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With the goal of helping under-served communities in India, Nepal, and Tibet receive the vital services they need, Karuna-Shechen was founded in 2000 by Matthieu Ricard (www.matthieuricard.org), renown TED speaker, author, and humanitarian. We strive to reduce inequalities and work toward a fairer and more compassionate world. We trust that communities can be lifted out of poverty, that change is possible, and that the well-being of every individual, regardless of race, gender, class, or caste, is essential. We believe that building on local strengths and knowledge is the most efficient way to respond to the specific needs and aspirations of our beneficiaries. Rooted in the ideal of "compassion in action", we serve others with joy and determination by cultivating altruism in our hearts and actions. We provide vulnerable and disadvantaged populations access to health care, education and vocational training, clean water, solar electricity, and other sustainable solutions that offer options to find a livelihood and a better life. We work with a grassroots network of local partners, and give special attention to the education and empowerment of girls and women. Karuna-Shechen's name expresses its mission while paying homage to its roots: Karuna means "compassion" in Sanskrit, and Shechen is the name of a major monastery in Tibet.

Our mission is to promote and provide high-quality, holistic education to the underprivileged young people of Sierra Leone. We believe that the education of young women and men is essential to: unlock human potential, overcome poverty, improve wellbeing, build democracy, and that it is the cornerstone of stable development. For the last 25 years EducAid has been working to restore and strengthen education during and in the aftermath of Sierra Leone's civil war (1991-2002). During the conflict, education was an early casualty with many teachers fleeing the country and thousands of children being denied access to education. The country is still struggling to rebuild schools, train teachers and reach vulnerable girls and boys who are yet to see the inside of a classroom. We believe in the power of education to eliminate poverty and the challenges standing in the way of a democratic, dignified and globally-engaged Sierra Leone. EducAid provides free, high quality education to some of the most vulnerable and underprivileged children in Sierra Leone. EducAid operates 7 free schools, serving 1,200 children (1 Primary, 4 Junior Secondary and 2 Senior Secondary). The effectiveness of EducAid's innovative, student-centred approach to education is demonstrated by the fact that, despite many of our students coming from turbulent backgrounds, they regularly achieve 85% pass rates in all national exams. EducAid also trains teachers at over 100 partner schools as part of our Quality Enhancement Programme (QEP) working closely with communities and local education officials to raise the standard of education for children across the Port Loko district and beyond. Furthermore, EducAid run a tertiary-level degree course with the University of Makeni. EducAid's success stems from its grassroots and Sierra Leonean-driven approach. Of our 120 staff, only 3 are UK based with only 3 expats in Sierra Leone. Most EducAid staff are former students, knowing first hand the vulnerability faced by children in Sierra Leone and the power of education to change this, they inform our work each day. EducAid has spent decades developing relationships and earning the trust of communities by working alongside them. This is evidenced by communities giving EducAid land for schools, attending school meetings, community elders working with EducAid to keep girls in school, and EducAid's work as a trusted, stable presence during Ebola. EducAid was one of the few organisations that stayed on the ground, converting schools to care centres and delivering remote learning via radio broadcasts and moped-delivered USB sticks. EducAid also opened doors to children, many of whom are girls, who had lost their families to Ebola, and more recently to the devastating mudslides. EducAid's programs and innovations work because they come from the staff, students and communities they serve.

