ESARDEF (created in 2014 and registered in 2017) is a not-for-profit, and nonpolitical organization in Cameroon (Sub-Saharan Africa) dedicated specifically, on the improvement of community Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, Environmental Safety, Climate Change resilience, Conservation, Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law for the consolidation of Peace and Cultural Diversity. ESARDEF believes this can only be possible by means of diverse Educational activities like; capacity and infrastructural building in schools and in communities, and working towards sustainable livelihood lifestyles through formal and informal educative and training programs in all the community sectors that holistically empowers all especially women/girls, and children/youths.

This project seeks to rescue over 250 women and girls who are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with professional skills in Limbe, Cameroon. These women have been seeking refuge on the streets for better livelihoods due to the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. ESARDEF has already set up a free Computer and Catering Vocational Training Center in Limbe, which aims to empower women with income generating skills, to help keep them off the streets of Limbe for prostitution and other illegal deadly practices. They are currently training 67 women. With an increasing demand there are a number of increasing challenges which include: 1) Inadequate desktop computers, accessories and furniture. 2) No financial motivation for volunteers. 3) Inadequate finance for the catering unit, which is limiting enrollment, and the ability of the training center to function properly. Once these challenges are addressed, the center expects to increase its training enrollment to over 250 women and girls IDPs yearly.  This will help these women and girls increase their livelihoods and hopefully allow them to stay off the streets of Limbe.

This grant will to help them purchase an additional 6 desktop computers, purchase needed furniture, finance motivation for volunteer trainers, and assistance in the running cost of the catering unit. It will provide each IDP with re-usable menstrual hygiene kit as well. Improving these issues will help increase enrollment. Very few organizations are addressing these issues and are typically only providing free food. ESARDEF goes beyond that by training them with employability skills on computers and cooking for local restaurants.

During the training period, trainees will be exposed to practical tasks in the form of assignments and exercises that will be used to determine their success during and after the project. It will measure their ability to recall and do what was taught during class lessons and practical sessions. This will help determine the successes because these same skills will help these women in generating money for their livelihoods when the project is completed. The Grant aims to provide women and girls an opportunity to succeed and become self-sufficient through the acquisition of professional skills. This will allow them to lift themselves and their children out of poverty and misery.

The Foundation is pleased to announce a grant to the Boys & Girls Club of the Piedmont, Abby Winthrop SMART Girl Program.

Since 2009, the Boys & Girls Club of the Piedmont has been in the forefront of youth development, working with young people from disadvantaged economic, social and family circumstances. The Boys & Girls Club of the Piedmont has actively sought to enrich the lives of girls and boys whom other youth agencies have had difficulty in reaching. They are dedicated to ensuring that their community’s disadvantaged young people have greater access to quality programs and services that will enhance their lives and shape their futures.

The Abby Winthrop SMART Girls Program aims to enhance at-risk girls’ physical and emotional health. The program combines informational and experiential learning activities to help girls, grades 4 thru 12, develop the knowledge and skills necessary to practice healthy lifestyle choices. In addition to ensuring that their members gain knowledge with making healthy choices, they also ensure that they are introduced to academic success program as well as career exploration. Their members are able to take different colleges tours, attend day camps, and engage in job shadowing.

The Abby Winthrop SMART Girls Program and the Boys & Girls Club of the Piedmont is located in South Statesville Community of North Carolina. This area is home to approximately 1,800 children under the age of 18, with many of them lacking educational resources to reach their full potential. This area is also known for gang violence, generational poverty, crime, and high unemployment rates. Their membership demographic shows that 65% of Club members live with a single parent and 78% of their members receive free or reduced lunch. By collaborating with families, school and community partners, the Club provides their Clients with a safe place to learn and grow. The SMART Girls program also coordinates with the local school system, The United Way and many other community partners. The grant will be used to support the SMART programs 3 components. They are as follows: 1. It’s Your Body – physical and emotional growth, media influence and body image, female victimization, eating disorders, dating responsibility and more. 2. Take Care of your Body- Exercise and physical activity, the importance of regular exams, healthy eating and more. 3. Tangible Path to Success – Educational and College Field Trips, viable path to a college or vocational scholarship, mentor partnership with young women and parent advocates to help keep students on track.

