part trafficking awareness and prevention curriculum geared toward Venezuelan refugee youth, their families and community currently in Peru; 2) train 20 community ‘promoters’ to deliver the structured workshop program; 3) enroll 400 adolescents to participate in the roll-out; 4) refine the curriculum as needed for delivery of the program in subsequent years throughout Peru; 5) provide hygiene and emergency care kits to adolescents; and 6) sponsor a large anti-trafficking fair to be held in the Lima slum neighborhood of Comas, a center of the Venezuelan refugee community and the location where this overall program roll out will be based.

    10. Children’s Agenda | $30,000

      Making Systems Work for Kids: Advancing All Kids Thrive | Rochester, NY
      The grant will allow Children’s Agenda to work with government and private entities to leverage sustainable, long-term funding that fills the gaps of young children’s unmet needs for critical supports (developmental, health social-emotional, educational) in the greater Rochester area.

    11. Spoon | $35,000

      Transforming Feeding and Nutrition for Vietnamese Children with Disabilities | Binh Duong and Quang Ninh provinces, Vietnam
      The grant will enable Spoon, which works to eliminate preventable malnutrition by training the caregivers of disabled children in safe feeding techniques and nutrition, to expand its training and community outreach work in Vietnam. The project will have impact in both institutional and community settings, improving care for 1,400 children in 14 institutions by strengthening the capacity of 6 master trainers who will work with 180 caregivers and supporting government and community based partners to build an integration pilot project for families to provide safe feeding and assume home care for their children.

    12. Amend | $36,850

      Safe and Healthy Journeys to School in Tanzania | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
      Road traffic injury has become a leading cause of injury, disability and death for children in Africa, particularly in rapidly expanding cities, where traffic planning is rarely a priority and sidewalks and other pedestrian areas are formally or informally eliminated to accommodate increased vehicular flow. Amend’s signature program - School Area Road Safety Assessments and Improvements (SARSI) - has been implemented at 60 schools throughout Africa and has been recognized by the World Health Organization as an important way of making the areas around schools safer for children. This grant will be used for Amend’s first disability-inclusive SARSI, and includes the planning, design and build-out of traffic and road safety capital improvements near a school with many disabled children; the delivery of education programs for children, their parents and the public about pedestrian and road safety; and outreach to government, public health, law enforcement officials and the media.

    13. Freedom Fund | $50,000

      Rajasthan Hotspot: Child Labor Free Jaipur | Rajasthan and Bihar provinces, India
      Freedom Fund’s “Rajasthan India Hotspot- Child Labor Free Jaipur” program is a significant effort to engage government, the business community and neighborhood and community groups in Jaipur to eliminate child bonded labor in that city’s handicraft, garment and jewelry businesses, to build a child-free labor certification process, and strengthen community resistance to exploitative child labor. This grant will be focused on the social service and child protection work of 9 child-focused NGO’s in Jaipur that address the condition of children currently working as bonded labors and with 8 child-focused NGOS in Bihar, in Northern India from which many of the child laborers in Jaipur are trafficked, to help rehabilitate and reintegrate those children safely back home.

    14. Hagar | $30,625

      Trauma Recovery for Afghan Boy Trafficking and Abuse Survivors | Kabul, Afghanistan
      This grant will fund the “Trauma Recovery for Afghan Boy Trafficking and Abuse Survivors” program in Kabul, Afghanistan, and will enable Hagar to provide housing, protection, health care, rehabilitation and education for boys that have been trafficked and abused. It will also help reintegrate the boys in their home communities when possible and, when not, help them establish independent lives in cites; provide an expansion of funds for older boys to start businesses; and an expansion of public outreach targeted at parents, community elders, religious leaders and government and law enforcement officials to flight illegal so-called Bacha Bazi practices.

    15. Kenya Drylands Education Fund | $15,000

      Leveraging Technology to Improve Enrollment/Retention of Learners | Marsabit and Samburu Counties, Kenya
      This grant will enable KDEF to utilize the Salesforce technology and platform in its work focused on youth education and mentorship in the drylands of Kenya and will allow it to collect, share and analyze program data in an timely and effective way; to develop and implement rapid program modifications when needed and to report on its program outcomes to donors, other NGOs and local government officials.

    Grants by Program Category:

    Disabilities: $208,123

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. American Himalayan Foundation: $41,273

    3. Manos Unidas: $32,500

    4. Spoon: $35,000

    5. Amend: $36,850

    Trafficked and Exploited: $313,125

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. No Means No Worldwide: $25,000

    3. Trickle Up: $50,000

    4. Rain for the Sahel and Sahara: $30,000

    5. Plan International: $50,000

    6. Freedom Fund: $50,000

    7. Hagar: $30,625

    8. Kenya Drylands Educational Fund: $15,000

    Refugee: $75,600

    1. Palestine Children’s Relief Fund: $35,600

    2. Help Refugees: $40,000

    Other: $30,000

    1. Children’s Agenda: $30,000

    Total Grants Made in 2018: $626,848

    1. Global Fund for Children | $125,000

      To support and develop the capacity of 4 locally led, community-based organizations focused on disabled children and 4 organizations focused on trafficked and exploited children:

      Children with Disabilities:


      Divya Down’s Development Trust (DDDT) | Bengaluru, India
      DDDT provides holistic support to individuals with Down syndrome through special education, therapy, and essential skills development—with the ultimate goal of preparing children to enroll in formal school or enter the workforce in order to lead a life of dignity and respect.

