Welcome to GOAL

What is GOAL?

GOAL is an international humanitarian agency dedicated to alleviating the suffering of the poorest of the poor. We are a non-denominational, non-governmental and non-political organisation.

Our History:

GOAL was founded in Dublin in 1977 by former sports journalist and current Chief Executive, John O’Shea.

Since its inception, GOAL has spent in excess of €600 million on humanitarian programmes in over 50 countries. Over 1,500 GOALies and many thousands of local staff have worked in the developing world on GOAL’s behalf and the organisation has responded to every major humanitarian disaster since 1977.

Where are our operations?

GOAL currently has in excess of 100 GOALies based in 11 countries: Ethiopia, Honduras, India, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Haiti.

Across GOAL’s fields of operation, 2,500 locally-based staff are employed alongside the GOALies, where together they deliver on a range of humanitarian programmes. GOALies come from all walks of life: accountants, nurses, doctors, nutritionists, logisticians, engineers, administrative personnel, and so on.

What exactly does GOAL do?

GOAL’s emergency response:
In the event of a humanitarian crisis, the primary focus of our emergency response teams is to get life-saving assistance as soon as possible to those directly affected and most in need. We ensure as far as possible that they are provided with the basic requirements of life: water, food, shelter, medicine and necessary healthcare.

GOAL’s Rehabilitation and Development programmes:
Once an emergency situation begins to improve, GOAL will initiate whatever rehabilitation programmes are needed. We work where possible with communities and local NGOs on fixed water sites and sanitation projects, and on food distribution and healthcare programmes. If required, we will start to (re-) build roads, bridges, houses, schools, hospitals and healthcare clinics.

GOAL is involved across many countries in longer-term development programmes relating to health, nutrition, education and capacity-building within local communities. Besides implementing its own programmes, GOAL often works with partner organisations and missionary groups who have similar objectives. GOAL aims to reduce a community’s level of dependency by training local personnel so that programmes can continue after GOAL leaves an area.

GOAL Street Children programmes:
GOAL has a street children project in Calcutta from 1977, where the organisation has been instrumental in rescuing more than 70,000 Indian youngsters from lives of abject misery and degradation. Currently GOAL along with locally-based partners has Street Children projects in Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Honduras.

Key elements of GOAL’s Street Children programmes are the provision of food, shelter and healthcare, and the raising of awareness of children’s fundamental rights. Street children also receive counselling, education and training from GOAL.

Where possible, GOAL aims for the re-integration of children back into their families, and into mainstream education and wider society.

Click here to read about GOAL’s Fight Against HIV and Aids.