Two Years Later:  A Look at EMpower’s Pandemic Response

Posted 15 April 2022 in EMpower News   |   Share

Since March 2020, EMpower has awarded over $10 million to 129 grantee partner organisations that directly impacted115,000 young people and enabled them to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the ongoing support of our partners, we provided numerous emergency grants to these organisations so they could respond to critical needs and help their communities weather the impact of COVID. Here are just a few examples of the grants we provided over the last two years: 

• In Peru, we partnered with the Asociación Pukllasunchis to provide food for two full months to 320 members of their community and to purchase cellular data so that young people could participate in their programme, receive vital emotional support, and do their schoolwork. Because most young people could not afford the cost of Wi-Fi, the financial resources the programme provided were crucial in bridging the digital divide for students. Our grant also included information on how to prevent COVID-19 as well as basic hygiene products, including soap and hand sanitizer.
• In India, we supported Chehak Trust (Sahyog) to strengthen and embed gender in its programmes. The organisation enabled more than 300 young people—the majority girls—to hone their English language skills, access training in STEM fields, and be exposed to positive role models. By doing so, Chehak Trust aimed to open up opportunities for young women to make decisions about their education, careers, and family life. As a result of COVID, the organisation decentralised its activities to smaller clusters—creating digital hubs powered by smart devices and nurturing safe spaces for girls and young women within their communities.
• In South Africa, we worked with the Sozo Foundation to provide hygiene and health packs to 250 marginalised young people and their families, as well as to Sozo staff members and their families. Our grant also enabled the organisation to purchase vital personal protective equipment (PPE) and to distribute it to staff members and young people as they prepared to reopen. Sozo works in Vrygrond, an area in the Cape Flats of Cape Town that is overcrowded and under-resourced.
• In Hong Kong, where schools remained closed for an extended period of time, we enabled our partner Hong Kong Unison to provide 20 young people of ethnic minorities with devices for e-learning, so that they could continue their education. We also supported Hong Kong Unison, Teen’s Key, and The Zubin Foundation in strengthening their staff’s mental health, well-being, and resilience through teambuilding, bonding activities, and learning sessions.   

With these emergency and flexible grants, our partners were able to quickly shift their approaches and adapt their programmes in often creative ways. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—where individuals and families experienced a steep drop in income because of COVID—AbraçoCampeãowas able to provide 200 people with food parcels and hygiene kits. They set up a motorcycle taxi service called “Mototaxi Wakanda”—inspired by the film Black Panther—that allowed them to manage the complex logistics of delivering hundreds of parcels and kits (1,800 so far) through the hills and backstreets of the favelas. They engaged volunteer drivers and set up a remote call-centre registration system. 

Our partners continue to innovate and demonstrate incredible resilience. Providing ongoing support, we will continue to stand by these organisations as they begin to rebuild and recover from the pandemic.