AfricAid, Inc is awarded a Grant for Kisa Project

The Foundation is happy to again partner with AfricAid. Their 2 year grant totalling $50,000 will continue to support their Kisa Project.
Since that time, the Kisa Project has grown from 22 Kisa Scholars in 2010 to 997 Kisa Scholars enrolled in
the program in 2016. 96% of Kisa graduates have gone on to university or other post secondary school
training.
AfricAid’s mission is to support girls’ education in Africa in order to provide them with the opportunity to
transform their own lives and the futures of their communities. The organization’s vision is to create a future
in which all African girls have access to high-quality educational opportunities that empower them to achieve
their goals and better their communities.
The Kisa Project builds girls’ leadership capacity, provides life-skills training, encourages critical thinking
and supports girls to complete secondary school and enroll in higher education through mentorship and a
tertiary scholarship program. AfricAid’s direct beneficiaries are Advanced Level (A Level or Forms 5 and 6)
girls at 20 Kisa Partner Schools who are between 17 and 21 years old. The girls come from families and
communities of lower socio-economic means.
Through these Kisa Scholars, the benefits of the Kisa Project reach far beyond the girls themselves. Kisa
Scholars develop a community service ethic; Kisa teachers them to “pay it forward” to their families, their
communities and Tanzanian society. Kisa is unique. The organization has been careful not to replicate work
already being done in Northern Tanzania. The Project differentiates itself through the frequency and
consistency of contact between staff and students, the quality of curriculum, and the number and quality of
the special events and programs girls are exposed to during the two years that a girl is a scholar. This
programming is much more intensive than any other similar program working with secondary school girls in
the area. The Kisa Project is a leadership and empowerment program. It does not directly support girls to
enroll in or continue in secondary education. The Project targets girls that are already enrolled and generally
have the means to complete A-Levels.
The sustainable effects of the Kisa Project are seen in the internal changes where the Kisa Scholars begin to
see themselves as more capable, confident, and resilient. Resilience is a key result area of the Kisa Project as
Kisa aims to build up young women’s confidence and leadership skills in order to increase their ability to
bounce back from adversity and succeed in an environment where they are often at a disadvantage as young
women. Confidence, leadership and public speaking were key themes amongst the changes mentioned by
each group of observers and participants.
The funds requested would be spent over 2 years from 2017-2018 to support the implementation of the Kisa
Project at 20 Partner Schools in the Arusha and Kilimanjaro Regions of Northern Tanzania in 2017. The
organization aims to add four more Partner Schools in 2018, bringing the total number of schools across
Northern Tanzania to 24.