      Sama Foundation | Bangalore, India
      Sama promotes inclusive education for disabled children in Bangalore and has developed India’s first disabled-focused psychosocial care curriculum that they are introducing into Bangalore’s schools.

      Thai Child Development Foundation (TCDF) | Pak Song, Thailand
      TCDF works with local school and healthcare providers to create improved models of care for special needs children in rural Thailand and foster inclusion to lessen the isolation, stigma and shame that these children and their families often encounter in traditional rural society.

      Zy Movement | Bangkok, Thailand
      Zy Movement’s mission is to ensure that children with movement disabilities grow up in an inclusive, nurturing environment; through a range of education, recreational, sports and vocational programs Zy helps children and parents create a future of autonomy and independent living.

      Child Trafficking:

      Baan Nana
      | Mae Sai, Thailand
      Baan Nana provides shelter, education, nutrition and support to reduce the number of children living and working on the streets of Mae Sai, a crossing point and trafficking location on the border between Thailand and Burma.

      Our Voice | Bishek, Kyrgyzstan
      Our Voice focuses on transitioning teenage orphanage residents, often without any support, safety net or life skills, and at high risk of substance abuse, prostitution and trafficking, to successful independent living. Services include psychological, legal aid, job placement and securing housing and vocational education.

      Suprava Panchashila Mahila Uddyog Samity (SPMUS) | West Bengal, India
      SPMUS works to eliminate child trafficking and child marriage in West Bengal. Using a holistic program model, SPMUS staff – most of whom have been victims themselves – rescue and support girls and women subjected to trafficking, domestic abuse and abandonment and work closely with government and police leaders to ensure enforcement of relevant laws.

      National Federation of Female Communities of Kyrgyzstan (NFFCK) | Novopavlovka Village, Sokuluk District, Kyrgyzstan
      NCFFCK is a youth founded and youth led organization that promotes and protects girls rights and empowers rural girls to influence their families and communities to reduce bride kidnapping, physical abuse and improve their knowledge of sexual and reproductive health.

    2. iACT | $39,780

      Little Ripples: Improving the Quality of Early Childhood Education for Refugee Children in Eastern Cameroon | Cameroon
      The grant will enable iACT to implement its refugee co-created Little Ripples curriculum and provide early childhood education to 1,350 refugee children who have fled from Central African Republic to Cameroon. iACT will also build community and parental support to sustain attendance; will develop a system to measure the social and emotional development of children in this refugee population; will strengthen the capacity of partner JRS to operate the program in future years; and will enable iACT to develop new partnerships and expand the use of the curriculum in other refugee situations.

    3. Fund for Global Human Rights | $40,000

      Releasing and Rehabilitating Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo | Kasai, South Kivu, North Kivu and Oriental regions, Democratic Republic of the Congo
      To allow the Fund for Global Human Rights to strengthen three leading DRC-community based organizations negotiate the release of child soldiers from armed groups and provide direct services to these former child soldiers and support their reintegration into society; to strengthen protections for children through research, monitoring and advocacy; and to train other organizations to provide these type of services in the central regions of the country.

    4. Kupona Foundation / CCBRT | $43,928

      Improving Quality Community-Based Inclusive Development Services in Tanzana | Dar es Salaam and Mosi, Tanzania
      The grant will expand the reach of Tanzania-based disability hospital CCBRT’s globally respected disability rehabilitation program, increase the number of children and families able to access and benefit from quality services, and build capacity for high quality rehabilitation services among other government and private healthcare providers in Tanzania and the East Africa region.

    5. Soccer Without Borders | $45,000

      Supporting Refugee Youth in Kampala to Learn, Develop and Thrive | Kampala, Uganda
      The grant will enable Soccer Without Borders to double the number of non-English speaking refugee children it works with in Kampala; to adapt and deliver its “English Language-Integrated Soccer Curriculum” to those children and develop the “Pathways” program to help its students gain access to Ugandan schools.

    6. Women for Afghan Women | $30,000

      From Prison to Thriving: Moving Children Imprisoned with their Mothers in Nangarhar to Kabul’s Children Support Center | Kabul, Afghanistan
      The grant will relocate 25 children who are living in the Jalalabad prison with their imprisoned mothers to the Children’s Support Center home in Kabul; provide them with the first 12 months of care, rehabilitation, education and enrichment activities; and enable them to visit their mothers in prison at least twice a year; the grant will also provide for an upgrade the Kabul center’s database system.

    7. Children’s Agenda | $50,000

      Building an Integrated Model of Early Childhood Development Services in Rochester, NY | Rochester, NY
      The grant will allow Children’s agenda to work with government and private entities to leverage sustainable, long-term funding that fills in the gaps of young children’s unmet needs for critical supports (developmental, health, social-emotional, educational) in the greater Rochester area.

    8. ANERA | $40,000

      Responding to Preschool Children’s Psychosocial Needs in Gaza | 10 Locations in Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories
      To enable ANERA to expand its Right Start Gaza-based early childhood development program and create the Gaza Preschool Summer Arts Program; the program will utilize expressive arts therapy to strengthen the resilience and coping capacities of 850 children in 10 locations throughout the Gaza Strip during the summer of 2018; 70 teachers will receive special training in arts therapy and working with traumatized children, which they will be able to incorporate in their teaching practice throughout the year.

