International Day of the Girl Child

In honor of yesterday’s first annual International Day of the Girl Child, we wanted to highlight a few of TisBest’s charity partners who are working hard every day to improve the lives of girls all over the world. In the past 12 months, TisBest Charity Gift Card spenders have directed nearly $16,000 to the four charities listed below. These charity dollars change lives. We are constantly amazed at the number of gift card purchasers who choose to give the gift of good over a gift of more stuff, and we are honored to support gift card spenders in selecting the charities that receive the funds. Take a look at these four charities and see how your charitable contributions have helped make a difference.
CARE
CARE’s mission is to serve individuals and families in some of the poorest countries in the world. CARE places a special focus on supporting women. CARE understands that equipping women with the proper resources gives them the ability to help their entire community escape from poverty. CARE says, “Women are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of disease, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources.”
CARE posted a press release yesterday celebrating progress in their efforts to help end child marriage. From the release:

“Secretary Clinton unveiled the initiatives to combat early marriage and promote girls education Wednesday with top leaders, including South African Archbishop and founder of The Elders Desmond Tutu. The announcement came on the eve of today’s International Day of the Girl, the United Nation’s first day dedicated to raising awareness about the challenges girls and adolescents face.
…By 2030, there will be an estimated 15.1 million child brides marrying each year, up from 14.2 million in 2010, according to a report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released today. In many of the world’s poorest countries, girls are more likely to marry before the age of 18 than finish secondary school.”

Click to read the full message
ChildFund International
ChildFund works in 31 countries helping more than 13 million children and families. ChildFund “helps deprived, excluded and vulnerable children have the capacity to become young adults, parents and leaders who bring lasting and positive change in their communities.”
Yesterday ChildFund posted a story on their blog about a young girl named Jacqueline from Mesha a Choossto, Mexico who is suffering from a condition called pulmonary stenosis. ChildFund writes:

Save the Children
Save the Children in an independent organization committed to creating lasting change in the lives of children worldwide, especially in times of unexpected disaster. “When disaster strikes around the world, Save the Children is there to save lives with food, medical care and education and remains to help communities rebuild through long-term recovery programs.”
On International Day of the Girl Child, Save the Children posted this video about their Girls Voices program, and one girl in particular who is now working in her community to help prevent child marriage.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnJsqPqIZlU&w=420&h=315]
Click to read more about Save the Children’s commitment to helping girls all over the world
World Vision
World Vision is “dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.” Working in nearly 100 countries worldwide, World Vision serves close to 100 million people. World Vision has posted several stories this month highlighting issues faced by girls across the globe, including a Q & A posted today with Shapla, who narrowly escaped becoming a child bride in Bangladesh. Shapla says:

“[Seeing] no other way, I shared my situation with friends who completed the life-skills education course from World Vision, and went to Bakul, [an adult] leader, for consultation.
Later on, Ms. Bakul went to my parents and explained the physical and mental effects of early marriage on a child — and the law of the government against early marriage. My friends also took part in the discussion and requested once again to continue for me to study.
After a long argument and discussion, finally my parents and relatives realized and decided to refuse the marriage proposal.
Then, we called the groom‘s family and, in presence of Bakul and other [community] leaders, [we] forfeited the marriage. Finally, both parties came to understand and stopped the early marriage. Though it seems like a story, it happened in my life.

If you’d like to learn more about TisBest, our charity partners, and purchasing or spending a charity gift card, visit our home page at www.tisbest.org