Our Supporters
SOS FED recognizes that our work would be impossible without a dedicated network of supporters. Below, you will find information and websites of all of our current supporters. We thank you all for your continual support of SOS FED's work in Eastern DRC.
The Advocacy Project (AP) is a nongovernmental organization based in Washington, DC, with a field office in Kampala, Uganda. AP secured non-profit status in July 2001. Their mission is to produce social change by helping marginalized communities claim their rights. This is done by partnering with advocates that represent these communities. They believe strongly that change is best achieved by those who are most directly affected. AP engages partners directly through its fellowship program, which recruits graduate students from North America and Europe (Peace Fellows) to volunteer with AP’s partners.
The second phase of AP’s support involves helping partners to develop information tools. Finally, we help partners to develop campaigns, through fundraising and outreach. By the end of this process, partners should be making inroads into the cause of disempowerment. This, to AP, is the start of social change. AP’s model of support for partners is explained in the following pages and in the section on services.
SOS FED's current campaign with AP: 2010-"Creating A culture of Rape Prevention".
The German Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (Zivik)
The Zivik Programme, which is based in Berlin and forms part of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (IFA), advises non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the German Federal Foreign Office on civilian conflict resolution. The Zivik team promotes, documents and evaluates projects implemented in crisis regions throughout the world. The programme is financed through funding provided by the German Foreign Office. Through its role as an intermediary between state and non-state actors since since 2001, IFA and its Zivik Programme have been making a key contribution to expanding the field of civil conflict resolution. The programme also serves to put into practice the Federal Government’s Action Plan on "Civilian Crisis Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding," which was adopted in 2004.
The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation
Since its inception, The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation has committed more than $30 million in grants to a broad spectrum of non-profit institutions dedicated to education, human rights, community building, arts and humanities, child advocacy, health initiatives and the environment.
The Foundation is guided by the shared values, concerns and passions of the Diller-von Furstenberg family: Barry Diller, Diane von Furstenberg, Tatiana von Furstenberg and Alexander von Furstenberg. As its central goal, the Foundation aims to positively impact the world by improving people’s lives and strengthening communities. To achieve this objective, the Foundation supports organizations which either provide people opportunities for which they would not otherwise have access, or which sustainably improve a community as a whole.
Vital Voices Global Partnership
Vital Voices' mission is to identify, invest in and bring visibility to extraordinary women around the world by unleashing their leadership potential to transform lives and accelerate peace and prosperity in their communities.
Vital Voices Global Partnership is the preeminent non-governmental organization (NGO) that identifies, trains, and empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe, enabling them to create a better world for us all. They are at the forefront of international coalitions to combat human trafficking and other forms of violence against women and girls. They enable women to become change agents in their governments, advocates for social justice, and supporters of democracy and the rule of law. They equip women with management, business development, marketing, and communications skills to expand their enterprises, help to provide for their families, and create jobs in their communities.
Their international staff and team of over 1,000 partners, pro bono experts and leaders,including senior government, corporate and NGO executives, have trained and mentored more than 8,000 emerging women leaders from over 127 countries in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East since 1997. These women have returned home to train and mentor more than 500,000 additional women and girls in their communities. They are the Vital Voices of our time.
SOS FED Executive Director Marceline Kongolo was the recipient of the 2009 Vital Voices 'Fern Holland Award' for her contributions to peace in Eastern DRC and her tireless efforts on behalf of struggling women and girls in DRC.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Since 2009, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been instrumental in giving voice to SOS FED's work abroad, notably through a series of lectures given by SOS FED Executive Director Marceline Kongolo at various venues on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. This lecture series and awareness raising opportunity was organized at the university by the Gender and International Policy Research Center, Women’s Studies Research Center, Transnational Applied Research in Gender Equity Training project, African Studies Program, Human Rights Initiative, Division of International Studies, the Harvey Goldberg Center, and the Center for Interdisciplinary French Studies.
In addition, through the University of Wisconsin-Madison's George L. Mosse Program in History, SOS FED employee Ned Meerdink recieved much needed financial support covering part of his time working for SOS FED in DRC from 2007 to the present.
Since 2008, AFRICaide has supported SOS FED's work through fundraising, awareness-raising events, and direct support to SOS FED's development and education work in Eastern DRC. Founded by Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, AFRICaide also supports rural development programs and clinics in Cameroon.
N.B. Organizations seeking to contribute to SOS FED's work in any way please Contact Us.