Child Protection Afghanistan Project #51330

Afghanistan

by Mobile Mini Circus for Children

Project Report | May 7, 2026
Progress Continues

By MMCC | Team

Dear Friend,

We are so proud to share that we now have a record number of active Social Circus teams in Afghanistan, and to let you know that a great deal of progress is being made despite all the challenges.

21 Female & 19 Male, 40 Social Circus Teams in Afghanistan:

We now have a record number of Social Circus Team Leaders in Afghanistan, including a record number of female team leaders. Never before have we had so many active teams across the country.

Social Circus is especially important in this new era of Afghanistan, where entertainment and joy have been drastically reduced, yet are needed more than ever, particularly for girls. Our improved expansion system now makes it easier, safer, and more efficient to create and support semi-independent integrated social circs units that are more sustainable and capable of making the impossible possible.

Performances:

Within this new decentralized system, our Herat Center is especially important, hosting activities for 3 girls’ teams and 3 boys’ teams (hundreds of girls and boys in different shifts). The center provides logistics and support for educational activities, school subjects, and various Social Circus activities, but above all, it offers a safe haven for hundreds of girls.

These teams also perform at different events and even on television. Last week, one of the female teams performed at a public school for 13,000 female students. You can see a short video of it here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/65wswoq63u1rbun49e3m9/Suriya-Herat-B-12.mp4?rlkey=blfeyvu6lj6j4rrc5r8zk0hqh&dl=0

World Circus Day:

On April 18th, all our teams celebrated World Circus Day. In many ways, it is just another day, but also the perfect excuse to remind the world, the adults, and the authorities that children do exist, and that fun is essential, especially in times of hardship. It also gave Afghan children the opportunity to celebrate together with children around the world. Mothers were invited to our center, as well as TV stations and media representatives, helping spread joy and hope to others and reminding everyone that in the worst situations, laughter and fun are among the most essential human needs.

As part of World Circus Day, there was a global poster competition, and children from one of our female teams (Khorshid Circus) won second place with their beautiful poster (attached).

Thank you so much for continuing to support our activities during a time when they are needed more than ever. Recurring monthly donations, in particular, give us the confidence and financial stability to invest more deeply in children, their joy, happiness, hope, and their future.

At the moment, we have only 25 monthly donors. We aim to increase this number to 50 in order to help guarantee continuity in bringing hope and joy to children who need it most, especially girls in Afghanistan. Sharing this report or this link within your network could help us achieve this goal: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/backtolife

Best regards

Permalink

Nov 19, 2025
37 Young Women & Men

By MMCC | Team

Dear Friend,

Seventeen young women and twenty young men are now leading Social Circus teams that bring hope, joy, and fun to thousands of children across Afghanistan. Their semi-independent Social Circus teams are in Kabul, Herat, Nuristan, Nangarhar, Helmand, Khost, Laghman, Daykundi, Ghor, Bamyan, Paktiya, Konar, Ghazni, and Zabul. Each team has its own name, logo, equipment, artists, students, weekly rehearsals, and occasional performances tailored to its local community. The teams have many different entertaining, social, cultural, and even emergency activities. On 31 August, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, causing significant damage. Some of our teams from Nuristan and Nangarhar brought their performances, workshops, and collective games to children in the Kunar earthquake area, bringing joy, laughter, and hope to ease their trauma.

As our Herat Center continues to thrive thanks to your generous support, we are now merging all our fundraisers in Afghanistan into one unified campaign to give us greater flexibility. Our Herat Center is now more active and vibrant than ever before. Together with our dedicated staff and the children, the center has expanded to host new activities for returnees. Over one million Afghans have been forced to return from Iran under extremely harsh conditions in the last few months. Among them are many children who were born in Iran and have never lived in Afghanistan. They arrive not only traumatized by the journey but also fearful of what awaits them in an unfamiliar homeland. Our Social Circus teams warmly welcome these children with performances, collective games, and fun workshops.

Thanks to your generous support, we have been able to mobilize the resources of our Herat Center to take on an emergency project for 625 families. This new initiative, financed separately by the Danish Emergency Relief Fund (DERF), is possible only because the center and its team are already in place. Through the project, our team carefully identified and supported the 625 families most in need of financial support while also ensuring that their children are connected with our activities.

Our teams use every opportunity to reach and uplift children, whether performing in the park or even in a mosque where mothers gather with their daughters for registration and surveys. To go further, we have now created a special new Social Circus team dedicated to returnee children, helping them make friends, play, and find comfort among other Afghan kids.

Your generosity makes all this possible. Thank you for bringing joy, hope, and healing to so many children in need.

Please share this report within your network to bring more attention to the fun and hope needed in Afghanistan.

Permalink

Jul 7, 2025
Roots of Resilience + Fun

By MMCC | Team

Once again, we have overcome recent challenges and are now not only back on track, but stronger and more organized than ever. After a temporary pause, all our activities have resumed, this time under a completely new system that aligns with our national network structure.

Instead of operating a single, centralized team in our Herat center, we now have four semi-independent teams (two boys' teams and two girls' teams) working in separate shifts. This structure makes it much easier to manage, monitor, and support the work, while also placing more responsibility and ownership directly in the hands of Afghan youth themselves.

These four teams, comprising 90 girls and 110 boys, function similarly to our total of 37 teams across the country. Each has its own independent Facebook page to help with promotion, transparency, and visibility (in addition to our internal reporting system). You can follow their work here:

Across all 17 provinces where we operate, our 37 teams remain highly active. In addition to social circus, they are involved in a wide range of activities, including educational theatre, school subject support, community performances, and various social service initiatives.

Right now, we are in the process of responding to an urgent humanitarian situation: many traumatized children and families are being forcibly returned from Pakistan and Iran. Our teams are deeply committed, well-prepared, and ready to assist in welcoming them home. They have successfully carried out similar emergency responses in the past, such as during the earthquake in Herat and the flooding in Ghor.

We are calling for your continued support. Any donations, connections, or sharing of this message would be deeply appreciated. With your help, we can deliver emergency aid packages and provide much-needed psychosocial support to the returning refugees, especially vulnerable children and families.

Permalink

1 2 3 4 5 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.