FORGE Program
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FORGE (FORGE stands for Facilitating Opportunities for Refugee Growth and Empowerment) is a 501(c)3, non-profit, non-governmental organization geared towards aiding refugees in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as raising public awareness about pressing global issues related to refugees. The organization utilizes a volunteer workforce made primarily of Western university students. Its stated goal is to utilize "youth as catalysts for social change" in order to "educate, empower, and enrich the lives of refugees" and to "advocate for solutions to problems that face refugees worldwide". The focus of the group is on African refugees, usually those who have fled the violence of the Great Lakes region in the past decade.
FORGE is unique in its approach to issues on the African continent by focusing on refugees and partnering them with westerners to create resource-rich (from the west), locally-tailored (from the refugees), culturally-sensitive educational & empowering projects. The projects are designed to offer refugees the skills they will need to rebuild when they return to their home countries.
FORGE was founded in 2003 by the then-twenty-year-old Stanford University undergraduate student, Kjerstin Erickson after three trips to Africa. FORGE was subsequently able to raise $80,000 USD in 2004, $189,000 in 2005, and $290,000 in 2006. FORGE is an Operating Partner of the United Nations, operating under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
FORGE is largely made up of North Americans, primarily American university students, in addition to a former program in British Columbia, Canada. FORGE is split into two subdivisions: the FORGE Camp Operations Program which every year sends around 30 Project Facilitators to refugee camps in Africa. FORGE Camp Operations has programs in Meheba, Mwange, and Kala) (all in Zambia) and a former camp in Botswana, (Dukwi). The other division of the group is FORGE Domestic Operations, which is concerned primarily with raising awareness in the West, particularly the United States, about global issues and attempts to promote a sustainable society. FORGE Domestic Operations organizes and operates the activities of FORGE's Real Refuge Campaign.
