EMpower Awards $733,000 in Nine Grants to Partners in Asia

Posted 27 June 2022 in EMpower News   |   Share

This summer, EMpower and its Hong Kong Board approved $733,000 in nine grants to grantee partners in emerging market countries in East and Southeast Asia. The board approved six grants totaling $570,000, and an additional $163,000 in three grants were internally approved.

Highlights from this latest round of grants include:

• We are excited to welcome Lunas Collective in the Philippines. Our first grant to Lunas Collective will enable young people to enhance their skills and provide education to their peers on gender and sexuality. The grant will support activities that normalise the discussion of teen sexuality amongst girls and young women and encourage them to seek support for gender-based violence and advocate for their sexual and reproductive health rights through a volunteer-powered helpline. Lunas Collectives' approach stands out as it applies a survivor-centred feminist care practice and a pleasure-oriented appreciation of sexuality and sexual and reproductive health care. As the helpline platform is fully digitised, it is an easily scalable model.

Below is a short summary of the board-approved grants that we are making:

ROLE Foundation, Indonesia ($100,000 USD for 24 months) 

EMpower's sixth grant to ROLE Foundation for the BaliWISE programme will enable 160 marginalised young women, ages 15–19, to build their life skills and access vocational training in hospitality. The grant will help provide internships and on-the-job training to create pathways for the young women participants to formal and skilled employment. Additionally, ROLE will set up and pilot a new training initiative in digital marketing and invest in institutional strengthening for the organisation. 

The Women’s Foundation, Hong Kong ($91,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower's second grant to The Women’s Foundation Limited (TWF) will enable TWF to continue to run their Girls Go Tech (GGT) programme for 1145 (Year 1) and 1445 (Year 2) girls and young women. TWF will further increase the number and diversity of the online courses offered on the platform and strive to add newly certified courses. TWF also plans to run parent workshops and parent-kid coding workshops.

Teach Unlimited Foundation, Hong Kong ($98,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower's sixth grant to Teach Unlimited Foundation (TUF) will enable TUF to continue and strengthen their Dream Pursuing Project (DPP) for 100 students in Year 1 and 100 students in Year 2. The grant will also support TUF to increase the sustainability of their school-based mentorship programme. Beyond the organisational level, TUF will invest in marketing and communications as well as in finance and programme administration.

Kidspire Vietnam, Vietnam ($106,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower's second grant to Kidspire will support 350 marginalised young people living in orphanages, of whom 275 are girls and young women and 75 are boys and young men. At the programme level, the grant will enable Kidspire to: innovate and scale the Technovation Girls programme, and start a new Homework Hub to improve their school scores and reduce school dropouts. The grant will also help Kidspire strengthen its newly set up monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) system and bring on board new staff that are crucial to supporting the growing operation. Additionally, the grant will support the upgrade of a student classroom to an “Innovation Lab.”

New Resolution (Bright Future), India ($85,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s seventh grant to New Resolution India (Bright Future) will support 240 young people with employability training and social and emotional learning (SEL), complemented by mentorship and post-placement support, as well as a regular stipend. The grant will also allow for two new initiatives: 1) formalising the organisation’s alumni engagement programme and 2) integrating a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens and an intersectional lens at a strategy, operations, and programmatic level.

The YP Foundation, India ($90,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower's seventh grant to The YP Foundation will support 500 youth and 50 adults in advancing their sexual and reproductive health and rights, mental health and wellbeing, and digital safety by piloting an updated comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) curriculum. The grant will also foster two ally-based networks: one comprising of “Knowledge Hub” alumni, and another of local organisations in the Delhi National Capital Region that are sharing effective practices and creating co-learning spaces through a justice and equity framework.