| Founder(s) | Bobby Bailey, Laren Poole, Jason Russell |
|---|---|
| Type | Non-profit Organization |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Location | United States, Uganda |
| Origins | San Diego, CA |
| Key people | Ben Keesey, Laren Poole, Jason Russell |
| Area served | Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda |
| Mission | Invisible Children uses film, creativity and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony's rebel war and restore LRA-affected communities in Central Africa to peace and prosperity.[1] |
| Revenue | $13,765,177 (2011)[2] |
| Motto | Do More Than Just Watch |
| Website | http://www.invisiblechildren.com |
Invisible Children, Inc. is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization seeking to draw attention to the atrocities committed by Joseph Kony and the rebel force known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa. Invisible Children uses film to raise awareness of the abductions and the forcing of children to become soldiers. Primarily youth-driven, Invisible Children creates effective and adaptive programs on the ground in Central Africa that focus on rehabilitation, education, and micro-economic development.[3]
Contents |
In 2003, three young filmmakers traveled to Africa to document the genocide in Darfur but instead uncovered a conflict that shocked them and compelled them to take action. What resulted was a documentary, Invisible Children, about an ongoing war originated in northern Uganda. The film depicts the atrocities of the LRA, a rebel group that had been abducting children to fill its ranks and terrorizing the people of northern Uganda with impunity and little to no international media attention.
Through the stories of Ugandan youth whose lives were defined by violence and fear, young people across various countries took on the task of sharing the story of Joseph Kony’s child soldiers with the world. In 2005, Invisible Children, Inc. was officially registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit.
Invisible Children’s initiatives include a twice-a-year film tour, cross-platform media campaigns, and grassroots awareness events. Under the guidance of their Ugandan friend and mentor, Jolly Okot, Invisible Children developed educational and micro-finance initiatives in Uganda.
Recently, Invisible Children has expanded its operations to address the needs of the most recent victims of LRA violence. The LRA is now killing, mutilating, and abducting civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan. The Invisible Children Protection Plan seeks to ensure security and stability in the region while simultaneously providing accurate data on LRA movement and calling for international action.[4]
With the aim of raising the profile of the LRA threat and Invisible Children’s work on the ground, the organization has launched several campaigns and advocacy events since its founding.
The Global Night Commute (GNC) was Invisible Children's first advocacy event. The GNC took place on April 29, 2006 in 7 countries. Youth from around the world walked to city centers and spent the night in parks to show support for "night commuters," children in northern Ugandan who walked miles to city centers to avoid abduction.[5]The event was one of the biggest Africa-focused demonstrations in the U.S. 80,000 people participated in approximately 126 U.S. cities.
Displace Me was a nationwide event that took place on April 28, 2007. In 15 cities across the United States, 68,000 individuals came together to raise awareness about the situation of the displacement camps in northern Uganda.
The event had three main goals:
In 2009, Invisible Children’s third international awareness event occurred in 100 cities across 10 countries. 85,000 participants would symbolically "abduct" themselves, spend the night in a public place, and request to be "rescued" by a celebrity or a member of the media.[7] The ultimate goal was to attain the attention of government officials, and direct it towards legislation that would make stopping the LRA and rescuing child soldiers a priority. [8] Notable “Rescuers” included US Rep. John Lewis, Kristen Bell, Kirsten Dunst, Sen. James Inhofe, and director Tom Shadyac. The event was covered by 40 media outlets including CNN Intl, MTV, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
In 2009, 2,000 constituents from more than 350 congressional districts in 46 states lobbied their senators and representatives to support the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, making it the largest-ever lobbying event on sub-Saharan Africa. The event was coordinated by Invisible Children and two of its partner organizations, Resolve Uganda and The Enough Project.[9]
On November 18, 2009, Invisible Children held the Hometown Shakedown. Invisible Children asked its supporters to attend meetings with their local government representatives about co-sponsoring the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. [10] As a result of the Hometown Shakedown, 15 members of Congress added their support to the Bill within 48 hours. Eventually, 64 Senators and 164 Representatives cosponsored the Bill.
