Good Shepherd International Foundation ONLUS: Who we are, who we serve
1 like1,079 views
The Good Shepherd International Foundation is an Italian non-profit organization founded in 2008 to support women and children affected by violence, abuse, and exploitation across the globe. The foundation collaborates with local partners to provide shelter, education, vocational training, and economic opportunities, particularly targeting the challenges of human trafficking and poverty. Their initiatives span various regions, including Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, focusing on empowering women and promoting social justice.
Good Shepherd International Foundation ONLUS: Who we are, who we serve
- 2. WHO WE ARE The Good Shepherd International Foundation is an Italian non profit organisation established in 2008 to support the missions of the Good Shepherd Sisters in the developing world. The Foundation is based in Rome and works in partnership with the Good Shepherd Mission Development Corp. in USA and with the Good Shepherd partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America. OUR GOALS Ensure economic and social justice for women and children who suffer from violence, abuse and exploitation worldwide. Cancel the shame of human trafficking, a modern form of slavery. Eradicate poverty through a fair and sustainable development. Build a world of peace. WHERE WE WORK AFRICA: Egypt, Senegal, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reuinion. ASIA: akistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Korea, Philippines. Middle East: Lebanon, Syria. Latin America: Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela, Perù, Argentina, Paraguay, Brasil, Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile. HOW WE WORK We promote projects run by our global network of Good Shepherd partners based in the developing countries. We assess the needs of the local communities and plan our initiatives accordingly. We fundraise for our local partners and apply for international grants from public funding agencies, private sponsors and NGOs. We organise visits and promote the results of our projects to guarantee full accountability and transparency to our partners. Taller San José, BoliviaEl Alto, Bolivia UNITED IN GLOBAL SOLIDARITY
- 3. OUR PROJECTS FOCUS ON • Aid to women and children victims of abuse, violence, trafficking. We offer shelter, legal and psychological counseling, training, assistance in finding a job. • Community development through Income Generating Programs managed by women in areas affected by poverty and high unemployment. • Social services in areas where local governments do not provide for the basic needs of the population: healthcare, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, nutrition programs, orphanages, shelters for single mothers. • Fair Trade Programs to help women and their families out of poverty through handcrafting work. • Education and Vocational Training especially for girls and women at risk. • Emergency relief for war refugees and victims of natural disasters. • Education to Justice and Peace: campaigns, seminars, networking with local partners; lobbying at national and international level on women’s rights and against human trafficking. To support this initiative, The Good Shepherd International Foundation will collaborate with Sharing Fair – an international network of solidarity constructed by the Good Shepherd Sisters for more than 20 years in Australia, USA, and Europe – to present traditionally hand-crafted products created at their international missionsat charity fairs, markets and other Fair Trade initiatives. The prime objective of Sharing Fair in Italy is to tell the stories and celebrate the work of the thousands of women that even while living in adverse conditions of poverty, violence, and isolation still manage to create admirable handy-crafts by means of traditional techniques using raw or discarded recycled materials. For these reasons, their products tell stories and reflect their dignity, determination, and hope. Thanks to Sharing Fair, these women manage to break the cycle of poverty and manifest their creativity and talents by believing in themselves and in a hopeful future. “As an NGO in consultative status at the UN, we work toward the realization of gender equality and we affirm the need to prioritize women and girls’ equal access to education, full employment and decent work.” WWW.FONDAZIONEBUONPASTORE.ORG UNITED IN GLOBAL SOLIDARITY Kipsongo slum, Kitale, Kenya Nong Khai, Thailand
- 4. ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN For women and children in most parts of the world, poverty is the major enemy. Whether this poverty is caused by the behavior of governments or major global economic players, by war and violence, by natural disasters, or by the corruption of national leaders – the effect on the lives of the people is the same. They suffer malnutrition, ill health, unemployment, illiteracy, homelessness, anxiety for the future of their children. Women and children are the ones most likely to bear the heaviest burdens of poverty. Many countries with underdeveloped economies cannot offer social protection to the most vulnerable who are unemployed or whose income is severely reduced because of the decline in the demand for unskilled labor, the soaring prices of food and the loss of land, to name but a few factors. On the other hand, globalization offers new possibilities for cooperation. Good Shepherd partners work in more than 70 countries to maximize these possibilities, providing economic opportunities and independence for women, access to education for children living on the streets or in remote rural villages. < Roueisset , Beirut, Lebanon Nong Khai, Thailand UNITED IN GLOBAL SOLIDARITY