    9. Cooperative for Education (CoEd) | $35,000

      Guatemala Computer Centers Program | Solola and San Marcos States, Guatemala
      The grant will enable CoEd to build three new self-financing computer centers in rural Guatemala that will provide school-based computer instruction and access to computers for 330 children and their communities each year. CoEd will establish and monitor a revolving fund for each school into which small user fees paid by parents will be collected, with the funds saved in the revolving accounts to provide periodic equipment maintenance and hardware upgrades every five or six years.

    10. International Refugee Assistance Project | $35,000

      Family Reunification and Protection for Unaccompanied Refugee Children at Risk (Integrating Child Protection and Social Services) | Greece
      The grant will allow IRAP/Safe Passages to add a professional social worker to its legal services team. This expansion will provide child-protection social service referrals for 400 vulnerable, homeless and unaccompanied Syrian refugee children currently in Greece and who are undergoing the lengthy legal process leading to reunification with family already resettled in Europe.

    11. Little Sisters Fund | $30,000

      Community Projects and Educational Opportunity Expansion | Banke, Dang, Parsa, Makwanpur, Sindhaualchowk, Nepal
      The two part grant will allow Little Sisters Fund to increase from 10 to 30 the number of local Community Projects that girls are able to plan, champion, lead and build in their home communities and also allow for the overall expansion of the core scholarship program to include 75 new girls from existing and 3 new isolated and poor communities.

    12. Vision for the Poor / Visualiza | $40,000

      Reduction of Childhood Refractive Error and Eye Disease Campaign in Rural Guatemala | Villa Nueva, Poptun and Melchor-de-mencos, Guatemala
      The grant will enable Visualiza, the leading eye hospital in Guatemala, to provide eye screenings and related care to nearly 30,000 children in the catchment area of three new rural eye care clinics that Visulaiza and Vision for the Poor have established and also train local school teachers to conduct basic eye exams in the future.

    13. Street Child US | $50,179

      Breaking the Bonds for Disabled Girls from Nepal’s Untouchable Musahar Caste | Dhanusha, Mahottari and Siraha, Nepal
      The grant will allow Street Child to implement program enhancements to enable 364 disabled girls to participate in Breaking the Bonds, a comprehensive 3 year initiative to provide education, vocational training and income generation activities and rights awareness and advocacy for 3,000 girls from Nepal’s isolated, deeply disenfranchised and impoverished Musahar caste. Ross support centers on the educational component to deliver an expedited curriculum leading to basic literacy and numeracy, and will provide for a disability inclusion teacher training course and related materials; enhancements to school buildings to ensure accessibility and provide needed individual disability aids and learning materials.
      Two year grant ($25,179 in year 1; $25,000 in year 2)

    14. Freedom for All / Voice of the Free | $30,140

      Mobilizing youth Movements Among Indigenous Peoples to Prevent Child Trafficking in the Philippines | Palawan and Mindanao Islands, Philippines
      The grant will support an expansion of Voice of the Free’s iFIGHT anti trafficking education and prevention program, and reach an additional 15,000 youth in tribal areas of the Philippines. Through large school assemblies which feature music, dance, testimonials and various media, and follow up social media and organizing activities, Voice of the Free warns young people about the dangers of online sexual exploitation and other forms of trafficking; encourages them to join local iFIGHT clubs; creates awareness among parents about the signs of trafficking and how to report them to authorities; and mobilizes and trains teachers and local community leaders to handle reports of trafficking.

    15. Polus Center | $50,000

      Wings of Peace – A Trauma Counseling Program for Syrian Child Refugees | East Amman, and Za’atari and Azraq refugee camps, Jordan
      This grant builds on the Foundation’s 2015 grant to Polus to develop a counseling program specifically intended for the treatment of Syrian Refugee children who have experienced extreme trauma and PTSD. Polus will expand the ‘Wings of Peace’ arts therapy program that was developed under the first grant, deepening data collection, analysis, and evaluation to allow the therapy model to be widely shared with other child mental health providers in the region and also train youth who have gone through the program to become peer support counselors and mentors to younger children entering the program.
      Two year program ($25,000 in year 1; $25,000 in year 2)

    16. Perkins School for the Blind International | $50,000

      Serbia: Keeping Children with Multiple Disabilities out of Orphanages | Belgrade, Serbia
      This grant will enable Perkins to begin work in Serbia to build family and community capacity to educate and care for disabled children at home and in their communities. Without capacity or community services for care and education, families often have no choice but to house children with multiple disabilities in remote institutions and orphanages. This pilot project will: increase the number of community based teachers and paraprofessionals skilled in working with children with multiple disabilities; establish four community school-based model programs of education and care that will accommodate 500 children; and initiate of program of home based parental and caregiver support and education.

    Grants by Program Category:

    Disabilities: $221,607

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. Kupona Foundation/CCBRT: $43,928

    3. Vision for the Poor/Visualiza: $40,000

    4. Street Child: $25,179

    5. Perkins School for the Blind International: $50,000

    Trafficked and Exploited: $227,640

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. Women for Afghan Women: $30,000

    3. Fund for Global Human Rights: $40,000

    4. Cooperative for Education: $35,000

    5. Little Sisters Fund: $30,000

    6. Freedom for All/Voice of the Free: $30,140

    Refugee: $185,000

    1. iACT: $40,000

    2. Soccer Without Borders: $45,000

    3. Anera: $40,000

    4. International Refugee Assistance Project: $35,000

    5. Polus Center: $25,000

    Other: $50,000

    1. Children’s Agenda: $50,000

    Total Grants Made in 2018: $684,247

    Total Commitments Made in 2018: $734,247

    1. Global Fund for Children | $125,000

      To support and develop the capacity of 4 locally led, community based organizations focused on disabled children and 4 organizations focused on trafficked and exploited children:

      Children with Disabilities:

      Asociación de Sordociegos de Nicaragua (ASCN)
      | Managua, Nicaragua
      ASCN provides services to Nicaragua’s deafblind population and promotes their rights and inclusion in both urban and remote rural locations.

