Some of the most successful youth empowerment initiatives are those that are started by visionary youth who understand the issues and challenges that they and their peers face and have a visionary perspective on how to improve their situation. Such is the case in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, where the youth-initiated and youth-run Kibera Community Youth Program (KCYP) has been offering jobless, vulnerable youth positive activities, such as sport and drama, to provide an alternative to more destructive activities prevalent in the community, such as drugs, gangs, and prostitution. They also have health education programs to inform youth about HIV/AIDS and associated risk factors and protective measures.
In order to support their activities, the leaders of KCYP realized that they needed a sustainable form of income. They wanted to be able to provide a service that could generate income while continuing to serve their mission of advancing the well-being of the youth of Kibera. A need cited in the community was a lack of access to information, which in Kibera comes primarily through radio and cell phones. However most individuals in Kibera lack access to electricity to charge their phones and/or do not have free income for the continual purchase of batteries to power their radios. A potential solution was identified in portable mini-solar panels that could be manufactured at low-cost by the youth of KCYP.
EcoVentures International, a long-time partner of KCYP, worked with the organization to provide technical assistance with business plan development and with building sustainable market linkages for the mini-solar panel business. Youth are trained in the assembly of panels and proceeds from the sale of the panels are shared between the individuals and the organization, providing these vulnerable youth with an income generating opportunity while helping to sustain the organization’s community activities that provide additional opportunities and benefits to many more youth and street children in the Kibera community, engaging them in a positive, peer-structured environment.
Kate Davenport
kate@eco-ventures.org
In October 2007, USAID’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund, in close collaboration with the Microenterprise Development office, initiated the STRIVE (Supporting Transformation by Reducing Insecurity and Vulnerability with Economic Strengthening) Program. A five-year, $16 million effort, STRIVE uses market-led economic strengthening initiatives to benefit vulnerable children. In doing so, the program aims to fill current knowledge gaps on effective approaches to reducing the vulnerability of children and youth.
Managed by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) in concert with technical advisors from Action for Enterprise, ACDI/VOCA, CARE, MEDA, Save the Children, the IRIS Center and USAID, STRIVE is implementing up to five field projects in Africa and Asia between 2008 and 2012. Each project is pursuing a unique economic strengthening approach, ranging from savings-led finance to workforce development to value chain interventions. STRIVE is tracking and documenting the impacts of these diverse interventions on child-level indicators related to both economic (financial), and non-economic (e.g. health, nutrition, education) vulnerability factors. As a result, STRIVE aims to identify and demonstrate interventions that can sustainably increase incomes and document how such increases improve (or fail to improve) the lives of children.
- Afghanistan: Secure Futures (ASF), AED and MEDA
- Liberia: Agriculture for Children's Empowerment (ACE), ACDI/VOCA
- Mozambique: STRIVE Mozambique, Save the Children US
- Philippines: STRIVE Philippines, Action for Enterprise (AFE)
- STRIVE Monitoring and Evaluation, The IRIS Center
Margie Brand
STRIVE Program Director
AED
Center for Enterprise and Capacity Development
1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20009
USA
margie@eco-ventures.org
October 2007 to September 2012
PRISMA seeks to improve the lives of very poor women and orphaned or vulnerable children in rural East Africa by easing access to financial services for women in East Africa, especially the carers of orphans and vulnerable children. Women are a primary focus because they tend to invest additional income in improving the lives of their children.
Project Goals:
- Increase the number of World Vision’s female loan clients in five East African countries from 50,000 to 210,000.
- Improve the level of net assets among 75 percent of loan clients
- Through lending, create 277,000 jobs for women and sustain 1.3 million jobs for women
- Improve care and support for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children, and impact 1.8 million children overall
- Offer savings accounts for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children that can
be used for education or to start up a business
Project Interventions through Microfinance:
The PRISMA project will implement activities with the five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the project countries that result in the following nine outputs, or tangible services:
- Increased capacity to learn and support integrated HIV/AIDS and microfinance services.
- Improved access to appropriate financial services for rural female clients, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
- Improved responsiveness of credit and savings products to the needs of rural female clients.
- Increased capacity of MFIs to partner with World Vision and other HIV/AIDS agencies.
- Increased capacity of the MFI boards in governance.
- Increased capacity of senior leadership to transform MFIs into large-scale deliverers of financial services in rural areas.
- Increased capacity of MFI managers in rural finance, management, business planning, and staff development.
- Increased efficiency of MFI financial services and systems.
- Transformation into a regulated financial institution.
