EMpower Awards More Than $900,000 in Grants

Posted 23 June 2021 in EMpower News   |   Share

At the final grants meeting of the 2021 fiscal year, EMpower and its US Board recently approved $906,500 in 17 grants to grantee partners in emerging market countries. For the first time, several of the grants awarded were multiyear, which will reduce transactional costs and allow our partners to focus on strategic initiatives, organisational growth, and implementing their programmes.

COVID-19 continues to devastate many of the countries where we work, and our grantee partners are working hard to meet the needs of young people and their communities under the direst circumstances. Many organisations have pivoted to meet the basic needs of their communities and come up with new ways to reach marginalized groups, especially and including adolescent girls. We remain ready to help and support our partners in the difficult days ahead and have offered maximum flexibility in our grantmaking.

Highlights from this latest round of grants include:

• We will be awarding a final sunset grant to long-time Colombian grantee partner CEDECUR. These funds ($95,000 for 24 months) will provide institutional support and resources for their life skills and career training and job placement programme. In a country that has seen a doubling of its unemployment rate, such programmes are critical right now.

• We are excited to welcome two new partners from Latin America: Instituto Precise Ser/Vai na Web in Brazil and Interculturalidad Salud y Derechos A.C. (INSADE) in Mexico.

• Our first grant to Instituto Precise Ser/Vai na Web ($40,000 for 12 months) will help 120 marginalised young people improve their prospects through life and vocational skills training, mentoring, and access to job placement support. By the end of the training, participants will become front-end programmers and will be ready to join Brazil’s rapidly growing software development sector.

• Our first grant to INSADE ($20,000 for 12 months) will help 100 young people in trouble with the law increase their knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equity and help them develop core life skills.

Following are the other grants approved:

Urban Agriculture Network, Ghana ($115,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s fifth grant to Urban Agriculture Network will help address the long-lasting effects of the pandemic. Urbanet will offer refresher trainings on: shea butter processing, animal health management, and digital marketing. The grant will also support the organisation as it develops a strategic plan and a fundraising strategy.

Redes da Mare, Brazil ($90,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s third grant to Redes da Mare will enable 200 vulnerable adolescents to receive the support they need to improve their academic performance, graduate from middle school, and successfully transition to high school. Adolescents will also develop core life skills and receive comprehensive sexuality education and gender equity training.

Melel Xojobal, Mexico ($90,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s sixth grant to Melel Xojobal will help indigenous young people—especially very young adolescents—lead safe and healthy lives. The programme will enable young people to develop core life skills and prevent school drop-out and gender-based violence.

GENDES A.C., Mexico ($40,000 USD for 12 months)

EMpower’s fourth grant to GENDES will support an intervention in local schools for very young adolescents to learn about sexual and reproductive health and rights, prevent violence, and provide them with mental health care.

Hong Kong Unison, Hong Kong ($75,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s fourth grant to Hong Kong Unison will focus on a highly marginalised community of young people: ethnic minorities. The programme will provide job training to young people ages 15–19 from ethnic minority communities, helping them achieve their career goals.

Passerelles Numeriques, Philippines ($83,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s fourth grant to Passerelles Numeriques, renowned for its vocational training, will co-fund an IT training programme—enabling young people to develop essential computer literacy and technical skills.

Solidaridad Internacional Kanda A.C., Villa de Zachilla, Mexico ($94,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s seventh grant to SiKanda will help nearly 700 young people increase their knowledge about violence (especially gender-based violence) and sexual and reproductive health and rights. SiKanda will involve parents, teachers, and local authorities in violence prevention and gender equity training.

Karm Marg, Delhi, India ($30,000 USD for 12 months)

EMpower’s second grant to Karm Marg will enable 43 young people between ages 10-24 to stay in school. The programme will also train young people to become “aspirational peer teachers” in math and science and equip them to engage in income-generating activities.

Bharat Memorial Charitable Trust (NeeV), Delhi, India ($28,000 USD for 12 months)

EMpower’s second grant to NeeV will provide academic and non-academic support to 200 young people, especially adolescent girls, encouraging them to pursue STEM in their higher education and careers. This grant will also support NeeV in responding to COVID, helping them provide mental health support, dry rations, medicines, and masks for children and their families.

Chehak Charitable Trust, Mumbai, India ($32,000 USD for 12 months)

EMpower’s second grant to Chehak Trust (Sahyog) will enable them to strengthen their pilot project. They will be embedding gender in their work by expanding opportunities for young women through English language and STEM training and enhancing the capabilities and knowledge of staff and volunteers.

Nirantar, Delhi, India ($22,000 USD for 12 months)

EMpower’s grant will support Nirantar in responding to COVID, serving 360 families. The organisation will be able to continue to build their capacity and networks through a knowledge partnership with EMpower. They will also be building the capacity of field staff of partner organisations and supporting young women leaders in the community.

Pragatee Foundation (Enabling Leadership), Mumbai, India ($21,000 USD for 12 months)

EMpower’s grant to Enabling Leadership will support the organisation in building the resilience of young people and providing mental health care for youth and staff members and volunteers.

PUKAR, Mumbai, India ($23,000 USD for 12 months)

EMpower’s grant to PUKAR will help them continue their work providing mental health care and COVID relief to 300 adolescent girls and young women, along with 100 adolescent boys, and their parents.

Centro de Promocion y Defensa de los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos (PROMSEX), Madre de Dios, Peru ($8,500 USD for 12 months)

EMpower’s emergency grant to PROMSEX will help address the challenges posed by the pandemic. The grant will fund academic support and training on sexual and gender-based violence prevention for marginalised young people. It will also enable PROMSEX to train high school teachers on how to prevent, identify, and manage cases of sexual and gender-based violence.