The Arkansas Sheriffs' Youth Ranches' mission is to address, remedy, and prevent child abuse and neglect by creating safe, healthy, and permanent homes for children. Our philosophy has always been that it is better to build a child rather than repair an adult. Founded in 1976 by a group of sheriffs and concerned citizens, the Ranch began as a single cottage (mobile home) that served as shelter to three young boys. The Ranch now consists of three campuses across Arkansas with eight cottages for boys and girls. During its history, the Ranch has been "a place to call home" to more than 1,200 children and touched the lives of many more. Many of the children who come to the Ranch are often the product of a broken home of abuse and neglect, lacking the nurturing relationship of a loving family. The Ranch provides a healthy home environment filled with emotional support to help each child learn to trust those around them and cope with their emotions, all the while learning responsibility and building self-confidence. When children enter the Ranch, they are surrounded with individuals who care about their immediate needs and their future aspirations. It is the Ranch’s commitment to every child – a commitment that extends from the Board of Directors to management personnel, administrative staff, house parents, support staff and volunteers – to help them believe in themselves and lead fulfilling, meaningful lives. Residents may stay at the Ranch through post-secondary education until they are socially and financially prepared for independence and have stable employment. More than 900 children have experienced life at the Ranch, and for those and many in the future, the Ranch will always be a place to call home.

Our mission is to secure an active, long-lasting, and unified support to children with cancer in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our vision that every child in Bosnia and Herzegovina has an equal and secure upbringing. We are a non-profit organization that offers services to children with cancer. The Association Heart for Kids with Cancer was founded in 2003 with a mission of creating best practices and opportunities in treating and supporting pediatric cancer patients and cancer survivors, as well as providing professional and financial help to children with cancer and their parents in Bosnia and Herzegovina. To this day, our ultimate focus has remained the same: providing help and support to pediatric cancer patients, survivors and their families. Our organization has been steadily developing ever since its inception. In 2016 we have built The Parents' House, a modern residential building with 10 apartments located on the premises of the Clinical Center of the University in Sarajevo, which provides housing for children undergoing therapy and their families. The Parents' House functions as a separate and independent project of our Association, and is financed solely through our fundraising activities. This has solved a major problem in our field of work, as the Clinical Center of the University in Sarajevo does not have means of accommodating parents of children undergoing therapy, most of which come from areas outside of Sarajevo. We document and closely monitor all our activities. As we are in a constant and direct contact with our clients, their feedback provides a valuable source of information for us. We use questionnaires, evaluation forms and pre/post interviews to derive quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to measure a relative success of our initiatives. All our activities are meticulously planned in advance, and monitored and evaluated along the way and retroactively. We rely extensively on short term and long term strategic planning to set the goals and objectives, and to determine the best way we use resources to tackle problems or exploit opportunities. Since all our operations are funded through fundraising activities and institutional and individual donations, we have put a special emphasis on transparency. We conduct external financial audits and employ independent consultants for all issues of any degree of sensitivity. We are proud to boldly claim that, on account of our dedication, achievements, and our meticulous approach to work, we enjoy a complete and unreserved trust of our clients, governmental institutions and the general public in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

MCAP is a 501(c)(3) organization located in Norristown, Pennsylvania. We provide free legal representation to children who are the victims of abuse and neglect in Montgomery County. Every day in Montgomery County, children suffer abuse and neglect. Too often, they are harmed by someone close to them, often a family member. MCAP attorney advocates represent and protect the interests of these vulnerable children, offering them representation and support as they participate in the legal and social service arenas. As a unique victim's agency, MCAP provides child victims with a voice, helping them heal and learn to trust others. Although the need for MCAP was recognized as early as 1999, we were formally incorporated in 2004. MCAP was organized to provide pro bono legal services for cases involving children who are victims of abuse and or neglect including, but not limited to physical abuse, sexual abuse, gross neglect, medical neglect, endangerment, dependency, as well as child witnesses to serious crime. These children range in age from newborn to 18 years and span every socioeconomic background. As a one-of-a-kind organization, MCAP is recognized as an integral service and is supported by the courts of Montgomery County. MCAP receives referrals for child abuse cases from the judges and courts of Montgomery County, the District Attorney's Office, the Public Defender's Office, Office of Children and Youth, police departments, schools, hospitals, and private social agencies. These organizations identified an ongoing problem in the current legal system where abused and neglected children were part of the legal and social service arenas without anyone to represent their specific needs while the perpetrator had legal representation. MCAP advocates carry three or four cases each year, in addition to their regular practice of law. They form critical and long-lasting relationships with child victims to ensure that they ultimately live in a safe stable environment. MCAP has grown into a vital resource for the many abused children in Montgomery County. As word continues to spread across the county, more and more new cases and referrals come in daily. Sadly, the evaluation of our success comes from our ever-increasing numbers. Child abuse, child neglect, and child endangerment are pervasive, long-standing problems. With the incidences of poverty, addiction, pornography, and internet predators on the rise, child abuse remains an insidious occurrence. MCAP advocates provide support and legal expertise to many needy children who otherwise would be left without someone to protect them.

