In 2021, Together Women Rise awarded $50,000 Impact Partnership Grants to two “collectives” – AMPLIFY Girls and The Colectivo. Collectives are networks of organizations working together to increase their impact on a shared goal. By funding this collective approach, Together Women Rise will have a deeper impact and more sustainable outcomes for women and girls.
AMPLIFY Girls and ONE Africa
AMPLIFY Girls is a collective made up of 25 partners across four countries in East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda), serving over 60,000 adolescent girls and their communities. It supports community-driven, grassroots organizations to drive change and improve outcomes for adolescent girls. For example, AMPLIFY’s member organizations identified a common problem in the fall of 2020: girls were not returning to school due to the economic challenges related to COVID. In response to this, AMPLYIFY launched a collective, return-to-school campaign. “Like Together Women Rise, we believe that we are stronger together,” AMPLIFY states.
AMPLIFY’s partners include the following past Rise grantees:
- Komera (2021 Featured Grantee in Rwanda)
- WISER International (2018 Featured Grantee in Kenya)
- Nurturing Minds (2011 Featured Grantee in Tanzania).
Click here to see a full list of AMPLIFY Girls’ partners.
Background
Africa has the youngest population, with more than 50% under the age of 18. It is more urgent than ever to build the infrastructure to empower girls across the continent. Girls from poor and rural communities face economic oppression and patriarchal norms that keep them from accessing the education, healthcare, and tools they need to be independent and productive adults. As a result, many girls are forced to leave school early, they get pregnant or married at a young age, and inevitably the cycle of poverty continues.
AMPLIFY Girls believes that local, grassroots organizations (like the ones funded by Together Women Rise) are uniquely positioned to improve outcomes for adolescent girls based on the solutions that are best for their communities. Yet, these grassroots organizations are typically under-resourced and under-valued. According to a report issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in 2018, community-based interventions received less than 1 per cent of the $150 billion in official development assistance.
At the Generation Equality Forum: Paris
AMPLIFY Girls’ offers support to community-driven, grassroots organizations, providing resources that are beyond the capacity of these small initiatives:
- Supporting the sharing of promising programmatic and organizational practices across their partner organizations, which promotes an environment of collaboration and support. This includes peer and expert led workshops to support the growth of their partners.
- Demonstrating and measuring the interventions they see as best for their communities. This year, they will share promising practices in girls’ agency across their partner organizations.
- Advocating with a collective voice for girls’ rights and the work of grassroots organizations serving adolescent girls across East Africa. This year, they will launch an adolescent girls’ advisory council, amplifying the voices of girls both locally and globally.
Our Impact Partnership Grant will help AMPLIFY Girls provide direct programmatic support to its’ partner organizations. Their goal is to continue to develop the individual capacities of its’ partners in fundraising, programs, research, and advocacy which will directly impact the lives of adolescent girls across the region.