The Foundation is pleased to support CENCUDER vocational Training Center.

CENCUDER’s vocational training center in Upper Buduma village, is a career, financial empowerment and technology training project for economically disadvantaged women and girls. It targets school drop outs through computer literacy, sewing, and tailoring. The center aims to help them break poverty cycles, generate self-employment, become self-reliant and contribute to a sustainable economy. It is intended to provide hopes to those in despair, create job and employment opportunities to the poor through education and vocational training. Issues the center will address include: unemployment, abject poverty, hunger, sexual and reproductive rights, extreme marginalization and strife. This project has as main objective of reducing extreme suffering as a result of lack of opportunities and support for marginalized women, single mothers, school dropouts and teenage girls in Buduma through practical vocational trainings. Buduma village is a typical slum community in the South West of Cameroon, with above 90% of the households living below the UN poverty line. There are a very limited number of farm employment opportunities. There is also extreme marginalization of women and girls since many, by native laws and customs, don’t have access to land. CENCUDER’s vocational training center is going to help these groups by providing hope, a brighter future, and an opportunity to earn a livelihood. The center will operate two units with two shifts of intensive and practical training every working day. One unit will train women in practical sewing techniques and dress design to serve the general public. The other unit will train them in computer literacy and teach them how to use the internet. This will equip the beneficiaries with the social and vocational skills they need to succeed in life. The center will also provide the women information on menstrual hygiene, as well as their sexual and reproductive rights. CENCUDER intends to set up an interest free loan program that will facilitate the beneficiaries to set up their sewing/tailoring workshops as well as a cyber café upon completion of studies. Through this initiative, many women will be empowered with financials means to enable them to send their children to school, support themselves, and transfer the skills to their children, friends and relatives within their communities.

The Foundation is pleased to support Unlocking Communities.

Through Unlocking Communities research and work in Haiti, Unlocking Communities passionately believes that providing Haitians the tools to be their own catalysts for change is a more effective way to make a quality and long-lasting economic impact in the community than giving well-intentioned, but misguided handouts. To do so, their Community Partner gives aspiring entrepreneurs (majority women) a solid foundation by training them in business fundamentals. Then, they give these budding entrepreneurs access to either: 1. In-demand, environmentally beneficial products (water filters and clean-burning stoves) that they earn a commission from selling, 2. When there is no longer a need to sell these products the loans are repurposed to fund their own business ventures: resulting in cyclical economic growth. This has proven to be more successful by instilling a sense of dignity, empowerment, and ownership in Haitian communities.

This funding would cover the initial inventory of up to 100 water filtration systems and/or clean-burning stoves, Business Basics Training for Haitians, monitoring and evaluation, and on-going training from their in-country staff for each community.

Unlocking Communities focuses on helping low to middle-income Haitian communities (mainly women and children). These families lack access to unpolluted water and clean-burning stoves. The entire community benefits from gaining access to their environmental products and the resulting economic savings; however, the community entrepreneurs receive the additional benefits of business education and economic opportunity. Secondary beneficiaries are their families. Haitian families are typically 6 people (3-5 children, 1 mother, and sometimes a present father); therefore, 1 filter or stove is providing clean water or lowering second-hand smoke levels (and the risk of related illnesses) for multiple people. This is a major benefit considering: 1. Over 5,600 people die each year in Haiti from contaminated water, 2. Impoverished families are spending between $150- $400 a year (24% of their small annual income) on bottled water and charcoal.

Unlocking Communities has 2 communities in the center of Haiti (Goyave and Cange) that are currently conducting community readiness assessments. They are very keen to get started with the full model. They are interested in being an all-women operation and to support this they will be working with the local women’s organization as their Community Partner.

