EMpower Awards $880,000 in Grants

Posted 13 January 2022 in EMpower in the News   |   Share

Recently, EMpower and its UK Board approved $880,000 in 17 grants to grantee partners in emerging market countries. The board approved 8 grants totalling $621,000, and an additional $259,000 in 9 grants was approved internally. This fiscal year, EMpower has budgeted for significant growth in its global grantmaking to be able to better support local organisations during these difficult times.

COVID-19 continues to devastate many of the countries where we work, and Omicron threatens to only worsen the situation. 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 marginalised 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:

• A grants docket that is 150% bigger than 1 year ago.
• Final grant awards to two long-time grantee partners, Fundación Tiempo de Juego in Colombia and Onda Solidária in Brazil. Following these grants, these organisations will have completed EMpower’s full grantmaking cycle and have impacted the lives of many young people.
• We are excited to welcome two new partners from Turkey and one from India: Maya Foundation in Istanbul, EGED/ Egitimde Gorme Engelli Dernegi (Association for Visual Impairment in Education) in Ankara, and Sol’s Assessment and Remedial Centre (Sol’s ARC) in Mumbai.
• Our first grant to Maya Foundation will support a well-established mental health and psycho-social support programme that is trauma-informed and arts-based. The programme will enable 128 Syrian refugee children and young people along with 128 caregivers to develop skills for better mental health and well-being.
• Our first grant to EGED will fund the creation of university entrance exam preparation materials (on a dedicated website). The materials will be developed in coordination with educational experts, NGOs, and young people themselves.
• Our first grant to Sol’s ARC will support 60 young people from low-resource communities living with autism and intellectual disabilities, providing them with vocational and employability training through a blended approach, enabled by a digital 4 learning platform.
• An emergency grant has been made to Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) which would enable them to distribute humanitarian aid to the 300,000+ internally displaced people and refugees in Kabul and Herat.

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

School of Hard Knocks (SoHK), South Africa ($31,500 USD for 12 months)

EMpower’s second grant to the School of Hard Knocks (SoHK) will help strengthen the resilience of 240 young people (13-17 years old, of whom 50% are girls) in six low or no fee-paying schools in Cape Town. The organisation will provide rugby training, and off-the-field counselling. SoHK will also directly engage 300 caregivers through individualised family intervention plans to enhance their coping skills and boost their ability to provide guidance and emotional support at home.

Fundacion Tiempo de Juego (TJ), Colombia ($60,000 USD for 12 months)

EMpower’s seventh and final grant to Tiempo de Juego will advance the organisation’s Schools in Action methodology, which aims to reduce violence in schools and improve learning among marginalised young people by strengthening the pedagogical and psychosocial abilities of teachers and equipping students with important life skills. The grant will help systematise the Schools in Action programme, documenting its impact on students, teachers, parents, and schools.

PUKAR, Mumbai, India ($84,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s third grant to PUKAR will enable 700 young people (ages 10-24) from three resource-poor communities in Mumbai’s informal settlements to gain access to critical information on sexual and reproductive health and their rights.

Fundacion Alvaralice, Colombia ($85,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s third grant to Alvaralice will help equip 300 marginalised young people between the ages of 18 and 24 (80% of whom are young women) with the skills they need to secure and retain employment in the private sector. The grant will also support Alvaralice in conducting a thorough analysis of its current livelihoods programme and in identifying opportunities for strengthening and supporting the emotional wellbeing of its staff members, who are experiencing increased levels of stress and burnout because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Onda Solidária, Brazil ($97,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s eighth and final grant to Onda Solidária will help 400 marginalised young people between the ages of 10 and 18 from the rural community of Santana do Deserto develop their life skills, improve their academic performance, increase their leadership and employability skills, and access accurate sexual and reproductive health information to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

PROMSEX, Peru ($80,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s fifth grant to PROMSEX will support the continued implementation and enhancement of an initiative to prevent sexual and gender-based violence among young people in Madre de Dios, Peru.

The Sozo Foundation Trust, South Africa ($134,000 USD for 24 months)

EMpower’s sixth “core” grant to the Sozo Foundation Trust will support its after-school tutoring programme (including general academics and specialised maths/science/language tutoring, mentorship, counselling, IT training, and career initiatives, as well as the provision of nutritious meals). The programme reaches more than 230 secondary school learners in under-resourced communities.