Successful final Grants Meeting of the year!

Posted 19 June 2018 in EMpower News, Grantee Partner News   |   Share

EMpower’s Grants Meeting held in New York on Wednesday, June 13th concluded the last of our yearly cycle of grants meetings. Thank you to all Board Directors and supporters who joined us!

6 grants totaling $339,500 were approved for funding this year, as well as an additional grant of $32,000 to be awarded next fiscal year. These grants show an exciting cross-section of our work, representing four countries (India, South Africa, Peru and Mexico) and all three of our portfolios (Education, Livelihoods and Health and Well-being), and include one new grantee partner and one first-time 2-year grant. They also further our aims of improving the monitoring and evaluation skills of our grantee partners, and engaging both girls and boys in addressing gender-based violence.

We’re proud to announce that EMpower committed over $3,000,000 in grantmaking in FY18. We have now awarded $27 million to-date in support of at-risk youth!

The following grantee partners were approved for funding:

The YP Foundation, India: EMpower’s 3rd grant to The YP Foundation is the first 2-year grant they have received. This will enable the YP Foundation to implement a new curriculum for boys, scale up into more schools, and pilot a program for younger adolescents. In this, 330 young people will acquire leadership skills and lead interventions to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights and prevent gender-based violence.

Mamelani Project, South Africa: EMpower’s 6th grant will support 57 young people as they transition from care, with a focus on building resiliency, and increase Mamelani’s organizational capacity to improve transitional support. The grant will also enable Mamelani to engage with policy makers at the provincial and national level.

Wilderness Foundation, South Africa: EMpower’s 5th grant will enable 240 youth to increase their job readiness skills, life skills and resilience, and support 150 of these young people to access high-demand vocational training in hospitality. The grant will also fund a full-time counselor to provide emotional support to the youth, strengthen the curriculum and develop additional monitoring and evaluation to measure resilience.

Centro Yanapanakusun (Yana), Peru: EMpower’s 5th grant will support vulnerable youth to improve their academic performance and graduation rates, receive comprehensive sexuality education and gender equity training, and vocational and technical training at Yana’s Houses of Culture and Puno’s public night schools. It will also support Yana to expand the reach of their radio station to nearby cities, and sensitize key stakeholders to prevent human trafficking and forced labor among youth.

SiKanda, Mexico: EMpower’s 5th grant will provide training to strengthen the ability of 368 students to protect themselves from violence (particularly gender-based violence) and promote a culture of peace, strengthen their psychological health and well-being, and increase their leadership skills and visibility in their communities. This grant will also enable SiKanda to engage key adults in the community.

Cauce Ciudadano, A.C. (Cauce), Mexico: EMpower’s 3rd grant will help refine Cauce’s curriculum to be more grade-specific, and support sexual and reproductive health education and gender-equity training in eight schools serving 1550 middle school students. The grant will also enable Cauce to engage 245 parents and teachers on these issues, and support youth to dialogue with government officials about the challenges they face related to violence.

GENDES, A.C., Mexico: EMpower’s 1st grant will train 100 eighth graders in Tlaxcala on the prevention of gender-based violence in dating relationships, and 100 eighth graders in Mexico City on preventing unwanted teenage pregnancy, with a focus on engaging men and boys. It will also support a consultant to evaluate the trainings’ impact, to better position GENDES to advocate for uptake among other NGOs and government.

We’re proud to support the work of these inspiring organizations!