- 5. Good Shepherd partners run income generating programs, micro-finance and fair trade projects since 1997 in cooperation with women living in poor communities, helping them break the cycle of poverty by using their skills and cultural traditions to market and sell authentic crafts. These women gain economic independence and justice for themselves through dignified work in cooperatives and associations. Many of these projects need help in opening or strengthening markets outside their local areas. With the support of a global network of partners we want to play our part in helping globalization work for the poor of the world. HOW WE OPERATE • We improve access to basic services such as shelter, clean water, food, healthy living conditions, literacy for women and children living in the poorest rural communities and in the city slums of, to name a few, Sudan, Senegal, Angola, Mozambique, Kenya, India, Thailand, Myanmar, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brasil, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador. • We offer concrete opportunities to gain economic independence employing women in Income Generating Programs in Kenya, Bolivia, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Senegal, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Paraguay. • Our micro-economic projects combine vocational training, micro-credit and marketing to obtain long-term effects for the women and their families. • We strive to widen and strengthen our fair trade markets for crafts produced by our partners in Philippines, Madagascar, Kenya, Thailand, Peru, Paraguay, Chile, Sri Lanka, Senegal, Mexico, India, Indonesia, Ecuador. • We run protection programs for street and working children in Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Nepal and India, providing them with life skills, access to education and vocational training. To all our partners we offer training, counseling and economic support to expand and improve their skills, develop creative ways of processing products, by gaining access to national and international markets so as to improve the incomes of their families. “(…) having helped thousands of individual girls out of chronic poverty through a wide variety of education, training and micro-finance programs we affirm that time has come to have systemic and structural change. A girl-centered, rights based participatory approach to development is the way forward.” Kangeta, Kenya THE STORY OF LUCY one of the beneficiaries of the Kiondo Basket Weaving project in Embu, Kenya Lucy has been married for fifteen years and she has enjoyed her marital rights until her husband died. According to the traditional habits of Embu people, the brother of the husband inherits his widow. Lucy stood firm on her Christian values and nothing could convince her to compromise her faith for the sake of traditional culture. As a result, she was kicked out of her house together with her five children and her property was taken away by the brother- in-law. She went to her parent’s home and she was not accepted by her own brothers. Traditional culture dictates that women cannot inherit property from their parents either. She went to seek legal assistance, but at the same time she needed a shelter for her family. For more than two years her case has been carried forward. Lucy rented a small to shelter her family of five, but she was unemployed. She had little alternative to prostitution which she embraced without the consent of her conscience. She talks about it with a lot of pain and tears. Lucy’s story is the story of hundreds of women in Karurina village, near Embu. Thanks to the Good Shepherd Sisters’ “Kiondo basket weaving project” 10 of these women have now a chance to get training and credit to begin small businesses in basket weaving. WWW.FONDAZIONEBUONPASTORE.ORG UNITED IN GLOBAL SOLIDARITY
- 6. WORK AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND VIOLENCE ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN The Good Shepherd Sisters have a proven track record in working to eliminate the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children in Europe, USA, Latin America, Asia and Australia. To reinforce its actions at the global level, the Good Shepherd Sisters have established an NGO office at the United Nations which runs campaigns and advocacy initiatives encouraging the international community to take concrete actions allowing women and children everywhere to enjoy their fundamental rights, free from all forms of commercial sexual exploitation. We know that a significant portion of those who end up being trafficked originate as economic migrants, refugees and displaced people. At present, human trafficking is a $10-billion-plus growth industry with estimates ranging from 700,000 to 2 million people (primarily women and children) trafficked into slave