Coptic Orphans
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Coptic Orphans (CO) is a non-profit organization founded in 1988 with the goal of the long-term development of the physical and intellectual well being of children in Egypt.
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[edit] History
When young Egyptian-American Nermien Riad visited Egypt in 1988, she found a nation that, despite a rich heritage and much foreign aid, still grappled with widespread poverty and illiteracy. Astonished at the way that children lived in an orphanage where she volunteered, she was more astonished to learn that many children ended up at the orphanage because their mothers were forced by extreme poverty to abandon them after the loss of the family’s father.
She felt she had to do something for fatherless children in their own families and communities so that they in turn could transform those communities. From her efforts grew Coptic Orphans.
Upon returning to the United States, she began collecting and sending funds to Egypt on a limited scale to the orphanage, and began to lay the foundations for an organization with a Mission and Philosophy solely devoted to the purpose of helping children.
As opposed to a short-term relief organization, Coptic Orphans focuses on the long-term needs of the children - spiritual, physical, economic, and social - through programs that provide both tangible and intangible benefits.
[edit] Mission
Coptic Orphans is an award-winning international Christian development organization that unlocks the God-given potential of disadvantaged children in Egypt, and so equips them to break the cycle of poverty and become change-makers in their communities.
Coptic Orphans works through grassroots partner and volunteer networks for sustainable impact.
[edit] Programs
[edit] Not Alone
The flagship program of Coptic Orphans, Not Alone, fatherless children are connected to the resources and support they need to foster their development into educated, empowered, responsible and caring adults via one of over 270 volunteer representatives who are appointed through the Church and serve as advocates and mentors to the children and their families.
[edit] The Valuable Girl Project
The Valuable Girl Project builds self-esteem in girls at risk of dropping out of school in order to promote academic retention and access to civil and social rights through mentoring between “little sisters” in primary school and “big sisters” in secondary school and university.
[edit] Serve To Learn
Serve to Learn connects youth from around the globe to Egypt. Volunteers conduct activities in English for three weeks during the summer and share a journey of self-discovery and transformation with the children and communities they serve.
[edit] Grassroots Partner Initiatives
Coptic Orphans launched its first set of grantmaking initiatives with other Coptic grassroots organizations in 2006 with the support of a major donor. The purpose of the program is to support Egypt-based community development associations as well as NGOs active in one of these three main sectors: health education and awareness, orphanage support, and education and literacy to underserved populations -- including refugees, children with disabilities, and orphans. Coptic organizations approached Coptic Orphans with proposed initiatives that Coptic Orphans then funded while working with partner organizations to strengthen their effectiveness and measuring results.
The donor who commissioned the initiatives of 2006 also commissioned another set of partnerships for 2009. In 2008, Coptic Orphans received an overwhelming number of applications from Coptic organizations in Egypt for the 2009 cycle.