Project Outputs:
PRISMA project outputs will contribute over the next four years to the following two outcomes, or benefits:
- Sustainable, client-centered, development-integrated microfinance institutions
- Improved household incomes and/or resilience of economically active women, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
The project is also active in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania
Grace Tiberondwa Sebageni
PRISMA Project Manager
World Vision International
Kampala, Uganda
grace_sebageni@wvi.org
February 2006 to December 2009
PRISMA seeks to improve the lives of very poor women and orphaned or vulnerable children in rural East Africa by easing access to financial services for women in East Africa, especially the carers of orphans and vulnerable children. Women are a primary focus because they tend to invest additional income in improving the lives of their children.
Project Goals:
- Increase the number of World Vision’s female loan clients in five East African countries from 50,000 to 210,000.
- Improve the level of net assets among 75 percent of loan clients
- Through lending, create 277,000 jobs for women and sustain 1.3 million jobs for women
- Improve care and support for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children, and impact 1.8 million children overall
- Offer savings accounts for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children that can
be used for education or to start up a business
Project Interventions through Microfinance:
The PRISMA project will implement activities with the five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the project countries that result in the following nine outputs, or tangible services:
- Increased capacity to learn and support integrated HIV/AIDS and microfinance services.
- Improved access to appropriate financial services for rural female clients, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
- Improved responsiveness of credit and savings products to the needs of rural female clients.
- Increased capacity of MFIs to partner with World Vision and other HIV/AIDS agencies.
- Increased capacity of the MFI boards in governance.
- Increased capacity of senior leadership to transform MFIs into large-scale deliverers of financial services in rural areas.
- Increased capacity of MFI managers in rural finance, management, business planning, and staff development.
- Increased efficiency of MFI financial services and systems.
- Transformation into a regulated financial institution.
Project Outputs:
PRISMA project outputs will contribute over the next four years to the following two outcomes, or benefits:
- Sustainable, client-centered, development-integrated microfinance institutions
- Improved household incomes and/or resilience of economically active women, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
The project is also active in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda
Grace Tiberondwa Sebageni
PRISMA Project Manager
World Vision International
Kampala, Uganda
grace_sebageni@wvi.org
February 2006 to December 2009
PRISMA seeks to improve the lives of very poor women and orphaned or vulnerable children in rural East Africa by easing access to financial services for women in East Africa, especially the carers of orphans and vulnerable children. Women are a primary focus because they tend to invest additional income in improving the lives of their children.
Project Goals:
- Increase the number of World Vision’s female loan clients in five East African countries from 50,000 to 210,000.
- Improve the level of net assets among 75 percent of loan clients
- Through lending, create 277,000 jobs for women and sustain 1.3 million jobs for women
- Improve care and support for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children, and impact 1.8 million children overall
- Offer savings accounts for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children that can
be used for education or to start up a business
Project Interventions through Microfinance:
The PRISMA project will implement activities with the five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the project countries that result in the following nine outputs, or tangible services:
- Increased capacity to learn and support integrated HIV/AIDS and microfinance services.
- Improved access to appropriate financial services for rural female clients, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
- Improved responsiveness of credit and savings products to the needs of rural female clients.
- Increased capacity of MFIs to partner with World Vision and other HIV/AIDS agencies.
- Increased capacity of the MFI boards in governance.
- Increased capacity of senior leadership to transform MFIs into large-scale deliverers of financial services in rural areas.
- Increased capacity of MFI managers in rural finance, management, business planning, and staff development.
- Increased efficiency of MFI financial services and systems.
- Transformation into a regulated financial institution.
Project Outputs:
PRISMA project outputs will contribute over the next four years to the following two outcomes, or benefits:
- Sustainable, client-centered, development-integrated microfinance institutions
- Improved household incomes and/or resilience of economically active women, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
The project is also active in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda
Grace Tiberondwa Sebageni
PRISMA Project Manager
World Vision International
Kampala, Uganda
grace_sebageni@wvi.org
February 2006 to December 2009
PRISMA seeks to improve the lives of very poor women and orphaned or vulnerable children in rural East Africa by easing access to financial services for women in East Africa, especially the carers of orphans and vulnerable children. Women are a primary focus because they tend to invest additional income in improving the lives of their children.
Project Goals:
- Increase the number of World Vision’s female loan clients in five East African countries from 50,000 to 210,000.
- Improve the level of net assets among 75 percent of loan clients
- Through lending, create 277,000 jobs for women and sustain 1.3 million jobs for women
- Improve care and support for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children, and impact 1.8 million children overall
- Offer savings accounts for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children that can
be used for education or to start up a business
Project Interventions through Microfinance:
The PRISMA project will implement activities with the five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the project countries that result in the following nine outputs, or tangible services:
- Increased capacity to learn and support integrated HIV/AIDS and microfinance services.
- Improved access to appropriate financial services for rural female clients, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
- Improved responsiveness of credit and savings products to the needs of rural female clients.