The Mission of The Center for Family Resources is to move people to self-sufficiency through financial stabilization, housing, and education. We believe the best model to help a family out of homelessness combines individual, esteem-boosting housing with long-term, wraparound case management services. In short: A homeless individual or household's first and primary need is to obtain stable housing, and other issues that may affect the household can and should be addressed once housing is obtained.This model is backward to some traditional programs, which utilize congregate shelters and ask that people prove their "housing readiness" – usually through job placement, drug remediation programs and the like – before being moved into a housing situation.While that approach undoubtedly works for some, it is not where CFR's heart is. Our housing program works exclusively with families with minor children, and programs that utilize congregate shelters often see families broken up across gender and age lines. A single mother, for instance, can be separated from her 12 and 14-year old boys as they are made to sleep in the men's shelter, sometimes at a completely different location from the women's. We do not believe separation and group shelter to be the way toward family healing and self-sufficiency. Instead, we know that many families are already "housing ready", and that by extending that trust and providing the wraparound supportive services, we are bolstering self-confidence and creating self-sufficiency.As we work exclusively with families with children, it is also of the highest priority to us that all children in our programs have a safe place to eat, sleep and study. School and social performance are measurably improved with safe, individual housing, and we know that helping our clients' children stay in school is the best chance for a family to maintain self-sufficiency throughout the next generation.We believe that clients in congregate shelters have a harder time visualizing themselves in a permanent, self-sustaining housing situation, and therefore have a harder time working to make it happen. Most shelters require that their clients vacate the premises during the day, ostensibly to go to work or search for employment and return by a certain hour in the late afternoon or evening. For so many, however, lifting themselves out of homelessness is made so much harder by these hourly restrictions. Some may find employment, but be unable to go to work if their shift extends later into the evenings. If they go to work, they risk losing a place at the shelter. If they prioritize a safe place to sleep, they risk losing their job. By providing a safe, individual apartment with no curfew restrictions, we are creating space for growth to happen. the impetus to work to stay in that apartment, and the self-confidence necessary for our families to believe that they are worthy of that housing. Participation in case management meetings, budgeting sessions, and life skills classes are therefore not a means to an end, but an invested education in a new identity.Our services don't stop once a key is handed over. Instead, our housing program is intrinsically tied to our case management and supportive services. We offer GED classes and career search assistance, job readiness and interview coaching, as well as financial literacy and life skills courses. And while congregate shelter programs may ask that clients attend these budgeting and life readiness classes before being placed in housing, we instead provide those services after our families have moved in. We serve fewer people than congregate shelters, but our services go deeper, and thanks to our tireless case managers and the programs they maintain, we have a higher track record of effecting a lasting, lifelong change.

