Zoe Empowers was the most cost efficient, successful program we have seen in the field of youth economic empowerment, with a 95% success rate.
WE WANT TO GIVE YOUTH DEPENDENT HOUSEHOLDS IN SIERRA LEONE TOOLS TO THRIVE.
More than 76,000 youth and children in Sierra Leone are at this very moment digging through trash to pick out scrap metal, selling water on the roadside that they hauled 5 miles from the steam, running errands for unscrupulous adults, and otherwise hustling to make enough money to simply survive on the street. Many are living in the street with displaced family members and supporting younger siblings and disabled adults who have no means to contribute.
Zoe has empowered 187,000+ young people since 2007 in Kenya, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Liberia, India, Tanzania, Mozambique, and South Sudan to find economic stability and to provide for their families in a way that lifts the entire family out of poverty.
Zoe has empowered 187,000+ young people since 2007 in Kenya, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Liberia, India, Tanzania, Mozambique, and South Sudan to find economic stability and to provide for their families in a way that lifts the entire family out of poverty.
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"Over 150 million children have lost a parent to war, disease or famine, and there are upwards of 43 million forcibly displaced children worldwide."
Dr. Laura Horvath, D.Ed. Director of Global Programs, HCW "The lives of the young people we interviewed were transformed by the Zoe experience, no longer seen as the undesirable cast-offs of society, but respected business leaders and employers, remarkably confident, capable and proud." Dr. Melody Curtiss, Esq., J.D. Exec. Director, HCW |
We first heard of Zoe through the community of practice in the child welfare sector addressing the family separation and global orphan crisis.
We felt a kinship from the beginning. Like HCW, Zoe was originally founded by United Methodist Clergy, working in Africa with orphans and displaced children, and its leadership stressed the importance of localization for sustainable solutions. We have looked at many ways of addressing older street children. The sheer numbers are one of the most discouraging factors, and the propensity of teens to resist interventions and drop out is another. The statistics on how Zoe Empowers scales rapidly and exponentially were in the "too good to be true" range, and so was their overall success rate. We were skeptical, but interested. |
We were invited by our friends at Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City to travel to Kenya and see for ourselves the metamorphosis of young breadwinners who emerge from Zoe as guardians of their own well-being, armed with skills for a lifetime of triumphs.
Guided by a nurturing community, we saw how the young people gain the power to forge a life of purpose and meaning, leaving a trail of positivity in their wake. We knew we wanted this for the street-connected youth of Sierra Leone. We jumped at the opportunity. Next, we traveled to Mozambique with George Kulanda and David Musa from the CRC and witnessed a program in its infancy. Invited by the General Board of Global Ministries, the UMC Bishop and our friends at Foundation for Orphans (F4O) to speak to the partnership on child reintegration and family strengthening, we also saw the Zoe program that F4O just initiated, and recognized after only a few months, it was already producing positive results. |
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WHAT ZOE IS NOT:
ZOE IS NOT A PETER PAN OR LORD OF THE FLIES FANTASY - IT ISN'T A GROUP OF UNRELATED ORPHANS BROUGHT TOGETHER TO TURN ONE OR TWO CHILDREN INTO SURROGATE ADULTS AND FORM A SUBSTITUTE HOUSEHOLD ENTIRELY OF MINORS. ZOE IS NOT AN ORPHANAGE, A GROUP HOME OR ANY OTHER KIND OF RESIDENTIAL FACILITY. ZOE IS NOT A WELFARE, SUPPORT OR SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM FOR ORPHANS. So what is it?
Zoe Empowers is a (1) step-by-step (2) proven (3) indigenous-led program that (a) establishes a network of peers for young people currently making a meager living on the streets; (b) safely engages and prepares them in the profession of their choice with (c) trusted mentors, and training programs that teach life and leadership skills, legal rights, and money management; and (d) educational programs and apprenticeships to learn trade-specific technical skills, so they may (e) open a business and (f) make a good living at it; (g) so good, that they climb to the middle class (h) in less time than a college education would have required, if they had already completed primary and secondary school - which they likely did not. |
ZOE IS ALSO NOT:
THE SOLUTION FOR YOUNG CHILDREN LIVING OUTSIDE OF PARENTAL CARE. A PROGRAM TO RETURN RUNAWAY CHILDREN TO FAMILIES WHO WANT THEM. A PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN LIVING WITH ADULTS WHO ARE WILLING AND ABLE TO WORK. THAT IS WHAT FAMILY STRENGTHENING AND CHILD REINTEGRATION PROGRAMS DO, AND WHY WE SUPPORT THE CRC AND CFPS PROGRAMS IN SIERRA LEONE. Reintegration and family strengthening programs offer a solution for 20% of the displaced children and their families found on the streets in Sierra Leone, but not for the other 80% of these youth-dependent households. Reintegration isn't necessary for the remaining 80%, they already live with what family they have left. Family strengthening works with adult caregivers, like parents, grandparents, aunts and other kinship and foster care providers to enable them to do more to earn income, to manage family finances, and to provide resiliency interventions to improve for their parenting skills and financial wellbeing. |
FAMILY STRENGTHENING IS NOT A WORKABLE SOLUTIONS FOR FAMILIES WHEN THERE ARE NO ADULTS IN THEIR FAMILY WHO ARE ABLE OR WILLING TO PROVIDE FOOD, SHELTER OR BASIC NECESSITIES OF LIFE. WE NEED A LOCALIZED BEST PRACTICES SOLUTION - WE NEED ZOE!
