2011 Highlights

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– Jan 09, 2012

Posted by
Alyson Rowe

2011 was an incredible year for the War Child team, and we have you - our loyal supporters - to thank. It was, without a doubt, one of our busiest yet.

We asked War Child staff at our head office in Toronto to share their 2011 highlights; here is what some of our staff had to say:

Alyson Rowe
Senior Manager, Community Development

Without a doubt, traveling to the Congo in May to visit War Child’s program was my 2011 highlight. For me, visiting the field was a life changing experience. For professionals in development and aid we hear stories about communities affected by war and work hard to raise awareness here at home, however, until you have shared tea with women who have literally risked their lives to better their communities and who, against all imaginable odds, find the strength and resiliency to create change your profession can not be translated into passion. The stories of the brave and inpiring people I met are unforgettable. Meeting our staff in Baraka, South Kivu and spending three weeks with our beneficiaries in the DRC changed the way I share stories with our supporters and on a personal level, changed the way I see war.

Justine Turner
Manager, International Programs

2011 was an amazing year for our Sierra Leone partner Artists United for Children and Youth Development (AUCAYD). With War Child’s help, they recorded and produced their debut advocacy album which has seen global sales on iTunes and Amazon and was featured on CBC; they started a skills training and leadership program for children who have been imprisoned in Freetown’s juvenile detention centre to provide them with a chance to turn their lives around when they are released; and they used music to inspire and motivate hundreds of youth to become active promoters of human rights, environmental protection and peace.

The year could not have ended better, AUCAYD were selected to run Sierra Leone’s National Youth Centre and they were personally congratulated by President Koroma of Sierra Leone. 2012 is going to be an exciting year, stay tuned.

Richard Corbridge
Director, International Programs

My highlight from 2011 was the renewal of our Afghanistan program. CIDA has come on board as the program partner for another two years. War Child's program in Afghanistan is incredibly successful; it is a holistic program that reaches hundreds of families who have experienced the most challenging of circumstances due to the combination of conflict and extreme poverty in the most vulnerable and devastated regions of Kabul and Jalalabad.

In November I traveled to the program. It was great to see the program again and meet with the women we work with. Presently, War Child's program reaches 400 families and over 700 children by providing vocational skills training, income generation opportunities, and literacy and numeracy skills to mothers, whilst providing early years education for their children. My November visit was a fantastic learning opportunity as I had the chance to learn more about the women who, upon successfuly completing the program, are now running small scale businesses in their communities made possible because of small micro-finance loans from War Child. Over ninety-six percent of loans are repaid on time! 

Emma Cosgrove
Manager, Stakeholder Relations

In November, the volunteer committee from ArtBarrage organized an online auction of an impressive array of contemporary art, culminating in a live auction. Many War Child staff and a team of over 40 dedicated War Child volunteers were on hand to help with the event, which was a beautiful evening. The ArtBarrage team took such care to plan a seamless event in support of War Child; their dedication was inspiring.

Gabrielle Duchesne
Director, Development

This year, like every year, I was humbled by the generous spirit of the people who make our work possible - our donors. Thank you does not express the gratitude I feel towards these people. I am sincerely touched by the generosity of our monthly War Child heroes, of the person who had a moment of inspiration and reached into their own pocket to invest in us, of our corporate partners and their staff, and of our foundation and government partners and their personnel.

To each of you: I am proud that you believed that children should go to school; that you believed young girls should live free of fear of abuse, exploitation or neglect; and that you believed no child should know war.  And I am truly honoured, that you entrusted War Child with administering the programs that educate girls, create projective environments for the rights of children and youth and help families and communities overcome the obstacles of poverty and economic marginalization.

Barbara Harmer
Director, Music and Special Initiatives

2011 kicked off with a bang for the Music & Special Initiatives department and didn’t slow down. In February, I was thrilled when a project that I had been working on for a year came to fruition with the auctioning of a guitar painted by Damien Hirst (yes, the internationally renowned British artist) that raised $120,000 for the kids we support.  We are currently developing a stellar art series -courtesy of Carparelli Guitars and some truly amazing artists - so stay tuned for exciting news in 2012.

When the summer arrived we hit the road and had our most successful concert and summer festival circuit to date. War Child attended a record 29 music festivals and concerts.  The summer love continued well into August when we partnered with Jackson Triggs for the first ever Rootstock benefit concert for War Child – an incredible night of music, story-telling and altruism under the stars at JT’s beautiful outdoor amphitheatre!  These are just a few of the many amazing highlights of 2011. Our supporters and partners are amazing and we are truly grateful!

Jennifer Ivanovs
Manager, Music and Special Initiatives

Chances are if you ran into me at one of the many festivals we were lucky to be at this summer I was probably asking you where to get my hands on a double shot of Americano, a sugar free redbull or some kind of throat tea.  Yes we here in the MSI department had one of the busiest summers ever, that being said it was also one of the most amazing summers ever. 

From Edgefest and two dates with the Tragically Hip, to the expanded Busking For CHANGE stages at Osheaga and Supercrawl, Jackson Triggs Roostock, all the way to the newly re-located War Child Lounge at Rifflandia our summer was nothing short of impressive.  I can’t even begin to express how thankful I am to all of the artists and festivals we worked with in the summer of 2011 and can’t wait for all of our involvements in 2012.  My travel mug and sunscreen are already packed and ready to go, oh and for the record I will never say no to a soy latte. 

Chelsea Lloyd
Pledge and Donor Relations Officer

Two of our most fun - and successful - fundraising events in 2011 happened thanks to stellar volunteers who invested considerable time and effort! Jonathan Kerr, Christy Wagner and a team of their family and friends organized an entire golf tournament in May. Such an immense amount of work resulted in a great turnout and an achieved fundraising target. Personally, it was reaffirming to witness such passion for War Child’s work, and has perhaps led to my nascent appreciation for the game.

James Topham
Director, Communications and Marketing

As in every year, my War Child highlight of 2011 was our continued relationship with john st, our pro bono communications partners. john st are part of the fabric of War Child. Founded within a year of us, we've grown up together.  Over those years, john st has encouraged and pushed us to be bold and brave and in doing so have helped us define who we are and what we stand for.  john st's promise is to be unignorable - I hope some of that has rubbed off on us. In 2011 they helped us relaunch our website, develop a house style and better define our core messaging. Not a bad year!

Nikki Whaites
Senior Manager, International Programs

As one of the most recent additions to War Child Canada, favorite memory of 2011 was getting hired in October! War Child is full of enthusiastic, fun and dedicated people, both in Canada and overseas, who immediately made me feel welcome. My first few months have been spent mostly learning – learning about War Child programs, vision, history, goals and, most importantly, learning about the lives and stories of the children and youth for whom we all work.

Categories: From The Field, Culture, Get Informed,
Tags: 2011, art barrage, aucayd, congo, damien hirst, john st., osheaga, rootstock, sierra leone,

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