In 2010, before the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act was signed, Sen. Tom Couburn of Oklahoma placed a hold on the bill, blocking its passage under the rules of “unanimous consent.” Invisible Children teamed up with Resolve Uganda to host the “Oklahoma Hold Out,” which gained local press coverage and put pressure on Sen. Coburn’s staff to negotiate a solution to the legislative impasse. In late February 2010, dozens of activists held out for 11 days--262 hours--outside the Oklahoma City office of Sen. Coburn until a compromise was reached on March 9 that allowed the bill to pass unanimously in the Senate later that week.
Passed by Congress on May 13, 2010, the Bill aims to disarm the LRA by removing the top commanders from the battlefield and allocating money to the region's recovery. In November 2010, six months after its passage, President Obama provided Congress with his comprehensive strategy to help stop the violence perpetrated by the LRA and rebuild affected communities. It is entitled the “Strategy to Support the Disarmament of the Lord’s Resistance Army.”
Book Drive is a partnership with Better World Books in which proceeds from used-book sales raise money to renovate schools and provide scholarships to students in Uganda. When a person buys books from www.betterworldbooks.com/invisiblechildren, 10% of the order goes to Invisible Children. [11]
The organization's founding was catalyzed by “Invisible Children,” the documentary that the founders filmed and edited in 2003. Media has continued to play a core role at Invisible Children. Invisible Children uses a variety of artistic, creative platforms to communicate, in captivating and relevant ways, both its mission and the untold stories of individuals in Central Africa.
| Film | Release | Director(s) | Bracelet Color |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Rough Cut | 2004 | Bobby Bailey | N/A |
| Innocent: The Story of a Night Commuter | 2005 | N/A | White |
| Grace: The Story of a Child Mother | 2006 | Danica Russell, Vanessa Contopulos, Noelle Jouglet, Katie Bradel | Green |
| Emmy: The Story of an Orphan | 2006 | Bobby Bailey | Red |
| Sunday: The Story of a Displaced Child | 2007 | Bobby Bailey | Black |
| Go | 2008 | Laren Poole | N/A |
| Roseline: The Story of an AIDS Victim | 2008 | Jason Russell | Blue |
| Together We Are Free | 2009 | Jason Russell | N/A |
| The Rescue | 2009 | Jason Russell | Grey |
| Tony | 2010 | Jason Russell | Brown |
In the country of Uganda, the government pays for school through elementary only, and many families cannot afford for their children to continue through secondary school or university.
In 2005, the Legacy Scholarship Program was started, providing Ugandan students in the Gulu, Amuru, and Pader districts with fully paid, merit-based scholarships to secondary school and university as well as mentoring from a community leader. The three main goals of the Legacy Scholarship Program, as outlined on Invisible Children's website, are to: increase access to post-primary education, improve learning environments, and provide mentoring from local leaders.[12]
Students are accepted into the program based on their academic performance and level of vulnerability. Roughly 750 students have received scholarships through the program. The awarding of a scholarship is determined by community leaders, who take into account academic performance as well as level of vulnerability, including those who are orphans, heads of household, former abductees, child mothers, and those who are HIV/AIDS positive.
One way scholarships are funded is through a recurring donations program.
Schools for Schools (S4S) is a program in which over 1,000 schools in the United States raise money for the rehabilitation of 11 war-affected partner schools in northern Uganda.
The money raised goes towards rebuilding and refurbishing Ugandan partner schools in five main categories: water and sanitation, infrastructure and facilities, teacher training and incentives, equipment and resources, and technology.
At the end of each competition season, one student from each of the top fundraising schools is awarded a trip to Uganda to see how the money they helped raise will be used. [13]
The Bracelet Campaign was Invisible Children's first economic initiative. It was started to give employment opportunities to individuals living in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Camps. Women without other means of income made reed bracelets in the local style. These women were also offered savings and investment training. The program was discontinued in 2009 as displaced communities began returning home.