      Divya Down’s Development Trust (DDDT) | Bengaluru, India
      DDDT provides holistic support to individuals with Down syndrome through special education, therapy, and essential skills development—with the ultimate goal of preparing children to enroll in formal school or enter the workforce in order to lead a life of dignity and respect.

      Iroda | Dushanbe, Tajikistan Iroda
      Iroda, the first organization in Tajikistan working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), provides access to quality services that address the unique needs of children and youth with ASD, trains professionals and parents, facilitates a parent support group, and helps children with ASD become enrolled in formal school.

      Young Disabled Sports Club (YDSC) | Adana, Turkey
      YDSC provides educational and sports programs for children with disabilities, with a special focus on integrating disabled and nondisabled children in all its activities.

      Child Trafficking:

      Baan Nana | Mae Sai, Thailand
      Baan Nana provides shelter, education, nutrition and support to reduce the number of children living and working on the streets of Mae Sai, a crossing point and trafficking location on the border between Thailand and Burma.

      Roshni Research Development Welfare Organization | Karachi, Pakistan
      Roshni is a unique program in Pakistan that focuses on recovering missing children within 48 hours of their disappearance, facilitates their rehabilitation and builds the capacity of communities and law enforcement to better protect children.

      Yayasan Mitra ImaDei | Jakarta, Indonesia
      ImaDei’s child domestic worker program provides education, vocational and life skills training to girls who are domestic workers, vulnerable to abuse and unprotected by labor regulations, increasing their ability to leave domestic work and expanding their future opportunities.

      Our Voice | Bishek, Kyrgyzstan
      Our Voice focuses on transitioning teenage orphanage residents, often without any support, safety net or life skills, and at high risk of substance abuse, prostitution and trafficking, to successful independent living. Services include psychological, legal aid, job placement and securing housing and vocational education.

    2. Adaptive Design Association | $20,600 (final year of $77,000 3 year project)

      Establishment of an Adaptive Design Center in Lima Peru | Lima, Peru
      To establish an Adaptive Design Center in Lima, Peru that will train designers and fabricators to create simple, practical and low-cost devices that greatly improve the lives of disabled children, and replicate the center in other cities in Peru and in neighboring countries.

    3. North Country Mission of Hope | $7,500

      Feeding Program Warehouse Expansion | Chiquilistagua, Nicaragua
      To support the construction of an addition to a warehouse enabling long-term grantee North Country’s to expand its child feeding program in Chiquilistagua, Nicaragua. The enlarged, secure and rodent-proof warehouse will have the capacity to store a large shipping container containing 299,000 meals.

    4. ChildFund Alliance | $38,827

      Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Northern Sri Lanka | Mullaitivu District, Northern Sri Lanka
      To provide that 461 disabled children will receive medical screenings, diagnosis and treatment referrals; 30 parents of disabled children will be trained in care and will reach out to an additional 600 parents to create shelf-help groups and a care network; and a rural medical clinic will be equipped as a physiotherapy center.

    5. Firelight Foundation | $49,965

      Community Based Interventions in the Fight Against Child Marriage in Tanzania | Shinyanga, Tanzania
      To support three specific components of a larger effort in Shinyanga region of Tanzania, including: mediating family reconciliation between girls rescued from early marriage and their families; supporting prevention activities including skillful parenting programs; and additional training for local child welfare and enforcement workers.

    6. Christina Noble Children’s Foundation | $25,000

      Tay Ninh Computer Lab for Visually Impaired Children | Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam
      To support the build-out and modernization of the computer center at CNCF’s school in Tay NInh Vietnam and the development of a customized computer curriculum for visually impaired children and sharing that curriculum with other programs for visually impaired children.

    7. OneSky | $50,000

      OneSky Model for Children in Orphanges – Loving Families and Youth Mentor Program | Several Regions in China
      The grant will allow OneSky to strengthen and expand its Loving Family Program and Youth mentoring program in 28 institutions in 21 provinces of China. The Foundation is a strong supporter of alternatives to institutionalization, but occasionally supports programs that improve the lives and development of the predominantly disabled children currently housed in government orphanages.

    8. Cooperative for Education (CoEd) | $34,925

      Youth Scholarships in Guatemala – 1,000 Girls Program Expansion | Chimaltenango region, Guatemala
      The grant will support the expansion of CoEd’s school scholarship and youth development program for 127 additional students in nine schools in the Chimaltenango region.

    9. Freedom Fund | $50,000

      Southern India Hotspot – Girls in Bonded Labor in Textile Mills | Tamil Nadu, India
      To support Freedom Fund’s Southern India Hotspot initiative, which is a significant effort to reduce the number of young women and girls – typically from lower caste families - who are trapped as bonded laborers in the textile mills of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The grant will fund the coordinated work of 13 NGOs in Tamil Nadu in three main program areas: prevention; improvement of working conditions; and enforcement of existing labor protections and formation of peer groups.

