UISG Catholic Care for Children International and GHR will host a convening in Nairobi, Kenya, from May 16-18, 2023, entitled "Reading the Signs of the Times Together: Catholic Care for Children.” This gathering will bring together episcopal leaders, government representatives and Catholic sisters from east Africa to reflect upon and discern the Catholic church’s growing commitment to ensure all children are safe. The centerpiece of the convening will be Catholic Care for Children, a sister-led, charism-driven movement to see that all children can grow up in safe, nurturing families. This will offer an opportunity to consider and collectively reflect upon the progress made in advancing family-based care, and the implications of national legal frameworks and policies in east Africa that now favor family-based care over institutionalization.
 
Grounded in GHR’s Catholic roots, with deepening appreciation for the role of faith in animating and shaping care, GHR partners with Catholic sisters—women whose leadership, service and spiritual witness have advanced the common good through a profound commitment to working on behalf of the vulnerable and marginalized. With the support of the Rome-based International Union of Superiors General and national associations of women religious, Catholic sisters are emerging as champions of care reform. Working with governmental, civic, and church leaders, and within their local communities, they are leading efforts to transition from institutional care toward family- and community-based care. 

From L to R: Yende Anderson, Pa Lor, Tarra McNally

As we strive to deepen the impact of Global programs, and build capacity to best to support our partners, we are thrilled to welcome some exceptional talent to the newly expanded GHR Global team.

Yende Anderson, Program Officer, joins us from the Minnesota Department of Health. She has a background in state and national policy, stakeholder engagement, program design and implementation, aimed at integrating immigrant international medical graduates into Minnesota’s healthcare delivery system and other strategies to increase access to primary care. She has also designed health programming for women in West Africa and her home country of Liberia. 

Pa Lor, Program Associate, joins us from Habitat for Humanity, where she oversaw operations for the Homeowner Development Team. She has a background in administration, planning, data management, and client service. Pa will operate as the central coordinator and grants administrator for the GHR Global team.

Tarra McNally, Program Officer, joins us from the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. She has a background in research and community-centered program design and evaluation with a focus on global public health and faith, and experience working in Catholic and international spaces. She was a member of the external team that evaluated GHR’s Inter-religious Action initiative.

In collaboration with open innovation platform OpenIDEO, GHR Foundation is inviting social innovators to come together to address urgent global challenges at the intersections of peace, prosperity and planet in radically new ways. The second annual BridgeBuilder Challenge is a five-month collaborative process that aims to identify promising ideas that promote meaningful engagement, greater social cohesion, and sustainable, community-led change. The top iterative ideas will each receive a share of $1 million and benefit from ongoing collaboration among the cohort and GHR’s global development experts.
 
The first BridgeBuilder Challenge in 2017 collected more than 650 ideas from social innovators in 185 countries, all building bridges in unique, innovative ways. ​These were narrowed down to five Top Ideas, which convened in Rome for a design-build workshop with GHR and OpenIDEO. These wide-ranging approaches are already resulting in meaningful change, with project scopes between 12 and 36 months.
 
The 2017 Top Ideas include:

• Ethical gold mining as a pathway to peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- Peace Direct
• Tree-planting drones for restoring mangroves and livelihoods in Myanmar -- BioCarbon Engineering
• Creative skills for peace among youth violent offenders in Cameroon -- Local Youth Corner Cameroon
• Lifting up and empowering families on Chicago's Southside -- LIFT Chicago
• Connecting displaced persons with Arabic language learners around the world – NaTakallam

 
“The challenges our world faces today are complex and interwoven,” said Amy Goldman, chief executive officer and chair of GHR. "BridgeBuilder is teaching us a lot about how communities far and wide are designing innovative solutions, and the power of building bridges to create lasting change. Through this second Challenge as well as the work of our current cohort, we hope to continue ‘bridging’ between people and communities to support and unleash the promise of locally-rooted ideas and assets.”
 
Whether working to advance peace, ensure prosperity, or protect our planet, successful BridgeBuilders design and build approaches that incorporate multiple perspectives, keeping pace with the speed at which the global community is moving and evolving.
 
“The response to our inaugural BridgeBuilder Challenge was amazing,” said Jason Rissman, managing director of OpenIDEO, of the 2017 BridgeBuilder Challenge. “The collaborative, transparent nature of last year’s Challenge inspired social innovators from nearly every country to offer insights and connections that brought value to submitted ideas, even if they weren't ultimately selected as Top Ideas. It’s exciting to consider the world-changing potential of our community of BridgeBuilders in this second Challenge.”
 
OpenIDEO Challenge Process: During the Ideas phase, GHR and OpenIDEO will call on the global community to share ideas that address urgent challenges at the intersections of peace, prosperity and planet in radical new ways. The ideas do not need to be perfect or fully polished—GHR encourages entry early in the Ideas phase to allow for community engagement and iteration to improve ideas. GHR will then select a shortlist of submitted ideas to move into the Beneficiary Feedback phase. During Beneficiary Feedback, contributors will test ideas in their communities and apply feedback to their project idea.
 