Each of the bracelet colors represent the story a Ugandan child. The bracelet is sold with a short documentary film highlighting that child's story of overcoming hardship. [14]
Economic training in budget management, savings, and investment. The program was created by Invisible Children to provide individuals in IDP camps with the skills to manage their small incomes. [15]
Former bracelet makers who were able to move back home from IDP camps manage the Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA). Comprised of 50 groups of approximately 20 members each, the VSLA acts as a community bank, assisting VSLA members with financial issues and providing them with the tools to save money, earn interest, and gain access to capital to start small businesses. After Invisible Children's initial training in financial principals and the VSLA structure, groups operate on their own, allowing members to control their own money. [16]
The Mend program began in 2007 as a development program that would provide employment for women who were marginalized within their own communities.[17] The 12 women currently employed by Mend are former abductees, often used in captivity as sex slaves, and were at some point child-mothers. They produce handcrafted bags that carry the name and story of the seamstress who made it. Each bag includes a link to a video about the seamstress who made that bag. In the words of Invisible Children, the "bags [are] designed to seam a personal connection between products, their makers and consumers." [18] The seamstresses are also provided lessons in health, literacy, numeracy, savings, and investments.[19]
Drafted under the Congo Initiative, this strategy has five primary objectives: (1) Protection of communities by expanding community-based early warning systems, (2) Encouraging LRA defection by reaching reach out to potential defectors and affected communities through FM radio, (3) Providing rehabilitation and family reunification through a new rehabilitation center, (4) Providing post-conflict recovery through education initiatives, and 5) Promoting the arrest of Joseph Kony and his top leadership through advocacy.[20]
The program brings 30-40 secondary-school teachers from abroad to teach and interact with Ugandan teachers for six weeks each summer.[21] Invisible Children sent six Ugandan teachers to the U.S. for a reciprocal exchange in 2009. The goal is for the program to help bring northern Ugandan classrooms to a competitive standard with the rest of the country as well as to encourage both groups to expand their skill sets.
Invisible Children has participated in more than 25 national music tours, has been the beneficiary of music festivals, maintains official partnerships with a number of music publications, and continues to feature new music in all documentary films.
Invisible Children Music teams up with various artists who, through their music, spread awareness of war-affected individuals in Central Africa and give their fans tangible ways to help. These Artist Ambassadors include Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Mumford & Sons, Switchfoot, Yellowcard, Cobra Starship, Brett Dennen, Frightened Rabbit, and more.
In 2011 as part of Invisible Children’s Frontline Tour, Invisible Children Music, in partnership with The Voice Project, launched the Musician Coalition.[22] The campaign unites musicians from all genres with their fans to raise $100,000 for Invisible Children’s Protection Plan to build radio towers in Central Africa. Artists supporting the Musician Coalition include Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, All Time Low, Thrice, David Archuletta, and more.
Invisible Children merchandise has been highlighted in magazines such as ELLE[23], InStyle[24] and Teen Vogue. Invisible Children also collaborates with other fashion brands to spread the story of LRA-affected individuals. Brand collaborations include: Levi’s, Guess?[25], Billabong[26][27], PacSun[28], Jedidiah[29], Warby Parker Eyewear [30][31], and Apolis[32].
In November 2011, a Foreign Affairs article reproached Invisible Children and some of its partner organizations for "manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders and emphasizing the LRA's use of innocent children as soldiers, and portraying Kony -- a brutal man, to be sure -- as uniquely awful, a Kurtz-like embodiment of evil.”[33]
One of Invisible Children’s partner organizations addressed this blanket accusation as a "serious charge...published with no accompanying substantiation."[34]
Invisible Children has also drawn criticism from organizations which rank and evaluate charities. Charity Navigator, a non-profit organization dedicated to "intelligent giving"[35] gave Invisible Children two out of four stars and a rating of 47.15 out of a possible score of 100. [36] In the same report, Charity Navigator gave Invisible Children one star in the area of Accountability and Transparency.[37]
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) noted in its report: "[Invisible Children] did not provide requested information. As a result, the Better Business Bureau cannot determine if it meets standards."[38] The BBB further noted that, "Despite written BBB Wise Giving Alliance requests in the past year, this organization either has not responded to Alliance requests for information or has declined to be evaluated in relation to the Alliance’s Standards for Charity Accountability."[39]