labor or sexual exploitation annually. Good Shepherd people’s approach to this phenomenon is based on the development of the whole person. Through various responses, according to specific needs and different legal frameworks, our projects offer shelter, healthcare, education and training to victims of trafficking to effect positive and long-term changes in their lives. This is made possible, in the first place, by helping them grow towards a sense of self- worth, by treating psychological traumas and illnesses (especially for women with HIV/AIDS), then developing literacy and professional skills as well as providing day care for the women’s children and for orphans. Our partners run programs worldwide raising awareness of violence and abuse by helping women to improve their health, by informing them of their reproductive rights, and by challenging the traditional customs that are harmful to them, such as child marriage and dowries. With the support of our global network we wish to play our part in offering concrete alternatives to break the cycle of trafficking and abuse of women. < El Alto, Bolivia “Adopting short-sighted economic and educational policies that are not protective of dignity and human rights prevents societies from achieving the goal of gender equality and the empowerment of women.” UNITED IN GLOBAL SOLIDARITY
- 7. HOW WE OPERATE • We build shelters to offer better access to healthcare, psychological and legal support, education and training for a larger number of women who leave prostitution. • We offer training and micro-credit to start small business to women seeking sources of income alternative to prostitution. • We offer access to medical services for women and children with AIDS/HIV as well as orphans of AIDS. • We offer training and micro credit to women living in rural villages to start up small trade and income generating activities to avoid leaving their towns or country and being trapped into trafficking and slavery. • We offer legal and psychological assistance to women and children victim of domestic violence. • We run advocacy campaigns to inform girls and women in the poorest communities about civil rights to free their lives from violence, domestic abuse, harmful traditional practices and discrimination. • We support associations of women and cooperatives to take an active part in the social and political life of their communities. WWW.FONDAZIONEBUONPASTORE.ORG UNITED IN GLOBAL SOLIDARITY THE STORY OF C., FROM THE PHILIPPINES My story began when I was 17 and I ran away from home and entered the sex trade in Olongapo. It was through the bar visits of the Good Shepherd Sisters’ organization TW- MAE-W that I have been sought out. I was convinced to attend courses at their drop-in centre and before long I agreed to apply for the second phase of the program in Quezon City. I realized how lucky I was to be given a chance like this. I was determined not to go back to prostitution ever again. I told myself no matter what I had to undergo, there was something for me in this organization. Although there were times when I felt like quitting, I held on. In 1992, I was given a chance to be a Group Aide. From then on more blessings came my way. For instance, I received a scholarship to finish high school and attend college. Then I took a driving licence and training in computer and acupressure. I was among the 24 girls that attended the NGO Forum on Women in Huairou, China, in 1995. No less than Queen Fabiola and her Belgian entourage graced our presentation. We received a standing ovation. In 2004, I spoke at the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India. I gave public testimony that building “Another World is Possible” based on my experience at TW-MAE-W which thought me that another world for the sexually exploited and abused women is possible. I spoke with great confidence on behalf of women who had passed from darkness to light. Roueisset, Beirut, LebanonChiang Rai, Thailand
- 8. Nong Khai, Thailand Kitale Shalom Farm, KenyaManila, Philippines Nong Khai, Thailand
- 9. HOW CAN YOU HELP? • Sponsor a project in a country you are particularely interested in. We willl send you regular updates, pictures and reports. • Make a Donation We are a non profit organisation registered in Italy and in US. You or your company can get tax deductions for your gifts. You can send a donation by check or bank transfer to our Italian account: Account Holder: Fondazione Internazionale Buon Pastore Bank: Popolare di Sondrio - International Account in Euro IT 36 D 05696 03207 000006805X22 - Swift Code:POSOIT22 International account in USD IBAN: IT 36 D 05696 03207 VARUS 0006805 - Swift Code: POSOIT22 If you are based in US you can send money to our US account: Account Holder: GS Mission Development Corp. U.S. Bank 721 Locust St. Louis, MO 63101 Account Number: 152307766658 - SWIFT Code: USBKUS44IMT Routing Number: 081000210 • Shop online on www.handcraftingjustice.org or www.thetradingcircle.com • Offer Your Time as a Volunteer Join one of our programs where your skills are needed the most. • Legacies Remember us in your will. Find out more on: www.fondazionebuonpastore.org CONTACTS Fondazione Internazionale Buon Pastore ONLUS Via Raffaele Sardiello, 20 00165 ROMA, ITALIA Tel. +39 06 66179101 Fax. +39 06 66418864 [email protected]