Mission Appalled by the stark reality of 31 million orphans in India and shocked by the condition of institutions housing them, a few like- minded individuals got together to take serious action. This obsession was the seed which sprouted as Udayan Care, - which was registered in 1994, as a Public Charitable Trust. While our first initiative was the Udayan Ghar programme for orphaned and abandoned children, we gradually worked towards ensuring higher education for girls through the Udayan Shalini Fellowship. In 2004, Udayan Care also initiated an Outreach programme for children affected by HIV, as well as the Udayan Information and Technology Centres to improve employability of under-served communities. We began with a thorough research on existing models for children in need of care & protection and opportunities that existed for young girls, women and disadvantaged youth. What our research threw up was an eye-opener and a driving force for us to develop innovative models across all our initiatives. Needless to say, the journey had many hurdles but it is Udayan Care's dynamism that has sustained it and enabled us to expand our intervention. Our Vision: "To Regenerate the Rhythm of Life of the Disadvantaged." Our Mission: "A nurturing home for every orphaned child; an opportunity for higher education for every girl and for every adult, the dignity of self-reliance and the desire to give back to society". Our Theory of Change - "There are millions of orphaned and abandoned children in India; in addition, girls from weaker sections of society do not get an equal opportunity to continue their education; professional skills and attitude are lacking among disadvantaged communities to become economically self reliant. Udayan Care provides homes to orphaned children while also giving girls financial and development support to continue higher education, and communities to train themselves in vocations, by engaging socially committed individuals, who provide a transformative, nurturing and mentoring environment, to help them realize their full potential." In 24 years, we have served more than 21000 people in 16 cities and advocate for children's rights in alignment with the Indian Constitution, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Strategic Objectives in line with Mission and vision: 1. Provide protection and holistic growth to children in difficult circumstances. 2. Increase professional skills and employability of financially and socially disadvantaged communities. 3. Establish dynamic processes/models of Care and Protection. 4. Influence Policy Reform and decision making processes. 5. Promote Voluntarism to engage in Child Care and Development processes 6. Work towards inculcating a new world view and practice towards children in vulnerable situations 7. Develop a structured research and documentation process that can be shared with other stakeholders at national and international levels. 8. Organize adequate resources for all the programs, maintain the financial health of the organization and ensure that we work effectively as well as be cost effective. Vision 2020: 1. Set up and sustain 21 Udayan Ghars to reach out to 600 children for long-term care and support. 2. Aftercare: Sustain and develop further a very effective Aftercare programme and 'continuum of Care' for our children and youth. 3. Support 7,400 Udayan Shalini Fellows in 19 chapters. 4. Develop and sustain 16 Information Technology and Skill Centres to enhance employability and knowledge under-served communities. 5. Acquire adequate number of Mentor Parents for Udayan Ghars and Mentors for Udayan Shalini Fellowships in keeping with expansion. 6. Involve more interns from prestigious universities and experienced corporate volunteers. 7. Set up a Resource Centre for training of Caregivers & roll out Advocacy Programmes on Child Rights, particularly for those in alternative care. 8. Promote the replication of Standard Operating Procedures derived from Udayan Care's best practices for sharing with other similar NGOs and for application across all Udayan Care programmes.