During the Expert Feedback phase, shortlisted ideas will have the opportunity to interact virtually with experts from various fields to gather feedback and additional insights. After expert feedback is the Improve Phase, during which each idea will have two three weeks to apply the expert feedback to their project idea. After these phases, GHR will review the shortlist, evaluate the ideas and announce the Top Ideas—a cohort representing promising approaches that best reflect the spirit of BridgeBuilder.
 
Selected top ideas will:

• Receive a share of $1 million in seed funding from GHR Foundation
• Join a BridgeBuilder cohort of innovative organizations working to address urgent needs
• Take part in a kick-off workshop, during which they will meet other social innovators and further design and build their approaches with tools and expertise from GHR and OpenIDEO
• Receive ongoing partnership support from GHR, potential connection to other funder networks, and media exposure

 
Eligibility: Submissions are welcome from registered nonprofit, civil society, community-based and for-profit organizations working anywhere in the world. Ideas must touch on two or more of the topic areas (peace, prosperity and planet). Ideas should strive to create unique encounters between people, issues and beliefs that promote meaningful engagement, greater social cohesion and sustainable, community-led change. Ideas must center on action and tangible results in their communities of focus rather than research, convenings, policy development or advocacy. Last, BridgeBuilder is seeking ideas with timelines up to 36 months and budget requests of less than US$500,000.

GHR Foundation's Children in Families funding supports child protection interventions that strengthen families, respond to children without family care and drive further evidence of innovative approaches. ​In Uganda, GHR’s Sister Support initiative found Catholic sisters are well-positioned to realize the best possible outcomes for vulnerable children and children living outside of family care by combining the Catholic tradition of care with insights from contemporary research.

In 2016, with guidance and funding from GHR, the Association of Religious in Uganda formed Catholic Care for Children in Uganda (CCCU) to unify Catholic sisters championing reform. The organization has helped hundreds of Catholic leaders and administrators from care institutions understand new child protection legislation and embrace an alternative care framework.

This week, CCCU launched a comprehensive new child protection policy at the Association of Religious in Uganda’s annual meeting of religious institute Superiors. Formed by stakeholders including Superiors, administrators and Diocesan representatives, the policy is an important document required by law to provide guidance for work with vulnerable children. The new policy will now be disseminated to stakeholders for implementation.

Designed to protect children from abuse or neglect, the child protection policy outlines best practices for ensuring the safety of child for whom services are being provided. Training manuals on child protection are currently being distributed to congregations of Catholic sisters, staff members of care institutions, political leaders, parents and community members through radio messages, community dialogues and home visits. Members of the Association of Religious in Uganda plan to visit religious institutes and provide detailed in-person trainings.
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Recognizing the right of every child to life, dignity, development and protection, this new policy indicates a commitment by Catholic sisters in Uganda to minimizing risk, practicing accountability and maintaining a proactive approach in their efforts to provide family-like care for vulnerable children. To learn more about how Catholic sisters are joining the effort to provide stable, positive, long-term family or family-like environments for children, contact us.

At GHR, we value sharing knowledge and listening to one another. We find every opportunity to cross-pollinate between programs, foundations and initiatives, leveraging expertise and boosting creativity. One such collaboration is happening now, between our Children in Families and Sister Support initiatives.

In 2016, when the Ugandan parliament passed progressive legislation to ensure better outcomes for children living outside of family care, Catholic sisters stepped up and championed reform. With guidance and funding from GHR, Catholic Care for Children in Uganda—part of the Association of Religious in Uganda—is leading the way toward a “family-like environment for every child.” In its first nine months, the organization “won hearts and minds,” helping hundreds of Catholic leaders and administrators from care institutions understand the new legislation and embrace an alternative care framework.

​Phase one of Catholic Care for Children in Uganda is well underway. Of the seventy Catholic brothers and sisters slated for social work training, the first 22 successfully completed their first semester in May. More than a hundred people have taken intensive courses on child protection and a high-quality child protection policy has been adopted by the Association of Religious in Uganda.
 
Catholic Care for Children in Uganda leadership is planning for phase two, during which it will help congregations responsible for 46 Catholic care institutions implement best practices and pilot efforts to move from institutionalized care to community- or family-based care. These efforts will lay the groundwork for a larger movement toward the alternative care framework. Catholic Care for Children in Uganda is an exciting cross-initiative collaboration, advancing the goals of both our Sister Support Initiative and our Children in Families initiative.

Through this collaboration, we are strengthening Ugandan congregations in ways that ultimately benefit children. By sharing expertise and thinking outside the box, we can find truly innovative solutions. To learn more about GHR's Children in Families and Sister Support initiatives, contact us.

Leaders gathered for recent convenings on 'International Sisters in the United States,' a study commissioned by GHR with Trinity Washington University and Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, recommended the creation of a reflection guide. In response, Dr. Arturo Chávez from the Mexican American Catholic College worked with a team from seven organizations to develop a guide in English and Spanish for congregations and other organizations that are interested in the role of culture in religious life.