The Foundation is pleased to support CCSN’s Immigration Assistance Program.

The Immigration Assistance Program (IAP) provides high quality, low cost or pro bono immigration services for foreign-born individuals and their families who seek to obtain or extend lawful immigration status, or who are seeking citizenship in the United States. Consultation is provided to determine eligibility, and provide assistance with nearly all affirmative immigration matters. This includes but is not limited to: processes such as Naturalization/U.S. Citizenship; Family-Based Petitions; applications for Lawful Permanent Resident status (as well as renewals and replacements) and employment authorization/work permit applications and renewals. In 2019, 52.78% of the cases opened by IAP were with women. 69.6% were from Mexico and the remaining 30.4% from 31 other countries around the world. The grant will help fund the portion of the IAP budget not covered by state and federal grants. Historically CCSN has funded IAP with income from their thrift stores, but vastly increased demand is leading to long wait times, even for urgent cases, and more funding is needed. Funds will be spent from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Funds will help make a sustainable difference by serving clients who desperately want and need to establish recognition of their legal right to live and work in this country, and clients who serve a vital role in their local community. Clients served will be brave, resourceful women who have taken a risk of leaving their homes and loved ones, to build a better life for their families.

To measure success, data collection and recording are performed by their immigration specialists, who enter records into relevant tracking systems. With the use of E-Immigration, a nationally recognized, cloud-based tracking system, staff can evaluate client progress and program effectiveness.

Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada is dedicated to providing support to those in need in the Reno/Sparks community as well as across rural Nevada. They help people of all cultures and beliefs rise up out of poverty and overcome the barriers to self-sufficiency. They do this through a broad range of services, including food resources, case management, and residential programs. On average, over 20,000 individuals receive support from them on a monthly basis.

The Foundation is pleased to continue its support of  WGEF.  The mission of Women’s Global Empowerment Fund is to provide women with the framework necessary to create viable opportunities for themselves and their families. Through grassroots strategies, marginalized women are given the tools necessary to alleviate poverty, thus facilitating sustainable development and empowerment.

The funds will be used in 4 of their programs:

-Credit Plus, loan program, for  approximately 225 women (loans and training). Women’s Global Credit Plus program combines microcredit services with literacy, leadership development, health initiatives and basic business education into a single service, reaching women in underserved, rural and peri-rural areas. This integrated approach has been proven to alleviate poverty and empower women.

-Healthy Periods Initiative:  for supplies and materials. To address the issues around menstrual health, and the challenges women and girls face with regards to access and education, WGEF is continuing and expanding the Healthy Periods Initiative, creating local manufacturing centers in vulnerable regions.  Their first expansion center in Lwengo District, opened last year in southwestern Uganda. By producing products locally, they aim to create local economies; providing resources and economic opportunities to women and communities thru manufacturing and microenterprise. This will enable a grassroots, sustainable, and impactful process.

-Literacy 2020: WGEF, in consult with the Ministry of Education, has developed a literacy program that is effective and responsive to the needs of their clients. The adult literacy program is not merely about basic skills of reading and writing, it is about providing women with the ability to understand their lives and social environment as well as equipping them with problem-solving skills, family planning, nutrition and parenting information and resources.

-Community conversations, leadership development and celebrations. Each year at Gulu Women’s Resource Centre (GWRC), a WGEF project, they host meaningful and lively discussions and conferences around topics chosen by the leadership council. In 2019, they hosted a conference called Celebrating the Day of the African Child: Human Rights in Action. The day focused on the issues of child marriage the launch of the girls decide campaign. Over 300 leaders, officials and citizens were in attendance. In 2020, they will again host a graduation again for literacy participants who complete their training and pass thru the examination process. Also, they are planning an event around reproductive health care, including reducing teen pregnancy, access and information.

