GLOBAL ROOTS
nurturing life
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Global Roots helps local humanitarians and community leaders to feed and protect children in need by launching locally sourced food security programs. We take a two-pronged approach to food security. First, our "Children's Gardens" or school lunch programs provide school lunches for children at poor-performing schools in places where there is a little government support in rural areas. This includes Afghanistan, Cambodia, Kenya and Nigeria. A second initiative at Global Roots helps farmers make badly needed disposable income so that they can pay their family medical bills and send their children to elementary and high school.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Boarding School Fees for Threatened Maasai Girls
Global Roots has established a safe house in Kenya and also provides school fees for girls who run away from the horrific human rights crime of FGM. Unfortunately 92% of all Maasai girls are subjected every year to forced removal from school, female genital mutilation and forced marriage. It is Global Roots' goal to Keep these girls in school and protect them from these problems while providing them with an education.
Vocational School for Orphaned Afghan Girls
Our vocational school opened in the spring of 2020 and has already seen over 170 young women graduate. We chose to offer a tailoring program because 92% of all clothing sold to women in Afghanistan is made locally.
When the girls graduate our program, they return to their foster families as heroes because they suddenly have a skill that can earn them a decent income, protect them from early marriage, and help pay for their own education when the time comes. These are girls who were never allowed to go to school previously and were forced to do grueling. unsafe day-labor jobs just to earn their keep.
Each graduate in our program receives a sewing kit (including fabric and a brand-new sewing machine) to start their own business. Vocational school advisors help them to launch a Facebook page and provide ongoing marketing assistance.
A 2023 impact study showed that 87% of our graduates have created their own businesses and are now making money!
The Baharak Children's Garden
The Baharak Children’s Garden (BCG), a revolutionary community center complete with a massive greenhouse and classroom, is scheduled to reopen next week. Soon another 80 orphaned children will have access to better nutrition and will attend classes in math, science and English for the first time.
• In 2022, the BCG distributed 8,320 kilos of vegetables to 80 children and their caregivers. Each child also took home a food package with 20 kg of rice, 5 liters of oil, 7 kg of yellow split peas, 2 kg of sugar, 2 kg of black tea and 10 kg of potatoes to share with their foster families.
• An estimated 602 family members benefited from the program.
• Each child spent a total of 84 hours in the garden and 300 hours in the classroom.
• Each child received a school uniform, bag, and stationary kit.
• The project paid a fulltime salary to 10 staff members and gave work to 200 others.
• Sold excess produce for a profit at the local market and expect the program to be self sufficient by 2028
Where we work
External reviews
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Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of children protected from exploitation: 500
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children, Social and economic status
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
These are the numbers of children we protect from exploitation in war zones and post conflict areas of the planet. We are currently active in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Kenya.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The fundamental goal of Global Roots is to support and assist local humanitarians in bringing both physical and emotional care to children and formerly splintered communities around the world. Our food security programs galvanize local people into action.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Global Roots connects with local humanitarians and travels to their community to assess the situation and assure honesty and full transparency. We then work together with the local humanitarians to erect a Children's Garden and help get things off the ground. Finally, we assure that the garden will be will sustained and monitored, allowing the children to greatly benefit from our project. We also provide a Small Scale Farming app to local famers so that they can sell even the smallest amount of produce and thusly have the disposable income they need to pay for family medical care, school costs and protect their land from easy acquisition by Big Ag.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
By creating a state-of-the-art, drip-system greenhouse with adjoining chicken egg pens, Global Roots gives neglected children a chance to commune with nature as they grow their own vegetables and chicken eggs in after-school gardens. Fueling school lunch programs and convincing parents to return their children to the classroom, our Children's Gardens provide safe, healthy arenas for childhood growth and development around the world. As stated in the strategy section, we also provide a Small Scale Farming app to local famers so they can sell even the smallest amount of produce and thusly have the disposable income they need to pay for family medical care, school costs and protect their land from easy acquisition by Big Ag.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Our food security programs are protecting thousands of children and rebuilding local community in three "post conflict" countries and two active war zones.\n\nThe main obstacle we confront is corruption. The recruitment and hiring of local transparency officers has helped limit corruption. A secondary corruption officer who is not in the family, tribe or clan of the first officer has boosted our transparency and oversight program. This along with occasional spot checks of programs by our Executive Director and teams of volunteers has limited the incidence of corruption to less than 5% of every donated dollar. Larger organizations suffer as much as a 50% loss on every donated dollar\n\nIf we can continue to empower locals to manage our programs while keeping a lid on corruption, we will become a powerful force in global child security. We do not engage in hand-out programs. All of our projects are designed to be self sustaining after five years and they are all managed by locals who must follow ingrained transparency and oversight systems.\n\nOur ultimate goal is to increase quality classroom time, so that children can become educated and self realized members of society. Food, quality classroom time and the empowerment of parents as well as community leaders remain the keys to our success. We have found a way to access and become friends with members of the PTA wherever we work. A galvanized PTA can change an entire community.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
GLOBAL ROOTS
Board of directorsas of 11/18/2023
Mr Richard Montgomery
Global Roots
Term: 2006 -
Richard H Montgomery
Global Roots
James V Gearhart
Global Roots
Sheila Capestany
Global Roots
Mark Buchanan
Global Roots
Olaf J Holm
Global Roots
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/26/2020GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.