The Nukanti Foundation is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to investing in education, empowerment and leadership skills, and hope for youth in communities affected by conflict and poverty. We believe that these children and young people have the capacity to change their own lives for the better, and it is our role to nurture this process. NFC works alongside the children and young people by addressing core emotional issues and trauma, helping to transform them into responsible individuals and productive members of their community, and empowering them to make positive decisions about their futures. The children we work with come from backgrounds of war, abject poverty, family breakdown and abuse - both verbal and physical. Many of them live and work in the streets and have little or no access to formal education, resorting to substance abuse as a means of escaping the cold and hunger which pervade their daily lives. The effects of war are devastating for both young people and their communities. Youth are deprived of health care, social stability and nutrition in the most critical years of their development; and where there is prolonged conflict; children are denied years of formal education. Of all of the rights most crucial to the wellbeing of a child, the right to peace and security is paramount. Without this most basic need, a child's future is often bleak and without hope.