The Foundation is pleased to support iDE, Community Business Facilitator and Plant Doctor Training Programs.  iDE is an international development organization that transforms the lives of marginalized communities in 11 developing countries around the world, through creating lasting income and livelihood opportunities for rural families.

Approximately 80% of the population in rural Nepal depends on agricultural, however, climate change is threatening the production and livelihood of many farmers. Rainfall uncertainty and the introduction of new pests, such as the devastating Fall Army Worm and the Tuta Absoluta, are having severe negative impacts on farming. Most rural farmers, especially women farmers, do not have the necessary agronomic knowledge or the inputs necessary to improve their baseline productivity or to cope with these new and emerging challenges. Additionally, weak market systems fail to reach small farmers with necessary services and information they need to be prosperous and resilient. Finally, women face specific social and cultural challenges that most men do not. Restrictive social norms have kept women from engaging in agricultural production and the traditional workplace. A grant from the McQuade Foundation will help iDE develop and train women in Nepal to become Community Business Facilitators and Plant Doctors. Community Business Facilitators (also known as a Farm Business Advisors) are small-scale entrepreneurs trained to deliver agronomic advice and sell seeds and inputs to farmers. They operate on a commission basis and provide a valuable service to farmers, linking them to markets and information. They are also an important vehicle for giving farmers, especially women and marginalized groups, a collective voice in communicating their needs.

Many Community Business Facilitators are however not trained on addressing the increasing threats of new pests, such as the Tuta Absoluta and Fall Armyworm. In 2017, iDE devolved their Plant Doctor program to train individuals to help understand and thwart these very dangerous pests and the devastation they can cause to local agriculture. Many of the individuals trained to become Community Business Facilitators and Plant Doctors thus far are women. They serve as a first line of defense in rooting our pests and identifying different solutions to rid of them. iDE’s goal is to maintain at least 50% of the Community Business Facilitators and Plant Doctors as women. They will need to travel into new communities in order to meet this standard.

This grant will give local farmers access to ergonomic knowledge and the tools required to help reduce risk and empower farmers to enhance their economic resiliency, profits, and better able to adapt to climate change. Additionally, with the enhanced focus to bring women into these roles, women will be better suited to increase their economic independence and play a greater role in their family decision making.

The Foundation is pleased to announce a grant to the Philomera Hope Center.

Philomera Hope Center Foundation was founded in February 2012 by a group of young students from the Makerere Universita Kampala. The organization started as a weekend outreach program by students from the university visiting different schools in and out the island talking to peers about different life changing skills, sharing knowledge and information on their sexual reproductive health and rights, along with the importance of finishing school. Now, it is a youth led non-profit organization focused on youth empowerment programs with an emphasis on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention and livelihood support actives). Through their work the address the need to empower and build capacities of young people to lead on a youth led advocacy and accountability for increased scale up of quality sexual reproductive health and rights, youth friendly services and youth corners for better life changing opportunities.

Philomera Hope Center Foundation is requesting the funds for the implementation of the Girls Empowerment and Innovations Village. This is a mega project aimed to empower adolescent girls and young women in the island district of Kalangala in L. Victoria, Uganda. The project is aimed at improving girl’s attendance in school and enabling her to finish school without any hindrances, support girls who drop out of school and acquire employable skills.

Through the Girls Empowerment Center, the Foundation will train school-aged girls in the district on menstrual hygiene, health management and the production of reusable sanitary pads. They will increase school-aged children’s access to clean water and sanitation facilities by installing  water harvesting tanks and  hand washing facilities. With this funding, this project will contribute to improve hygiene and health management among girls, which will result in increased school attention and education outcomes for children. In addition, they will start a vocational training center for adolescent girls and young women between the ages of 10-25. Courses will focus on tailoring, making confectionaries, liquid soap and making crafts (dresses, shirts, skirts, belts, open shoes, wallets and bracelets). These are all in high demand in the district. They will also set up an area of computers and wifi to help these women learn soft skills in a digital era. The aim is to provide these young women with an alternative to commercial sex work.