The Ombetja Yehinga Organisation(OYO) is a Namibian Trust (T109/09) that uses the Arts to create social awareness. All our projects have an Art component (dance, drama, films, publications), all address a social issue (including HIV, teenage pregnancy, gender-based violence, anti-bullying). Most of our projects are in school but we also work with offenders in correctional facilities. OYO believes that children and teenagers need to be reached more than once (to reinforce messages), using exciting mediums (to stimulate their attention) with simple, yet strong messages (to impact on their attitudes and behaviours). OYO suggests interventions to start a dialogue with the schools (whereby schools are recipient of an activity), followed by interventions at school level (under the form of a campaign where schools have to take a stand and become actively involved in the process). OYO believes that children and teenagers have the answer. All we need is to unlock their creativity. Among others, OYO has: Created the OYO dance troupe. This is the first and currently only troupe in Namibia employing dancers as performers. The troupe has reached over 200,000 children in schools so far, performing a vast repertoire. Produced various DVDs. Most DVDs are used in schools during evening sessions with learners, triggering discussion and challenging norms. 'Salute' is the first DVD produced in Namibian Correctional Facilities with inmates, telling their stories. Other DVDs include 'Kukuri' on child marriage, 'pap and milk' on sugar daddies (inter-generational sex) and the mini-series 'my best interest' on children's rights. OYO has worked with numerous out-of-school youth groups in many parts of the country, produced various drama and photographic exhibititons (including 'the caring Namibian man' and 'still life') and supported various school clubs and girls' camps. OYO uses the Arts because the Arts don't appeal to your intellect but to your feelings. It makes you feel and once you feel, you start reflecting. Programs appealing to your intellect provide you with knowledge, but the Arts, appealing to your feelings, impact your choices and subsequently influence your attitude and behavior. Some of our projects include: The San matter project: The rationale for San Matter Phase I was that only 67 percent of San children in the country enroll in school. And only 1 percent of those children complete secondary school. (OSISA Group report "Rethinking Indigenous Education,"). One of the reasons for the high drop out of San children from the education sector is linked to cultural bullying in schools. Since 2016 OYO implements an anti-cultural bullying project in twenty four schools across two regions of Namibia. Activities include intervention by the OYO dance troupe, training of the local out-of-school youth group, implementation of San girls camps, organisation of the San School friendly competition once every second year. Over 88% of the San children involved in the project have re-enrolled in schools in 2019. The growing strong in the Karas region: Since 2006, OYO has been supporting various youth groups, training them in the arts of drama, dance and songs and creating shows of social significance with them. In 2008, OYO established its OYO dance troupe. OYO is now developing packages involving both the dance troupe and youth groups working on the same issue from two different angles and visiting the same schools to reinforce messages. The 'In and out' project: this is project to work with inmates (called offenders in Namibia) in correctional facilities on issues around HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health. In a country where sodomy is still criminalised, offenders do not have access to condoms. Together with offenders OYO works towards addressing their needs, wants and fears and encourages them to know their status. Over 600 inmates have been tested as part of the project. "OYO's application of the performing and visual arts in a highly participatory and learner centred pedagogy represents a model of excellence and best practice." Hon. Nangola Mbumba MP, then Minister for Education, September 2009 (now Vice President of the Republic of Namibia)

The Solidarity Project supports Honduran leaders who create positive social change for their communities and cultivates transnational partnerships built on trust, equality, and solidarity.

They provide comprehensive case management to parents carrying to term following a prenatal diagnosis. They strive to develop a relationship of trust while providing for the emotional and tangible needs of parents at diagnosis, during pregnancy, at birth, and during the post postpartum period for up to one year.

SEE SCHEDULE OWE BELIEVE IN OFFERING A RICH, DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT THAT FOCUSES ON CHILD-CENTERED, CHILD-DIRECTED ACTIVITIES. THE WILLIAMSTOWN COMMUNITY PRESCHOOL STAFF SEEKS TO CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHILDREN TO EXPERIENCE, EXPLORE AND GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD AND THE PEOPLE AROUND THEM. WE ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO DEVELOP COOPERATIVE SOCIAL SKILLS BY SETTING APPROPRIATE LIMITS BY OFFERING POSITIVE CHOICES AND BY HELPING CHILDREN DEVELOP PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS. WE PROMOTE A SENSE OF SELF-WORTH IN CHILDREN BY PROVIDING AN ATMOSPHERE OF TRUST AND RESPECT WITH REGARD TO THE CHILDRENS' FEELINGS, SKILLS, CHOICES, SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES. WE ARE DEDICATED TO WORKING CLOSELY WITH FAMILIES TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE CHILDREN.

Commit and Act is an international team of mental health professionals dedicated to training healthcare workers in Sierra Leone . Our therapeutic approach empowers people to face their fears and find creative solutions to their numerous challenges they face on a daily basis. By training local health workers in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with local groups and families, we aim to alleviate suffering and build stronger communities. In collaboration with local health institutions, we provide workshops, ongoing training and therapeutic support at our psychological center in the remote town of Bo and other areas in Sierra Leone. The goal of Commit and Act is to enable people to trust again and find the courage to create their lives in line with their vision and values. Our therapists train professional helpers on site in effective methods of psychotherapy and support them through regular supervision.