About Us
GLOWA is a child-focused non-profit NGO with special consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Our mission is to combat child exploitation in Cameroon through education and training.
Founded by survivors for survivors, GLOWA leverages the experiences of its members to break the cycle of child exploitation. We aim to protect current children from abuse and exploitation, build abuse-resistant communities, and foster a culture of respect for human rights, particularly for children and women. Our efforts target the systemic abuses faced by the most vulnerable.
It is important to highlight that Children represent 49% of the total population of Cameroon. With an average of 4.8 children per woman, the population is expected to reach almost 34 million people by 2035 (Institut national de la Statistique – INS 2023). Of the current 26.7 million inhabitants, nearly 60 percent of the population lives in urban areas compared to rural areas (40.5 per cent). Among the persisting challenges children are facing, in 2023, is their overall vulnerability with almost one out of two children living in poverty (MICS 2014).
Central to our interventions is GLOWAHaus, our Healing and Empowerment Facility. It offers modular recovery programs that combine soft skills and hard skills for sustainable healing and economic empowerment. We provide transitional shelter support through an integrated community program and have plans for a dedicated long-term facility. GLOWAHaus is designed to shift program participants’ mindsets from victimhood and dependency to survival and independence.
Our Counter-exploitation Resource Centre acts as a think tank, facilitating research, developing insights and intelligence on child exploitation in Cameroon, and generating data to guide GLOWA’s activities.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create safe spaces for child exploitation survivors to learn, flourish, and grow. Through survivor-driven, survivor-informed, and locally-led initiatives, GLOWA stands against child exploitation in Cameroon and globally. We transform survivor experiences into tools for engagement, empowering communities through education, training, and sustainable interventions.
Our Vision
GLOWA aims to create safe communities where children can thrive to their fullest potential, free from exploitation.