KCTT Program: Umoyo Training Centre
Empowerment of Female Orphans and Other Vulnerable Female Youths
Lusaka, Zambia
Background
Umoyo Training Centre started as a pilot project in November 1996. Orphan girls chosen by their communities (by elders, local political leaders, or at a community meeting) take part in the program. They are first given counselling to help them deal with their grief and sense of loss. Later, the girls are empowered with strong academic training. They also learned about independent sexuality and reproductive health. As of July 2002, a total of 200 girls were trained as a result of this project. More than 80% of the girls who graduate engage in further training, employment or running small businesses.
Drawing on the Umoyo Training Centre experience, girls who graduate and gain employment become breadwinners. They provide food and school fees for their brothers and sisters. The female orphans and other vulnerable female youths coming to Umoyo Training Centre do not live in isolation -- for each girl that comes to Umoyo there are, on average, another five children at home. The Umoyo Training Centre program demonstrates that girls who are empowered and able to start work and venture into businesses, can take care of their families. They can also take their young brothers and sisters back to school. This is more sustainable then merely providing for orphaned children throughout their lives.
"It's a blessed thing that against all odds, there remains such tremendous determination and spirit among Africans to save this continent. The world need only feed that spirit, and Africa will prevail." Stephen Lewis |
The beauty of Umoyo lies in the spirited sense of empowerment that it provides to the girls. With that empowerment, they stride purposefully into employment when they return home, whether baking, weaving, beading or running small variety stores.
The Umoyo Training Centre enables girls to compete in the economy, encouraging them to further their education or to start their own business. This improves their coping skills and, in turn, results in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The Project
The Stephen Lewis Foundation provided funds for programs which build the capacity of vulnerable teenage girls who are orphaned (mainly due to HIV/AIDS) to fully cope with life. Funding for this project includes a significant contribution from Homemakers Magazine's 'Give Girls a Chance Fund' with the Tides Canada Foundation.
Beginning in 2003, three annual contributions will be made. The Stephen Lewis Foundation is negotiating with another private Foundation, and various individual contributors to make this possible. The money will allow rescue of between 45 and 60 additional girls from lives of isolation and despair.
SLF Ref#: UTC.03.11