Who are you trying to help? What issue are you trying to address?

We want to help survivors of child trafficking. The area in which we work (the North West Region of Cameroon) is a major supply area for child trafficking because of the limited opportunities for post primary education and/or vocational training.

We are therefore seeking to establish a fund which will provide small grants to rescued victims so that they can pursue post primary education in any secondary school in the region. This will support the survivors in achieving their educational and professional goals and will enable child trafficking survivors to secure long-term financial security.

The Survivor’s Academic Rescue Fund will also address the vulnerability of children with limited parental care to trafficking by providing a credible alternative to the “pull factors” that attract some children to fall prey to trafficking, sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. It will also help to solve the recurrent problem of trafficking and re-trafficking of rescued victims when they are left unsupported.

What is your project and how will it help?

The project is a scholarship scheme aimed at supporting victims of child trafficking to develop their potentials and become useful citizens of Cameroon.

It is designed to initially cover the following:
• Books and supplies for school
• Tuition
• Registration fees
• Uniforms
• Public transportation
• Fees for computer access
• Health Insurance

The initial number of beneficiaries to the fund will be 25 rescued victims of child trafficking and others in situation of vulnerability.

The project will organize beneficiaries into a group and foster their participation in other initiatives to combat child abuse within their own communities. It will also create volunteering opportunities for beneficiaries through partnership with other community based organizations and promote community service amongst young people who are beneficiaries of the fund. Opportunities will also exist for the development of potential and informal learning / skills building.

It will also contribute to reducing the vulnerability of children to trafficking by addressing one of the major pull factor of limited post primary educational opportunity through:

• Directly engaging the beneficiaries as young counter trafficking campaigners at community level where recruitment takes place.

• Increase the knowledge of partner educational establishment to the project on child trafficking and exploitation.

• Improve access to post primary education for victims of child trafficking and sexual exploitation in Cameroon.

It will foster coexistence amongst beneficiaries for experience sharing and mutual support in the fight against worst forms of child abuse.

How can other people partner with you on your project?

Engaging with GLOWA in the project will have the cross dimensional impact of contributing to fighting against child trafficking and promoting the achievement of MDG 2.

Other people can partner with us in this project in a wide range of ways such as:

• Promoting the project on individual blogs and social networks so as to attract sponsors for the children.
• Host a child sponsorship event or commit to sponsoring one child
• Donate time and money to the project
• Establishing a relationship between the scheme and like-minded organizations in your community
• Run a clothing drive for beneficiaries of the project
• Donate books and other school materials to the project

We encourage interested individuals and organizations to contact GLOWA to discuss their involvement. Nothing is too small to help those in needs. We are very flexible and will use your support to meet the wide range of children’s needs.

Please detail the resources that you need.

The Survivors Academic Rescue Fund will need in-kind donations of materials, volunteer time, and finance.

Material support needed will include didactic items (books, pens/pencils, uniforms, ordinary dresses etc).

It will also need volunteer time to promote the project. We would like bloggers to post the project on their sites and also web designers to develop a web site for GLOWA and the project.

The project will need financial support of US$103,775 to enable the activities proposed in the project to be realized. A more elaborate cost estimate is available for download in the attached document.