To learn more about the report and GHR’s Sister Support Initiative, contact us.

When international nonprofits approach global development issues, they often use a top-down structure to work with local partners. This makes sharing local knowledge and best practices difficult, and diminishes the ability of local partners to influence governments or implement policy change.

In 2009, U.K.-based nonprofit Every Child realized the limitations of their approach to helping vulnerable children and families. Taking a radical leap of faith, they decided on a creative, innovative restructuring. Every Child disbanded itself and began a seven-year planning period, emerging in 2016 as Family for Every Child, an independent global alliance of former international partners and grassroots civil society organizations.

Family for Every Child’s act of creative reconstruction attracted GHR’s attention, and ultimately, support. In 2012, our Children in Families initiative became one of Family for Every Child’s first funders, issuing a small grant to assist them in capacity building for membership engagement. More recently, we supported Family for Every Child’s development of Guidelines on Children’s Reintegration, a valuable resource for child protection around the world. Today, Family for Every Child is a global alliance composed of 30 organizations with shared goals, connecting and collaborating to break the glass ceiling that prevents many local organizations from achieving policy changes that effectively protect children.
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Bold nonprofits that choose innovative, lean approaches to global problems often lack the support necessary for growth. To fill this gap, GHR is committed to supporting organizations like Family for Every Child. We believe impact can be maximized when approaches to challenges are continuously re-imagined, and we hope to collaborate with more organizations that embrace risk and reinvention to better serve the communities in which they work.

​GHR funds collaborations between nonprofits and civil society organizations because we value bold and innovative solutions to challenges faced by vulnerable children. What does collaboration look like within your organization or alliance? Share your success, opportunities and questions in the comments below or learn more about GHR’s Children in Families initiative here.

GHR Foundation's Sister Support funding seeks to ensure a vital future for Catholic sisters, marked by congregations that are well-led, well-resourced and powerful in spiritual witness and service.

Below is the first national study of the 4,000 international sisters living in the United States. With support from GHR, researchers from Trinity Washington University and the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University conducted the report in order to better understand the experiences and contributions of international sisters. The report is available below in both English and Spanish.

To learn more about the report and GHR’s Sister Support Initiative, contact us.

The new year provides an opportunity for reflection, celebration and ambition. As we look back on a year of collaboration and grant making, we ask ourselves an important question: Where will we find the greatest opportunities for change in the coming year? One such promising area is already emerging—our partnership with USAID in the Central African Republic, a country in great need of healing and community in the midst of conflict.

GHR's Inter-Religious Action initiative has applied its proven methods to peacebuilding in the Central African Republic, and Thomson Reuters Foundation recently covered how our work is helping participants overcome trauma and rebuild fractured communities. The hope-filled article reports from a workshop in Bangui that is bringing together Christians and Muslims, using the influence of religious leaders to repair relationships and build trust. The piece emphasizes the importance of engaging religious actors in countries where institutions are fragile.

"Religious actors are the bedrock of society in countries where institutions are fragile," the article quotes from GHR Senior Program Advisor Andreas Hipple. "The religious leaders cannot just guide people in their faith but also help them deal with the challenges of life."
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GHR knows how collaboration and discussion between religious leaders and communities are essential to solving difficult development problems like the ones faced by CAR, and may be key to building the trusting relationships and social cohesion necessary to restoring peace. The strategy of Inter-Religious Action initiative is hinged on this principle.
 
We look forward to another year of pursuing impact, responding to emerging needs and supporting our incredible partners around the world. To learn more about innovative work like our efforts in the Central African Republic, contact us.

GHR has a long legacy of partnering with Catholic sisters, supporting the amazing contributions they make to the common good. The Foundation's Sister Support initiative is especially proud to fund initiatives that utilize the enthusiasm and creativity of younger sisters as they respond to new opportunities created by technology and a changing landscape.
 
One of these initiatives is A Nun’s Life, an international online ministry helping people discover religious life and choose the vocation toward which they feel God calling them. The organization recently celebrated its tenth anniversary with a Motherhouse Road Trip, where the A Nun’s Life team, including Sisters Julie, Maxine, and Julie, traveled from Toledo to Chicago—where A Nun’s Life began—to Silicon Valley. Along the way, they visited motherhouses, livestreamed podcasts, tutored congregations in social media and networked with young sisters. The team posted on social media and blogged throughout their trip, engaging with their 160-country online community.

As the A Nun’s Life team was preparing for the Motherhouse Road Trip, 140 young Sisters of Mercy visited St. Louis, Mo. for a four-day gathering. The group came together from the United States, Philippines, Peru, Argentina, Guam and Jamaica to deepen relationships, pray and sing together in Spanish and English. Most importantly, the sisters imagined what the Sisters of Mercy’s presence will be in the future and recommitted themselves to their mission.
 
During Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy, GHR celebrates women who have chosen lives of prayer and service as Catholic sisters. The world is enriched by their faithfulness, creativity, service and compassion. To learn more about how GHR supports sisters in the United States and Africa, contact us.​