- Increased capacity of MFIs to partner with World Vision and other HIV/AIDS agencies.
- Increased capacity of the MFI boards in governance.
- Increased capacity of senior leadership to transform MFIs into large-scale deliverers of financial services in rural areas.
- Increased capacity of MFI managers in rural finance, management, business planning, and staff development.
- Increased efficiency of MFI financial services and systems.
- Transformation into a regulated financial institution.
Project Outputs:
PRISMA project outputs will contribute over the next four years to the following two outcomes, or benefits:
- Sustainable, client-centered, development-integrated microfinance institutions
- Improved household incomes and/or resilience of economically active women, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
The project is also active in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda
Grace Tiberondwa Sebageni
PRISMA Project Manager
World Vision International
Kampala, Uganda
grace_sebageni@wvi.org
February 2006 to December 2009
PRISMA seeks to improve the lives of very poor women and orphaned or vulnerable children in rural East Africa by easing access to financial services for women in East Africa, especially the carers of orphans and vulnerable children. Women are a primary focus because they tend to invest additional income in improving the lives of their children.
Project Goals:
- Increase the number of World Vision’s female loan clients in five East African countries from 50,000 to 210,000.
- Improve the level of net assets among 75 percent of loan clients
- Through lending, create 277,000 jobs for women and sustain 1.3 million jobs for women
- Improve care and support for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children, and impact 1.8 million children overall
- Offer savings accounts for 150,000 orphans and vulnerable children that can
be used for education or to start up a business
Project Interventions through Microfinance:
The PRISMA project will implement activities with the five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the project countries that result in the following nine outputs, or tangible services:
- Increased capacity to learn and support integrated HIV/AIDS and microfinance services.
- Improved access to appropriate financial services for rural female clients, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
- Improved responsiveness of credit and savings products to the needs of rural female clients.
- Increased capacity of MFIs to partner with World Vision and other HIV/AIDS agencies.
- Increased capacity of the MFI boards in governance.
- Increased capacity of senior leadership to transform MFIs into large-scale deliverers of financial services in rural areas.
- Increased capacity of MFI managers in rural finance, management, business planning, and staff development.
- Increased efficiency of MFI financial services and systems.
- Transformation into a regulated financial institution.
Project Outputs:
PRISMA project outputs will contribute over the next four years to the following two outcomes, or benefits:
- Sustainable, client-centered, development-integrated microfinance institutions
- Improved household incomes and/or resilience of economically active women, including those caring for orphans and vulnerable children.
The project is also active in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda
Grace Tiberondwa Sebageni
PRISMA Project Manager
World Vision International
Kampala, Uganda
grace_sebageni@wvi.org
February 2006 to December 2009
The Local Links project is aimed at improving the well-being of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and their caretakers in three locations in Africa—Kibera, Kenya; and Limpopo and Free State, South Africa. The major objectives of the project are:
- Strengthen the economic coping mechanisms of OVC families and communities
- Strengthen the capacity of local organizations to meet the needs and rights of orphans and vulnerable children
- (Kenya) Reduce stigma and discrimination experienced by orphans and vulnerable children and their families
- (South Africa) Improve advocacy efforts with and on behalf of orphans and vulnerable children
In both countries, a group savings and loan model is used to strengthen economic security for vulnerable families and community members. The model does not require external infusion of cash, but rather relies on group member contributions. Loans are made from the pooled funds to group members based on individual emergency need. CARE provides training for the Voluntary Savings and Loan (VSL) groups in South Africa (or Group Savings and Loan (GS&L) in Kenya) and regular monitoring. Under the Local Links project, CARE provides initial training for establishing income-generating activities (IGA), followed by ongoing mentoring. Combining VSL/GS&L and IGA improves group members’ livelihood sustainability by greatly reducing reliance on external money lenders with high interest rates.
To improve sustainable outcomes of the project, CARE contracts community and faith-based organizations to implement Local Links project activities with OVC and families. CARE helps these organizations build capacity in:
- organizational development
- project management
- resource mobilization and management
- lobbying and advocacy
- VSL and IGA approaches
- provision of care, psychosocial support and counseling to OVC.
In addition, CARE provides training for community health workers on providing home-based care and on caring for OVC. Where necessary, volunteers and paid staff are placed at institutions and facilities to improve access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment services.
Strengthening social ties is important to supporting OVC households and communities. Reducing barriers and stigma and discrimination through advocacy efforts improves community responsiveness and support for vulnerable families and children. Local Links employs participatory theater with youth and other community members to address issues such as social protection, stigma and discrimination, social protection, rights of the child, and obstacles to accessing essential HIV/AIDS services. Youth groups are engaged to develop information, education and communication (IEC) materials to help increase understanding, compassion and reduce barriers. The project also trains and mobilizes traditional and mainstream church leaders to raise these issues with their congregations and encourage support for OVC and families. This integration of economic strengthening with social and health activities is critical to holistic support of OVC needs.
