Grant awarded to Philomera Hope Center Foundation

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.