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About the Organization

Friends-International is a groundbreaking social enterprise working to ensure that urban children, youth and their families are able to become functional, productive citizens. Addressing the various challenges of multi-dimensional and inter-generational poverty—including trafficking, exploitation, substance abuse, and lack of opportunity—Friends runs holistic social services programs supported by best practice social business models and wide-reaching multi-stakeholder partnerships with government civil society and the private sectors. Each year, through activities across Southeast Asia and global collaboration, Friends-International builds the futures of 150,000 young people and generates $2.6 million in social revenue.

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Keeping children safe from exploitation and life on the streets requires concerted efforts of prevention, rehabilitation, and reintegration.

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Friends-International involves local entrepreneurs in keeping children safe, and offers rehabilitation and reintegration programs.

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Sebastien Marot seeks to move away from charity and toward real development.

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Friends-International serves 50,000 children each year.

Ambition for Change

To create a world where marginalized urban young people and their families are able to overcome their challenges and become functional, productive citizens.

Path to Scale

Partnerships, Social Business Franchise, Policy Advocacy. Friends replicates its impact through an innovative social business franchising model and meaningful partnerships with likeminded organizations in government, civil society, and the private sector.

Skoll Awardee

Sébastien Marot served in Asia with the French diplomatic corps. Returning as a traveler to Cambodia, he encountered a wrecked society where children slept in the streets. He gave them meals but soon realized that giving to child beggars merely kept them living on the streets. He started Mith Samianh (“Friends” in Khmer) to offer shelter, medical care and education, reintegrating children with family, school and work. As the organization’s success attracted attention, Sébastien was attacked and targeted for assassination by gangs and pedophiles. Yet requests for help and training continued to pour in, and Sébastien transferred leadership of Friends Cambodia to an able Cambodian colleague. He now devotes his energy to Friends-International through two key programs: ChildSafe, which involves local leaders and tourists in prevention, and The Street Children Network, which makes effective services available -- vocational training, protection, and social services, as well as job placement in the Friends Social Businesses network. Services are delivered through Friends programs, an alliance of partners, and the ChildSafe global community protection network.

Impact & Accomplishments
  • In 2018, Friends-International directly served 52,000 children, youth, and family members/caretakers through its programming focused on saving lives (community centers, drug services, medical care and other direct services) and building futures (transitional housing, access to education and training, access to employment and family reintegration).
  • Through the ChildSafe Alliance, a global civil society network that brings together child-focused organizations to supplement and coordinate programming, an additional 94,000 young people and caregivers in seven countries across Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe were reached.
  • In 2018, these programs helped over 4,000 children living in orphanages reintegrate with their families and over 8,000 children remain in public school.
  • Friends-International has been able to establish key partnerships with governments in the countries where it works, advised 412 companies around the world on child protection policies, and reached 17 million people in 16 languages through the public ChildSafe Movement's campaigns to reduce the negative effects of travelers on children.
Affiliated
Iona Bergius
Head of International Partnerships, Friends-International
Steinunn Jakobsdóttir
Grants International Coordinator, Friends-International
Marko Ivkovic
Human Resources International Coordinator, Friends-International
Patricia Stuchberry
Private Partnerships Officer, Friends-International
Ghislain Morard
Country Program Director (Indonesia), Friends-International
In the News
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