After 4+ amazing years working at Do Something, I decided it was time for a change. While at Do Something, I managed the Do Something grants program (distributing over 150 grants a year) and the Do Something Awards which honors the best world-changers under 25 (and was televised on Vh1 this past July). I will be spending the next five months volunteering with several Do Something Award alumni in Uganda and Kenya, where I will help them with capacity building and program development, as well as working to set up an art program at the Kiberia School for Girls in Kenya.
In addition, I will be organizing a half-day seminar for our WMF scholars in Uganda in early January. I am very excited to finally meet our 11 Ugandan scholars in person!
Learn more about the organizations I will be working with below:
Educate!
Kampala, Uganda
http://www.experienceeducate.org/
Educate! works to directly address the most fundamental challenge facing Africa: the lack of socially-responsible leadership across diverse sectors of society.
Educate! equips and mobilizes students to help solve the greatest challenges faced by African communities by starting grassroots movements to find local solutions to local problems. Educate! supports these young leaders as they work to create sustainable change.
Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Association (AGYA)
Kampala, Uganda
http://amagezigemaanyi.blogspot.com
Founded in 2008, the Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Association (AGYA) is a non-profit organization committed to creating a safe, supportive, sustainable learning environment where Ugandan youth can develop leadership skills and express themselves creatively.
AGYA operates a community center that has provided outreach, education, and services to more than 1,000 people living in poverty in urban Uganda.
Shining Hope for Communities
Kiberia, Kenya
http://www.hopetoshine.org
They combat intergenerational cycles of poverty and gender inequality by linking tuition-free schools for girls to essential social services in Kenya’s Kibera slum through a holistic, community-driven approach. By concretely linking essential health and economic services to a school for girls, they demonstrate that benefiting women benefits the whole community, cultivating a community ethos that makes women respected members of society.
Good to see how you will spend your time in Uganda. I wish you all the best in your work and thank you so much for your efforts at making Africa a better place. God bless you. ‘AMARAABA’ (welcome)