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Our mission
is to create a world in which deprived and vulnerable children in Egypt receive protection, love, education as well as innovative and sustainable solutions to become strong, happy and independent adults tomorrow.

213
staff in Egypt
(exclusively local staff)
3
staff in Belgium
12
volunteers
21,380
children helped until today
About us

How we achieve our mission

FACE implements a number of services to address the needs of children. FACE’s priority is to place children in a family, in society. Family reintegration is a priority and institutional placement is the last resort.

FACE runs its programs in an efficient and professional manner, conducting internal and external monitoring and evaluations in order to measure and improve its social impact.

FACE aims at ensuring quality and sustainability of its activities and therefore invests strongly in training and building the capacity of its local teams.

See Our Programs
About us

How we work

  • Strong Child Protection Policy and procedures in place
  • Projects respond to the children’s needs and are adapted to their changing lives
  • Family reintegration is a priority
  • Strong participation of children throughout project’s cycle
  • High quality of services and importance of regular staff training
  • Systematic internal and external monitoring and evaluation
  • Focus on long-term sustainability by exclusively employing Egyptian staff and capacity building
  • Cost-efficiency and financial transparency with strict internal and external controls
  • Collaboration based on trust with Egyptian authorities
  • Plays a role and shares know-how with different child protection networks
  • FACE does not aim at replacing but reinforcing existing services of the private and public sector
See Our Programs

”I held a baby in my arms and asked why he had so many wounds and scars on his face and body. I was told that he had been abandoned in the street when he was born and had been mauled by dogs and cats. It was a terrible shock, and I decided then and there that I would never give up...

FACE was born that day.

Flavia Shaw-Jackson, FACE Founder and Executive DirectorCairo, January 2003
About us

Our story

Flavia, a mother of three children, has always felt deeply affected by the suffering and distress of children in developing countries. She watched a horrifying BBC documentary on orphanages in China called “The Dying Rooms” that triggered her to take concrete actions to try and help children.

In 2003 she decided to go to Cairo to see how she could help.

After visiting numerous orphanages and slums in and around Cairo, Flavia set up meetings with local authorities, Ministries, the Egyptian Embassy in Belgium, the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood and experts in the field of young children. After months of research and preparation, she put together a report on the precise situation and drew up a plan of action.

Flavia started working with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs by upgrading two government-run orphanages with extremely poor standards and resources. The work focused on improving general conditions and staff capacity in both institutions. With her experience on the ground, she founded FACE and opened four other centers; one for abandoned babies in Maadi, and three for abandoned children in Benha and Obour.

FACE started working with street children in Cairo in 2007, following a request from the National Council of Childhood and Motherhood. After one year of exclusive outreach work, FACE rapidly developed and expanded its services to answer the needs of street children (Drop-In Center, Transitional Home, Child Friendly School, Reintegration, Trainings). FACE also requested technical support from Friends-International, an organisation with extensive experience in implementing street children support programs.

In 2014, an external evaluation highlighted that the FACE programs have become a model among child protection organisations in Egypt.

During her years of working in Egypt, Flavia became convinced that a child should not grow up in institutions and that there was a serious gap in placing children from institutions into families. It became her priority to work on improving alternative care in Egypt by proposing a national strategy, including the creation of a “National Alternative Care Unit” within the Ministry, which was approved and is now being put in place.

Today, a passionate team dedicates their lives to implement innovative projects, striving to support children by giving them love as well as reintegrating them into society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Fpns9MHmA

Moving Face