    10. Trickle Up | $30,000

      Inclusive Ixcan – Empowering Adolescent Girls through Economic Strengthening Programs | Ixcan Province, Guatemala
      To expand Trickle Up’s core economic strengthening model to 175 adolescent and indigenous girls vulnerable to pregnancy, early marriage, malnutrition, being trafficked, and marginal social status in Ixcan Guatemala. The program will be tailored to the needs of adolescents, and provide training, mentoring, support and modest funding to build income generating activities; it will help the girls to form savings groups which will create additional opportunities for financial empowerment and it will teach the girls about sexual and reproductive health and rights.

    11. MAP / FUBE | $30,000

      Comprehensive Management and Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse in Bolivia | Cochabama, Bolivia
      To support FUBE’s efforts in two major areas: 1) provision of a complete array of services for 25 additional children, with a focus on protection and legal work; 2) expansion of outreach, training and education about sexual abuse and trafficking of children to professionals in ‘allied’ fields, including education, social work, psychology and government and also the public.

    12. Go Campaign / CHS Alternativo | $44,000

      Mobilizing Communities Against Child Trafficking | Iquitos, Peru
      Go Campaign will assist CHS Alternativo implement an expanded anti child-trafficking program in Iquitos, including training 30 teachers to teach students about the risks and prevention of trafficking; provide specialized training to 60 student leaders; work with community, political, civic, and union leaders and port authorities to strengthen community response to child trafficking; and provide direct services to 40 children who are victims of trafficking.

    13. Handicap International | $50,000

      Strengthening Early Detection and Early Intervention Services for Children with Disabilities in Zarqa Governorate, Jordan | East Amman, Jordan
      To implement HI’s Community Rehabilitation program in refugee settlements in East Amman; through recruiting, training and supervising 20 community members, 2,500 children will be screened for disabilities and developmental delays, with 100 referred for advanced treatment. This is the first step of a two-year roll out that will ultimately reach 25,000 children.

    14. Colombianitos | $30,000

      Empowering Girls Through Sports to Prevent Child Trafficking | Puerto Tejada, Columbia
      To enable Colombianitos to finalize and implement a soccer-based girl-empowerment curriculum and sports program, including training female staff to deliver the program to 445 girls; fine-tune the program after this initial roll out for further implementation in Columbianitos 10 other program sites throughout the country and share the program with other NGOSs.

    15. Plan International | $50,000

      Supporting Adolescents to Develop Skills for Life | East Ammon and Azraq Refugee Camp, Jordan
      The grant will allow Plan to implement a custom designed life skills program for Syrian refugee adolescents; including training 20 community-member facilitators who will present the 6 part curriculum to 200 children in 30 sessions; and to fine tune the program for broader roll out and implementation throughout Jordan and other countries in subsequent years.

    16. Nomi Network | $39,817

      Empowering Adolescent Girls to Reduce Early Marriage and Trafficking | Odisha, India
      The program will implement Nomi’s expanded and formalized vocational, life skills and legal program to benefit 450 adolescent girls in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The two-year program will include extensive empowerment and life skills trainings and classes, including legal and rights training sessions, which are a prerequisite to entrance to formalized vocational training in several fields chosen to meet local market opportunities.
      Two year grant ($19,910 in year 1; $19,907 in year two: total of $39,817)

    Grants by Program Category:

    Disabilities: $196,927

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. Adaptive Design Association: $20,600

    3. Christina Noble Children’s Foundation: $25,000

    4. OneSky: $50,000

    5. ChildFund Alliance: $38,827

    Trafficked and Exploited: $351,300

    1. Global Fund for Children: $62,500

    2. CoEd: $34,925

    3. Firelight Foundation: $49,965

    4. Freedom Fund: $50,000

    5. Trickle Up: $30,000

    6. MAP/FUBE: $30,000

    7. Go Campaign/CHS Alternativo: $44,000

    8. Nomi Network: $19,910

    9. Colombianitos: $30,000

    Refugee: $100,000

    1. Handicap International: $50,000

    2. Plan International: $50,000

    Other: $7,500

    1. North Country: $7,500

    Total Grants Made in 2017: $655,727

    1. Global Fund for Children | $150,000

      To support and develop the capacity of 5 locally led, community based organizations focused on disabled children and 5 organizations focused on trafficked and exploited children:

      Children with Disabilities:

      Asociación de Sordociegos de Nicaragua (ASCN)
      | Managua, Nicaragua
      ASCN provides services to Nicaragua’s deafblind population and promotes their rights and inclusion in both urban and remote rural locations.

      Baoji QingQingCao Rehabilitation and Education Center for Handicapped Children (QQC) | Baoji, Shaanxi Province, China
      QQC is the only organization in Shaanxi Province working to improve the lives of intellectually and physically disabled children through education, physical therapy, psychosocial interventions for parents, and community outreach and training programs.

      Divya Down’s Development Trust (DDDT) | Bengaluru, India
      DDDT provides holistic support to individuals with Down syndrome through special education, therapy, and essential skills development—with the ultimate goal of preparing children to enroll in formal school or enter the workforce in order to lead a life of dignity and respect.

      Iroda | Dushanbe, Tajikistan Iroda
      Iroda, the first organization in Tajikistan working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), provides access to quality services that address the unique needs of children and youth with ASD, trains professionals and parents, facilitates a parent support group, and helps children with ASD become enrolled in formal school.

      Young Disabled Sports Club (YDSC) | Adana, Turkey
      YDSC provides educational and sports programs for children with disabilities, with a special focus on integrating disabled and nondisabled children in all its activities.

      Child Trafficking:

      Baan Nana
      | Mae Sai, Thailand
      Baan Nana provides shelter, education, nutrition and support to reduce the number of children living and working on the streets of Mae Sai, a crossing point and trafficking location on the border between Thailand and Burma.

