Grants totaling $453,000 approved at EMpower’s Fall Grants Meeting in London!

Posted 12 December 2019 in EMpower News, Grantee Partner News   |   Share

The first EMpower grants meeting of FY2020 was held in London on December 9th. 8 grants were approved by the Committee totaling $453,000. A special thanks to the strong participation of some of our newest Underwriters! Of note at the meeting:

- Biggest UK grantmaking budget ever to enable organizations to bolster organizational capacity;

- Continuing our growing focus on multi-year grants awarded to our partners;

- A sunset grant for longtime partner Amandla EduFootball was approved!

The following grants were approved in the meeting:

Challenging Heights, Ghana (12 months, $45,000): EMpower’s 8th grant to Challenging Heights will train 50 young people in shoemaking, formalize its non-traditional livelihoods curriculum and secure additional resources to maintain and further expand its non-traditional livelihoods work. Challenging Heights will also strengthen its monitoring and evaluation systems by employing a Monitoring & Evaluation manager and assistant who will develop and implement a new Monitoring & Evaluation system.

Amandla EduFootball, South Africa (12 months, $35,000): EMpower’s 7th grant to Amandla Edufootball will help develop, pilot and integrate a new framework to strengthen the organization’s ability to provide much needed psychosocial support to the young people it works with across their Safe-Hubs.

The Sozo Foundation Trust, South Africa (24 months, $91,000): EMpower’s 5th grant to The Sozo Foundation Trust will support its after-school tutoring (including general academic support and specialized maths/science/language tutoring, mentorship, counselling, nutritious meals, IT training and career inspiring initiatives) to 210 disadvantaged secondary school students.

YUVA, Turkey (12 months, $50,500): EMpower’s 3rd grant to YUVA will support the delivery of a program for 800 children and youth; Syrian and local (Turkish) (11-19 years of age) to improve access to education, and promote well-being and livelihoods. As a result, children and youth will benefit from basic education courses (Turkish, Math and Science), Computer Classes, and Psychosocial Support Workshops on developing core life skills, social skills and healthy living practices.

Association for the Struggle Against Sexual Violence (CSMD), Turkey (12 months, $24,000): Sexual violence poses a risk to youth, especially girls and young women. EMpower’s 2nd grant to CSMD will expand provision of information on preventing sexual violence and other related healthy relationships topics (for ~1450 youth ages 15-24); via workshops mainly in Istanbul. CSMD will also initiate public awareness campaigns, update and expand training content, and capture experiences from the field to prepare policy suggestions for educational materials and lesson plans.

Fundación Tiempo de Juego (TdJ), Colombia (24 months, $81,500): EMpower’s 6th grant to TdJ will support the organization to continue implementing its successful Schools in Action program for 2,080 marginalized youth between the ages of 14 and 17, and 82 teachers from 10 public schools in the neighbourhoods of Cazucá, La Lucha and Timbiquí, which have some of the highest rates of inequality and marginalization in Colombia. Major issues affecting young people in these neighbourhoods include drug abuse, domestic violence, early pregnancy, and gang recruitment. TdJ’s program addresses these issues by promoting social cohesion, violence reduction and improved learning among at-risk young people. Specifically, the program strengthens the pedagogical abilities of teachers and equips students with important life skills and information on gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Fundación Alvaralice, Colombia (24 months, $61,500): EMpower’s 2nd grant to Alvaralice will help the organization continue implementing its flagship livelihoods program in three of Cali’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods: Potrero Grande, Siloé and Altos de Menga. Youth in these neighbourhoods face high unemployment rates and high teenage pregnancy levels. Alvaralice’s livelihoods program will benefit 320 marginalized youth between the ages of 18 and 24, improving their employability prospects through life and technical skills training, and through psychosocial and job placement support. The program will specifically target young women (78 percent of program participants), as they face significantly higher unemployment rates.

Associação ChildrensAid (Onda Solidaria), Brazil (24 months, $64,500): EMpower’s 7th grant to Onda Solidaria will benefit 640 vulnerable youth aged 10 to 24 (356 female and 284 male) from the marginalized rural community of Santana do Deserto, Minas Gerais. Santana do Deserto is a small rural town of 4,000 people, where drug, alcohol abuse, early pregnancy and high levels of youth unemployment are common. Program participants will improve their life skills and increase their knowledge sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equity, drug use/abuse prevention, and bullying. The grant will also help strengthen Onda Solidaria’s fundraising capacity.