UK grants meeting confirms more than $1 million for grantee partners!

Posted 01 April 2021 in EMpower News, Grantee Partner News   |   Share

Our third grants meeting of the fiscal year was held virtually in London last week and a total of $1,063,400 was approved in 29 grants! The UK board approved 11 grants totaling $661,000, and an additional $402,400 in 18 grants was approved internally.

Some highlights from this round included final grant awards to two longtime grantee partners, United Through Sports in South Africa and Fundación Nordelta in Argentina. Following these grants, these organizations will have completed EMpower’s full grantmaking cycle and have impacted the lives of many young people. We also welcomed two new partners, Adonis Musati Project and Fight with Insight, into the EMpower global community. The Adonis Musati Project in South Africa works to empower refugees and migrants through peer support, English lessons, and social services. Fight with Insight, also located in South Africa, supports young people with a holistic youth development programme that incorporates focuses on emotional, physical and academic development. Stay tuned to learn more about this new round of grants in a news post on our website at the end of the week.

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

Kodluyoruz Dernegi (We Are Coding), Turkey

($78,0000 for 24 months)

EMpower’s third grant to We are Coding will support the development of two additional vocational-technical/IT training modules to reach at least 4,500 youth.

The Association for Struggle Against Sexual Violence (CSMD), Turkey

($58,000 for 24 months)

EMpower’s fourth grant to CSMD will enable the organisation to reach 800 youth and train an additional 40 municipal youth workers to support young people in protecting their mental and sexual health.

Koy Okullari Degisim Agi Dernegi (KODA) Turkey

($91,000 for 24 months)

EMpower’s third grant to KODA will support vocational training for 600 young people to become rural teachers. This will ultimately impact the lives of thousands of school children through its First Step Towards Village Schools Program.

United Through Sport, South Africa

($55,000 for 12 months)

EMpower’s seventh grant to United Through Sport will help strengthen the organisation’s sustainability and resilience through the recruitment of a Chief Operating Officer to take over day-to-day management and the implemention of a new resource mobilisation strategy, which seeks to secure stable unrestricted income through the establishment of sports facilities.

The Mudita Foundation, South Africa

($37,000 for 12 months)

EMpower’s second grant to Mudita Foundation will support the continued implementation of a pilot intervention to strengthen the resilience of 750 young people, half of whom will be girls, in marginalised communities. This will help improve their school performance and contribute to secondary school completion.

Adonis Musati Project, South Africa

($45,000 for 12 months)

EMpower’s first grant to Adonis Musati Project will support its Youth Empowerment Project and help 160 young people, including 80 young women, address trauma and develop skills to strengthen their resilience. The grant will support the training of 16 young leaders and their outreach to migrant and refugee communities. The grant allows for a small contribution to the organisation’s core costs to support them through this challenging period.

Fight with Insight, South Africa

($35,000 for 12 months)

EMpower’s first grant to Fight with Insight will assist the organisation to expand its programmatic reach, open a second site, and transfer leadership to young programme graduates. From the grant, 450 young people will be provided with tools and resources to improve their physical and mental health. The grant will also support the design and pilot implementation of a new life skills curriculum for cohorts of young people.

Abraço Campeão, Brazil

($70,000 for 24 months)

EMpower’s third grant to Abraço Campeão will help the organisation evolve and strengthen its programme for young women. The programme, launched in 2019 with EMpower’s support, will add a life skills and employability component. The programme will help 60 young women improve their academic performance, self-esteem, life skills, employability skills, and awareness and capacity regarding gender equity and sexual and reproductive health and rights. In addition, the grant will help AC relocate its headquarters to a new space to better and more safely accommodate increased demand for its programme.

EMPUJAR Argentina

($70,000 for 24 months)

EMpower’s third grant to EMPUJAR will help 865 marginalised young people (86% female and 14% male) increase their employability prospects through life skills and vocational training, mentoring, internships, and job placement support. The grant will also help mainstream gender equity into EMPUJAR’s employability programme, pilot a new initiative to offer training, promote access to employment in the software sector, and update the organisation’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework.

Fundación Nordelta, Argentina

($32,000 for 12 months)

EMpower’s final grant to Fundación Nordelta will help 177 marginalised young people receive vocational and job-readiness training. The grant will also help strengthen Fundación Nordelta’s fundraising efforts by developing a strategy aimed at increasing the average size of each individual donor’s contributions and expanding the base of individual donors.

Alternativa, Peru

($90,000 for 24 months)

EMpower’s sixth grant to Alternativa will help 260 marginalized young people develop their life skills and employment prospects, adopt more gender-equitable attitudes and practices, access comprehensive sexuality education, and prevent gender-based violence— helping them cope with long-standing social problems that have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.