      Roshni Research Development Welfare Organization | Karachi, Pakistan
      Roshni is a unique program in Pakistan that focuses on recovering missing children within 48 hours of their disappearance, facilitates their rehabilitation and builds the capacity of communities and law enforcement to better protect children.

      Yayasan Mitra ImaDei | Jakarta, Indonesia
      ImaDei’s child domestic worker program provides education, vocational and life skills training to girls who are domestic workers, vulnerable to abuse and unprotected by labor regulations, increasing their ability to leave domestic work and expanding their future opportunities.

      Maison de la Gare | St. Louis, Senegal
      Maison de la Gare cares for boys between the ages of 4 and 15 who are sent by their rural and poor families to urban Qur’an schools. The boys, known as talibes, are then forced to deliver compensation to the schools and are often on the streets for 10 hours a day begging for food and money. Subjected to conditions akin to slavery, Maison de la Gare provides the boys with food, healthcare and basic literacy and numeracy education.

      Our Voice | Bishek, Kyrgyzstan
      Our Voice focuses on transitioning teenage orphanage residents, often without any support, safety net or life skills, and at high risk of substance abuse, prostitution and trafficking, to successful independent living. Services include psychological, legal aid, job placement and securing housing and vocational education.

    2. Human Rights Watch | $30,000

      Protecting Children from Hazardous Labor In Philippine Gold Mines | Philippines
      To enable Human Rights Watch to leverage significant work done to highlight the dangers to children working in underwater gold mining and mercury processing; to deepen its work with the Philippine government and local NGOs to end hazardous mining and processing; to create awareness within the precious metal industry about supply chain issues of child exploitation; to strengthen local NGOs to advocate and educate communities and parents about the dangers of child mining and create educational opportunities for children.

    3. CIYOTA | $35,000

      Bridging Gaps Between Tribal Divides Among Conflict Affected Refugee Children | Kyangwali Refugee Camp, Hoima District, Uganda
      Founded by refugee youth from a number of countries, tribes and religions, CIYOTA brings children from differing backgrounds to develop mutual respect and learn to work and study together to solve common problems; the grant will fund the expansion of a number of co-curricular programs in CIYOTA’s multi-cultural Kyangwali refugee camp school including debate competition, sports (football, netball, and volley ball for both boys and girls); traditional music and dance, and theater; marching band/parading; and gardening and conservation.

    4. Fund for Global Human Rights | $40,000

      Cross-Border Collaboration to Fight Child Trafficking in West Africa | Mano River Basin - Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone
      To allow the Fund for Global Human Rights to deepen the impact of local partners working to build capacity of border security officials and local organizations to prevent trafficking; to strengthen anti-trafficking and child protection laws at local, national and regional level; and to provide direct services to victims and initiate legal action against perpetrators.

    5. Adaptive Design Association | $22,700 (year two of $77,000 3 year project)

      Establishment of an Adaptive Design Center in Lima Peru | Lima, Peru
      To establish an Adaptive Design Center in Lima, Peru that will train designers and fabricators to create simple, practical and low-cost devices that greatly improve the lives of disabled children, and replicate the center in other cities in Peru and in neighboring countries.

    6. Little Sisters Fund | $25,000

      Nepal High Risk Area Expansion | Banke, Dang, Parsa, Makwanpur, Sindhaualchowk Districts, Nepal
      To support the expansion of Little Sisters Fund program of school tuition and supporting services for an additional 120 girls into 5 additional regions of Nepal where girls are particularly susceptible to trafficking, exploitation and child marriage.

    7. Blue Dragon | $30,000

      Protection, Prevention and Partnership: Anti-Trafficking in Hue Vietnam | Hue, Vietnam
      To expand Blue Dragon’s prevention work in Hue through improving education and employment opportunities for children and youth in their local communities; to increase legal registration campaigns for families and children who not legally registered in the country (whose births, marriages, deaths and property are not legally recognized and lack government ID) and therefore particularly vulnerable to trafficking; and to enlist and train an additional 50 teachers and local officials to help early-identify children at risk of trafficking.

    8. Hagar | $35,000

      Community Foster Care in Cambodia | Siem Reap and Sihanoukville Cambodia
      To enable Hagar to expand its successful foster care program developed specifically for Cambodia beyond urban Phnom Penh, doubling the number of children removed from trafficking and placed into safe, long term, nurturing and de-institutionalized care.

    9. ANERA | $35,000

      English Language Literacy for Refugee Youth in Lebanon | Refugee Camps and settlements in Lebanon
      To provide support, training and mentoring for English language teachers to increase the quality and effectiveness of education provided to 5,000 older refugee children and adolescents. These youth have missed several years of schooling, and ANERA’s Non-Formal Education program delivers a ‘compressed’ or expedited curriculum focused on basic literacy and numeracy at a host of formal and informal camps and settlements in Lebanon.

    10. AVSI (Association of Volunteers in International Service) | $25,000

      Occupational Training for Adolescents with Disabilities in Almaty, Kazakhstan | Almaty, Kazakhstan
      To allow AVSI and its local partner MASP to build on their previous success creating OT and PT programs for children in Almaty and create OT and vocational training programs for teens 14 to 18 years old; additional grant activities include inclusion awareness training for parents; developing support among leaders in the Almaty’s business, government, religions and educational communities for vocational training for disabled teens; and enlisting the support of a broader group of community leaders to inspire them to advocate on behalf of disabled teens.

