Grants totaling $457,000 approved at EMpower’s Spring Grants Meeting in London!

Posted 03 April 2019 in EMpower News, Grantee Partner News   |   Share

The 3^rd EMpower Grants meeting of our FY2019 was held in London on 28 March. 9 grants were approved by the Grants Committee totaling $457,000. We were pleased to see some newcomers, and want to thank everyone who participated for their questions and contribution to the discussion. Of special note at the meeting:

• Two strong grantee partners (Alternativa and Sulukule Volunteers Association) received their first multi-year/Negotiated General Support (NGS) grant. NGS grants offer grantees more flexibility and cover work towards key organizational goals.
• Two sunset grants to longtime partners Asociacion Kallpa and Akshara (Front for Rapid Economic Advancement (FREA-India).
• 3 new groups from priority geographies for growth in FY19 were approved for partnership: one each in Argentina, Brazil and Turkey – two of these (Abraco Campeao and We Are Coding) received some EMpower funding last year through grants to other organizations. We are excited to continue our partnerships with these organizations and fund them directly.

The following grants were approved in the meeting:

Akshara, India ($68,000 for 24 months): EMpower’s 8th grant to Akshara will enable 160 girls and young women from resource-poor communities in Mumbai in building their career related aspirations and assisting them in higher education and livelihood options to help them overcome the cycle of poverty. They will receive technical, employability and mentorship support to become competitive in the formal workforce. They will also receive life skills and support to navigate patriarchal norms and restrictions with more confidence and assert their rights in their families and communities and as citizens, also serving as role models for other girls and young women. This will be EMpower’s last grant to Akshara.

Raoul Foundation, Russia ($40,000 for 12 months): EMpower’s 2nd grant to Raoul Foundation will support 75 young people in strengthening their employability skills and gain their first experience of paid employment (some will also be trained in specific skills such as professional cleaning and retail). At least 45 of them will secure and retain employment within the 12 months of the project.

Kodluyoruz (We are Coding), Turkey ($25,000 for 12 months): EMpower’s 1st grant to We are Coding will provide technical (AI, coding) and soft skill acquisition with the goal of increasing employability for 310 youth (15-17) from lower economic backgrounds who attend vocational school and major in information and communication technologies (ICT).

Sulukule Volunteers Association (SVA), Turkey ($44,000 for 24 months): EMpower’s 3rd grant to SVA will support the delivery of a program for 240 vulnerable children (10-14 age group, estimated 25% recurring) that will improve physical and psycho-social wellbeing to support continued enrollment and increased performance in school.

Genç Hayat Vakfı, GHV (Youth Lives Foundation) ($45,000 for 12 months): EMpower’s 2nd grant to Youth Lives Foundation (in cooperation with ‘Kodluyoruz’ NGO) will help to increase technical skill and soft skill acquisition for 345 youth (ages 12-16) from lower economic backgrounds. It will focus particularly on girls, by offering a coding training program and mainstreaming gender awareness and elements to increase self-esteem and awareness in tech-related areas, ultimately encouraging girls to shape their futures according to their interests and potential, not by their gender.

Asociación Kallpa para la Salud y el Desarrollo Integral (Kallpa), Peru ($90,000 for 24 months): EMpower’s sixth and final grant to Kallpa will help strengthen the organization’s fundraising capacity, effectively supporting the resource mobilization efforts that will fund the programs sponsored by EMpower moving forward. The grant will also help Kallpa strengthen its partnership with the public sector’s night schools in Cusco, consolidating and improving the sustainability of the program that aims to strengthen the life skills and career plans of the extremely vulnerable youth that attend such schools.

Alternativa, Peru ($90,000 for 24 months): EMpower’s fifth grant to Alternativa will enable it to work in five public schools in Comas, one of Lima’s poorest districts, to provide training to 400 students aged between 14 and 18, helping them develop their social and employability skills, promote gender equity, provide access to comprehensive sexuality education, and prevent violence through education. Alternativa will sign official collaboration agreements with these schools to train teachers and transfer its youth development model. In addition, Alternativa will establish a partnership with a local organization to provide continued job training and job placement support to students who graduate from its program.

EMPUJAR - Fundación Pleroma, Argentina ($35,000 for 12 months): EMpower’s first grant to EMPUJAR will help 200 vulnerable youth from Buenos Aires increase their employability prospects through skills training, mentoring, access to internships and job placement support. This will be done by working in partnership with a network of local businesses that support EMPUJAR’s mission, both financially and through active participation in program activities. Program participants are between the ages of 17 and 24 and come from vulnerable backgrounds: some live in neighbourhoods without electricity or sanitation services, and their parents have primary level education only and are either unemployed or work in the informal sector.

Abraço Campeão (AC) ($20,000 for 12 months): EMpower’s first regular grant to Abraço Campeão (AC) will help the organization launch a girls-only boxing program aimed at improving participants’ self-esteem, developing leadership and life skills, and improving their academic performance. The program, which will target 30 adolescent girls between the ages of 10 and 19, as well as their parents, and will focus on combating harmful gender norms and providing pyscho-social support. It will foster a safe and encouraging space, as participants engage in girls-only boxing classes as well as workshops on gender equity and reproductive health issues. By making sports practice and program retention its key vectors, the program roots its methodology in wider evidence on the correlation between girls’ athletics and academic performance.