Global Friends is all about embracing the ideas and energy of others to bring about meaningful change. One of the primary goals of GFF is to relieve poverty by providing basic amenities including food, clothing, shelter and other basic supplies to persons in need. We do this through collaboration with incredible people who work, live and love in the communities we support.

Girls Going Forward Empowerment Challenge
Fifty percent of girls in Africa are sexually enslaved, out of school, and may not live beyond 34 years due to poverty, HIV/AIDS, and violence. Girls who are orphans and do not attend school, tend to resort to sex work for food, shelter, and income. Many girls and young women lack access to and control over money and property and have limited access to education, health and credit services.

Global Friends and its remarkable partner, ARUWE (Action for Rural Women’s Empowerment) is introducing the Girls Going Forward Empowerment Challenge for young women in Uganda. Our definition of empowerment includes the process of providing girls with knowledge and skills, facilitating confidence and determination, and providing the financial means to design and implement income-generating projects for self-sustainability. During the program, the girls are provided with shelter from violence. Additionally, within collaborative groups, the girls receive business education, leadership training, coaching and mentorship, market linkages, and access to micro loans.

Dress for Success
Seven out of ten of the one billion people who live in extreme poverty are female. It is estimated the 65 million girls around the globe do not attend school. Dress for Success is one way Global Friends is trying to change these staggering statistics by reaching out to empower girls.

Dress for Success is a multi-pronged program that uses one dress to help three people. When someone donates $50 to our Dress for Success program, we give a dress to a young, impoverished girl, a school success pack to an older girl in the same community, and employ a local mama to make the dress.

Dress for Success is so much more than clothing…

  • It is about reviving the spirit of young girls.
  • It is about demonstrating compassion and providing opportunities.
  • It is about offering opportunities and changing lives.

To learn more about donating a dress, please visit our Dress for Success fundraising page!

Shoes That Grow
“Amazing things that happen when a child has a pair of shoes. With shoes, kids can be healthier, attend school more often, and be more confident. Shoes help put kids in the best position to achieve their dreams.”
The Shoe That Grows Impact Report

Our partnership with Because International allowed us to give out 100 pairs for shoes that grow a remarkable 5 sizes to impoverished kids in Uganda and 200 more in Tanzania. It was incredible! These shoes will allow kids to walk through school and life with confidence.

Mama Jane, A Woman with an Endless Capacity to Love Children
In 2018, Global Friends was asked to be part of a very special project. Working together with the Scott Willis Legacy Foundation, Mama Jane’s Orphanage and Global Friends Expeditions in Tanzania, plus our own crew from Canada, we transformed an open space into a field of dreams. In less than a week, this incredible group used designs from our trusted Partner, Penalta Group, to build a kitchen work table and pantry, erect two tee pees, two climbing structures, an outdoor music room, transform a parking lot into a soccer field, paint a massive outdoor mural, redesign an income-generating sewing centre and beauty salon, benches for Mama Jane, her children and visitors, and win the hearts of 43 orphaned children. It was an experience that was beyond incredible. In the past, we funded the building of a classroom and new washrooms. Global Friends continues to support Mama Jane with scholarships for the children and additional programs that move the Centre closer to self-sustainability.

GOATS
Goats are much more than cute little animals — especially to those living in poverty. Goats provide milk protein for children. They fertilize gardens. And, they offer precious income for ​school fees, food and shelter. The Global Friends GOAT program is a gift we give to a community. We select a community in need and then donate goats to grandmothers caring for more than three grandchildren or orphaned girls caring for younger siblings or vocational schools providing students with nourishment and education in animal husbandry and business management. We donate at least five pairs of goats to a community and it is a requirement of the program that as the goats have offspring, those baby goats are given to others in the community until every family has at least one pair of goats.

To make a donation to the GOAT program, please visit our fundraising page!