    11. Children’s Agenda | $40,000

      Developing a Model of Community Care for Early Childhood | Rochester, NY, USA
      The grant will allow Children’s agenda to work with government and private entities to leverage sustainable, long-term funding that fills in the gaps of young children’s unmet needs for critical supports (developmental, health, social-emotional, educational) in the greater Rochester area.

    12. Nepal Youth Foundation | $35,000

      Kinship Care for Earthquake Displaced Children | Kathmandu Valley, Central Nepal
      To enable Nepal Youth Foundation to continue to make permanent the rapid expansion of its Kinship Care program in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake. Kinship Care allows orphaned or abandoned children to stay in their home villages and be cared for by extended family members, protecting them from homelessness, begging or being trafficked and provides better outcomes for children than institutionalization.

    13. Cross International | $40,000

      Restavek Prevention Literacy Program of South Haiti | Southern Haiti
      To allow Cross International to provide food and education for 350 ‘restavek’ children, who live as indentured servants, through a special accelerated curriculum that will provide a school certificate allowing them the option of further education when they are released as teens from the restavek system. In addition, the grant will fund a newly developed community outreach and prevention program for parents of at-risk children alerting them to the dangers and reality of the Restavek system.

    14. Spirit Of Soccer | $35,000

      Soccer and Peace in Columbia | el Meta and el Cauca, Columbia
      To enable Spirit of Soccer to create two Mine Risk Education teams in Columbia that will reach a total of 5,000 boys and girls over the next 12 months. Much of Columbia is heavily polluted with land mines and unexploded ordinance after 50 years of civil conflict; the recent peace agreements have released a flood of families returning to rural areas that will not been cleared for years of the deadly mines and ordinance which pose a great danger to children.

    Grants by Program Category:

    Disabilities: $122,700

    1. Global Fund for Children: $75,000

    2. Adaptive Design Association: $22,700

    3. AVSI: $25,000

    Trafficked and Exploited: $310,000

    1. Global Fund for Children: $75,000

    2. Little Sisters Fund: $25,000

    3. Human Rights Watch: $30,000

    4. Fund for Global Human Rights: $40,000

    5. Blue Dragon: $30,000

    6. Hagar: $35,000

    7. Cross International: $40,000

    8. Nepal Youth Foundation: $35,000

    Refugee: $105,000

    1. ANERA: $35,000

    2. CIYOTA: $35,000

    3. Spirit of Soccer: $35,000

    Other: $40,000

    1. Children’s Agenda: $40,000

    Total Grants Made in 2016: $577,700

    1. Global Fund for Children | $150,000

      To support and develop the capacity of 6 locally led, community based organizations focused on disabled children and 6 organizations focused on trafficked and exploited children:

      Children with Disabilities:

      Asociación de Sordociegos de Nicaragua (ASCN)
      | Managua, Nicaragua
      ASCN provides services to Nicaragua’s deafblind population and promotes their rights and inclusion in both urban and remote rural locations.

      Baoji QingQingCao Rehabilitation and Education Center for Handicapped Children (QQC) | Baoji, Shaanxi Province, China
      QQC is the only organization in Shaanxi Province working to improve the lives of intellectually and physically disabled children through education, physical therapy, psychosocial interventions for parents, and community outreach and training programs.

      Concerned Children and Youth Association (CCYA) | Lira, Uganda
      A youth-led organization, CCYA contributes to the rebuilding of war-torn northern Uganda through integrated education, environmental, and health programs that primarily serve children and youth who were disabled, orphaned or made vulnerable by the country’s civil war.

      Divya Down’s Development Trust (DDDT) | Bengaluru, India
      DDDT provides holistic support to individuals with Down syndrome through special education, therapy, and essential skills development—with the ultimate goal of preparing children to enroll in formal school or enter the workforce in order to lead a life of dignity and respect.

      Iroda | Dushanbe, Tajikistan Iroda
      Iroda, the first organization in Tajikistan working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), provides access to quality services that address the unique needs of children and youth with ASD, trains professionals and parents, facilitates a parent support group, and helps children with ASD become enrolled in formal school.

      Young Disabled Sports Club (YDSC) | Adana, Turkey
      YDSC provides educational and sports programs for children with disabilities, with a special focus on integrating disabled and nondisabled children in all its activities.

      Child Trafficking:

      Baan Nana
      | Mae Sai, Thailand
      Baan Nana provides shelter, education, nutrition and support to reduce the number of children living and working on the streets of Mae Sai, a crossing point and trafficking location on the border between Thailand and Burma.

      Center for Awareness Promotion (CAP) | Kathmandu, Nepal
      CAP rescues and rehabilitates girls and young women in the adult entertainment industry using mobile counseling, a shelter, and reintegration through education and training.

      Shalom Centre for Street Children | Arusha, Tanzania
      Founded in 2005 by a group of young people, Shalom Centre focuses on early childhood development, as well as rescue, rehabilitation, referral, and family reunification services for street-based youth who are abused, forced into commercial sex, or involved with child labor.

      Gentle Heart Foundation (GHF) | Kathmandu, Nepal
      The group provides education programs and psychosocial support to girls and young women from minority communities in Kathmandu, encouraging them and their parents to keep them in school.

      Roshni Research Development Welfare Organization | Karachi, Pakistan
      Roshni is a unique program in Pakistan that focuses on recovering missing children within 48 hours of their disappearance, facilitates their rehabilitation and builds the capacity of communities and law enforcement to better protect children.

