Education Programs
“Animal welfare education is the key to creating a kinder, more compassionate world for animals.”
– Liz Shafiroff, Founder & President of Global Strays
Global Strays’ humane education workshops engage youth with a unique curriculum, teaching the foundations of animal welfare. Our shelter partners saw a great need for animal welfare knowledge in the underserved communities surrounding their shelters. As a result, Global Strays education program was born, to foster better relationships between community members and animals.
Global Strays believes that education is the best way to cultivate long-lasting change. Our full-day workshops engage youth in informative lessons and creative projects that follow themes around animal welfare teachings. Our curriculum continuously expands to address the educational needs that our local staff observe in their communities, while considering the broader cultural environment. We focus on fostering positive relationships between children and animals.
The Five Freedoms
Freedom From Hunger and Thirst
Freedom From Discomfort
Freedom From pain, injury, or disease
Freedom to express normal behavior
Freedom From Fear and Distress
We use these principles as a starting point, but we don’t teach them as abstract ideas. Instead, children explore what each freedom looks like in real life: how often a dog needs clean water, what proper shelter protects against, which foods can harm an animal, and how fear or stress shows up in behavior. They also begin to understand the deeper freedoms, that animals need space to move, play, and express natural behaviors, not just survive.
Through hands-on activities, students connect these concepts to their own experiences, helping them understand not just what animals need, but why it matters. The goal is simple: when children recognize that animals feel and depend on us, they begin to treat them differently.
Liberia
Global Strays has partnered with Liberian Animal Welfare and Conservation Society (LAWCS) to bring a groundbreaking, youth-focused animal education program for the first time ever into Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. According to our partners in Liberia, domestic animals are often severely mistreated, neglected and even, by some, considered a source of food. The concept of animals as companions, and providing pets with basic necessities such as shelter, is truly brand new. Our education program is the first and only program of its kind in Monrovia, and is the key to ending animal cruelty.
Nicaragua & Colombia
Global Strays first began its education program in Nicaragua when our partner shelter observed animal cruelty from children in the community. Using a custom made curriculum created for the specific needs of the regions we work in, Global Strays’ workshops teach The Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare. The success of the first program in Nicaragua inspired a similar program in Bogota, Colombia, as well as our third, recently launched program in Liberia.