Project Title: Widows’ Empowerment in Tanzania Through Investment, Entrepreneurship, and Legal and Financial Literacy

Location: Kenya, Tanzania

Grant Amount: $45,615

Grantee Website: globalfundforwidows.org

Areas of Impact: Economic Sustainability, Education & Literacy, Gender Equality, Health, Poverty Elimination

Mission of Global Fund for Widows (GFW)
Global Fund for Widows is dedicated to empowering widows and female heads of households to overcome poverty through skills-based training, job creation, and micro-finance. Ultimately, the goal is to help widows achieve financial stability, self-sufficiency, and importantly, become role models within their family and community.

Summary
This grant will support widows living in poverty in the Arusha Region to build decent and sustainable livelihoods, enabling them to lead dignified and healthy lives in which they can afford essential goods such as nutrition, schooling for their children, and access to medical care. The women will be supported in starting Widows’ Savings and Loan Associations (WISALAs), which are widow-owned micro-banks that create a repeating cycle of capital, increases their income by 2,000% a year, and allows them to become financially and legally literate.

Why We Love This
We love the focus on Maasai women in Tanzania and savings and loan associations for widows. Our previous grant for a similar program in a different country had astonishing results. Because the average age of widows in Tanzania is 37, the negative impacts of widowhood include economic pressure that can create generational poverty.