      Yayasan Mitra ImaDei | Jakarta, Indonesia
      ImaDei’s child domestic worker program provides education, vocational and life skills training to girls who are domestic workers, vulnerable to abuse and unprotected by labor regulations, increasing their ability to leave domestic work and expanding their future opportunities.

    2. Adaptive Design Association | $77,000

      Establishment of an Adaptive Design Center in Lima Peru | Lima, Peru
      To establish an Adaptive Design Center in Lima, Peru that will train designers and fabricators to create simple, practical and low-cost devices that greatly improve the lives of disabled children, and replicate the center in other cities in Peru and in neighboring countries.
      Three year grant ($33,700 in year 1; $22,700 in year 2and $20,600 in year 3; total of $77,000)

    3. Little Sisters Fund | $25,000

      Nepal High Risk Area Expansion | Banke, Dang, Parsa, Makwanpur, Sindhaualchowk Districts, Nepal
      To support the expansion of Little Sisters Fund program of school tuition and supporting services for an additional 120 girls into 5 additional regions of Nepal where girls are particularly susceptible to trafficking, exploitation and child marriage.

    4. Miraclefeet | $50,000

      Tanzania Clubfoot Network Bugando Care Program | Lake, Northern and Southern Zones, Tanzania
      To support the Tanzania Clubfoot Network: Bugando Care Program’s expansion of 12 existing and three new clubfoot care clinics providing the Ponseti treatment to an additional 600 children.

    5. Trickle Up | $35,000

      Alliance for Rural Inclusion | Lachua and Ixcan, Guatemala
      To create the Alliance for Rural Inclusion in Lachua and Ixcan, Guatemala, which will target and provide 100 very poor rural families that include a disabled child, with graduation-model livelihood training and seed capital to lessen dependence on subsistence agriculture, and also specific health, education and social services for the children.

    6. One Heart Worldwide | $20,000

      Emergency Tent Purchases for Temporary Birthing Centers | Dhading and Sindhupalchok, Nepal
      For long-standing maternal-health focused grantee to purchase 32 tents which will serve as hygienic birthing centers while birthing centers destroyed in the recent earthquakes are re-built.

    7. Polus Center | $47,465

      Syrian Child Trauma Services – Jordan | Amman, Jordan
      To develop a counseling program specifically intended for the treatment of Syrian Refugee children who have experienced extreme trauma and PTSD.

    8. Spirit of Soccer | $50,000

      Mine Risk Education Through Soccer for Iraqi and Syrian Refugee Children in Northern Iraq | Refugee and IDP Camps near Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk, Iraq
      To create youth soccer programs at refugee and IDP camps in Northern Iraq that will utilize soccer as a tool in mine-risk education to teach children about the dangers of unexploded ordnance and also provide much needed recreation for both girls and boys.

    9. Handicapped International | $40,000

      Increasing the Safety and Security of Displaced Syrian Children | Five Provinces in Syria and Northern Iraq
      To provide a broad array of mine-risk education programs for children and families to spot, avoid and report weapons, mines and unexploded ordinance in five provinces of Syria and Northern Iraq.

    10. Mustard Seed | $30,000
      Developing Special Education Programs for Children Residents | Kingston, Jamaica
      To create a music and art-focused therapeutic special education curriculum and program for Mustard Seed’s most severely disabled residents in their Jamaica, Dominic Republic, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe care centers.

    11. Hope Hall | $15,000

      The Phil Chamberlain Memorial Arts and Music Program | Rochester, NY
      To support this long-standing grantee’s arts and music program which is a centerpiece of their special education for at risk students from the great Rochester area.

    12. Boma Project | $50,000

      Assessing Child Level Impact of Women’s Economic Empowerment Program | Marsabit and Samburu districts, Kenya
      To enhanced monitoring and evaluation capacity for long-standing grantee’s graduation-model poverty reduction program, and to broaden measured goals to include child-focused outcomes.

    13. Freedom Fund | $50,000

      Central Nepal Hotspot | Katmandu, Nepal
      To support the coordinated work of 11 community based NGOs to prevent, identify, rescue and rehabilitate girls trafficked into the adult entertainment industry in Katmandu, and to strengthen these key organizations and other parties to change social mores that lead to trafficking and also increase local demands for stringent enforcement of existing laws against trafficking.

    14. Manos Unidas International | $20,800

      Inclusive Education Project for Children with Special Learning Needs in Cusco, Peru | Cusco, Peru
      To enable Manos Unidas to expand its efforts to provide inclusive education for mildly disabled children in public schools in Cusco, to engage in community outreach to dispel myths about disability and disabled children, to work with local universities to improve training for special education teachers and assist government ministries implement laws that mandate inclusive education for disabled children.

    Grants by Program Category:

    Disabilities: $209,800

    1. Global Fund for Children: $75,000

    2. Adaptive Design Association: $33,700

    3. Miracle Feet: $50,000

    4. Mustard Seed: $30,000

    5. Manos Unidas: $20,800

    Trafficking: $150,000

    1. Global Fund for Children: $75,000

    2. Little Sisters Fund: $25,000

    3. Freedom Fund: $50,000

    Refugee: $137,465

    1. Polus Center: $47,465

    2. Spirit of Soccer: $50,000

    3. Handicapped International: $40,000

    Sustainable Economic Communities: $85,000

    1. Boma Project: $50,000

    2. Trickle Up (with disability focus): $35,000

    Other: $35,000

    1. One Heart Worldwide: $20,000

    2. Hope Hall: $15,000

    Total Grants Made in 2015: $616,965

    Total Commitments 2015: $660,265