Empowerment
Susan and Samuel are grandparents who are caring for ELEVEN grandchildren as their own children sadly passed away in recent years. Selected as part of a pilot project which looks to empower elderly families in their situation, the couple received amongst other things, a drip irrigation kit to grow crops.
As a result, they can sleep knowing where the next meal is coming from. More importantly, added income from the sale of anything they don't eat means they can send their grandchildren to school. The family's conditions have improved so much that Samuel, who's in his seventies (!), is currently building a stone house for the family.
There are three areas we aim to empower:
Families
We work with grandparents like who have orphaned grandchildren left in their care, implementing practical measures which will bring about food security and a level of income to support their grandchildren through education. 15 families like Susan and Samuel are currently enrolled onto our Integrated Family Approach pilot programme.
Project partners
We like to have conversations with each of our project partners about ways they can create income to be less dependent on donor funding. A good example is Daylove whom we are encouraging in their plans to develop some land they own. Such a project would have the potential to generate 80% of the funding they currently need to sustain their mission.
New Graduates
This is an area yet to be developed, but one day we endeavour to work with graduating students where employment is not forthcoming. We imagine helping them access seed finance for business start-ups to attain income which leads towards financial independence.