The Global Fund for Children have not sent out a new newsletter, so in this blog I will talk about some a recent post that have been added to the website.
The post that caught my attention was a post about the Grassroots Girls Initiative. This organization is partnered with the Nike Foundation. Their current grant with the Nike Foundation enables them to support approximately 20 partners that are working to equip adolescent girls with the resources, tools, and options they need to create to better lives for themselves, their families, and their communities.
The post talks about how venture philanthropy can close the poverty gap. The Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) is a group of professionals from more than 25 countries that come together to share ideas and strengthen the presence of venture philanthropy and social investment across Asia. This group includes venture philanthropy organizations, impact investors, private equity, wealth management, academia and grant makers. I found it interesting that one-third of all children living in developing countries live in extreme poverty and some of the highest rates are found in South Asia. In South Asia more than 70% of children live in poverty, to me that number is extremely high. These children are more susceptible to trafficking and child labor and miss out on going to school. That saddens me to hear that these children are being robbed of essential opportunities needed to develop into healthy adults, not to mention robbed of having a normal childhood. The rise of venture philanthropy in Asia is necessary because they "offer a bend of capital and business advice to help entrepreneurial organizations achieve their ambitions for growth and development ( Lindsey, 2013)." At the recent AVPN inaugural conferences, they discussed the importance of making long-term sustainable impacts on children in their early stages of development, especially in the communities they serve. Strategic investments in community-based organizations provide security and hope for millions of people worldwide (Lindsey, 2013).
Resources
Lindsey, K. (2013). How Venture Philanthropy Can Close the Poverty Gap. The Grassroots Girl Initiative.
I think that is important that Nike is trying help young children. We need to reach out to the community and have them do what they can to help these young children. 70 percent of the population in South Asia are in poverty, which is crazy. Great informative post.
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