Bill Philbrick
bphilbrick@care.org
The Local Links project is aimed at improving the well-being of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and their caretakers in three locations in Africa—Kibera, Kenya; and Limpopo and Free State, South Africa. The major objectives of the project are:
- Strengthen the economic coping mechanisms of OVC families and communities
- Strengthen the capacity of local organizations to meet the needs and rights of orphans and vulnerable children
- (Kenya) Reduce stigma and discrimination experienced by orphans and vulnerable children and their families
- (South Africa) Improve advocacy efforts with and on behalf of orphans and vulnerable children
In both countries, a group savings and loan model is used to strengthen economic security for vulnerable families and community members. The model does not require external infusion of cash, but rather relies on group member contributions. Loans are made from the pooled funds to group members based on individual emergency need. CARE provides training for the Voluntary Savings and Loan (VSL) groups in South Africa (or Group Savings and Loan (GS&L) in Kenya) and regular monitoring. Under the Local Links project, CARE provides initial training for establishing income-generating activities (IGA), followed by ongoing mentoring. Combining VSL/GS&L and IGA improves group members’ livelihood sustainability by greatly reducing reliance on external money lenders with high interest rates.
To improve sustainable outcomes of the project, CARE contracts community and faith-based organizations to implement Local Links project activities with OVC and families. CARE helps these organizations build capacity in:
- organizational development
- project management
- resource mobilization and management
- lobbying and advocacy
- VSL and IGA approaches
- provision of care, psychosocial support and counseling to OVC.
In addition, CARE provides training for community health workers on providing home-based care and on caring for OVC. Where necessary, volunteers and paid staff are placed at institutions and facilities to improve access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment services.
Strengthening social ties is important to supporting OVC households and communities. Reducing barriers and stigma and discrimination through advocacy efforts improves community responsiveness and support for vulnerable families and children. Local Links employs participatory theater with youth and other community members to address issues such as social protection, stigma and discrimination, social protection, rights of the child, and obstacles to accessing essential HIV/AIDS services. Youth groups are engaged to develop information, education and communication (IEC) materials to help increase understanding, compassion and reduce barriers. The project also trains and mobilizes traditional and mainstream church leaders to raise these issues with their congregations and encourage support for OVC and families. This integration of economic strengthening with social and health activities is critical to holistic support of OVC needs.
Bill Philbrick
bphilbrick@care.org
Recognizing that the majority of orphans are cared for by family members, Project HOPE focuses on strengthening the capacity of caregivers to provide comprehensive care and support to improve the well-being of children. To address the increased economic needs of orphans and vulnerable children’s (OVC) households and assist in providing the means for sustainable, long term program impact, Project HOPE provides micro-loans and conducts savings mobilization for OVC caregivers to engage in small-scale income generation activities.
The project also uses the vehicle of these loan & savings groups to promote parenting training on the important domains of OVC care and support. Project HOPE developed an OVC-targeted educational curriculum covering essential OVC care and support. The training provides OVC caregivers with education and access to information and resources to help them support the needs of all children under their care, including orphans. This education encompasses a variety of domains including household nutrition, health, parenting skills, HIV prevention, appropriate protection, legal rights, and psycho-social support.
The economic strengthening activities are complemented by community outreach mobilization to further support the needs of OVC providers/caretakers and OVC. Project HOPE mobilizes a network of community based volunteers who are trained through a training of trainers (TOT) methodology on the specialized OVC educational curriculum. These volunteers will in turn identify OVC providers/caretakers within their community and provide home visits, training, counseling, and referral services for them to better improve the well-being of OVC under their support.,
Monitoring and evaluation are critical components of Project HOPE’s approach. Socio-economic profiles are collected on participants in economic strengthening activities to document changes in economic status. Project HOPE has also initiated low-literacy data collection tools that can be managed by the caregivers to empower them in knowing both current status and desired outcomes for the children under their care – referred to as a “parenting map”.
Project HOPE has documented increased income and improved financial resources for OVC caretakers, allowing them to better purchase school uniforms, pay school fees, buy an increased quality and quantity of food, and improve access to medical care. When combined with the increased knowledge about parenting and child-care issues across multiple domains of need, orphans and vulnerable children are shown to receive provide better care and support, and an improvement in their overall well-being.
The project is also active in Mozambique and Namibia.
John Bronson
Director, Economic Strengthening Programs
jbronson@projecthope.org
April 2005 to April 2010
