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2017 - 2018, Year 7: Komera

In 2017/2018 we partnered with Komera, an organization based in Rwanda that focuses on three main pillars:

Education: Komera sponsors scholars with full tuition, including room and board at a public boarding school in Rwanda. Komera also provides intensive leadership and social entrepreneurship training during holidays.
Community: Komera builds a local community of support for the scholars. At school, a scholar meets with her Komera mentor and fellow scholars once a week. At home, her parents work with the Komera Parent Co-Operative.
Sport: Komera is unique because of its emphasis on empowerment and positive body image through sport. There is an annual Komera Global Run in June.


This year, 11Empowered teamed up with St. Frank, a unique retail brand that partners with entrepreneurial artisan organizations that transform the communities in which they work by providing quality jobs, training, and other holistic support to artisans. The collaboration raised $11,764 in support of Komera's efforts. ​
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2016 - 2017, Year 6: Intaliqi

In 2016 we partnered with Intaliqi, an organization that empowers socially disadvantaged women, mostly Syrian refugees, and helps them lead better lives for themselves, their families and their communities. Since 2013, Intaliqi has been working in makeshift settlements in Lebanon. Intaliqi started a kitchen in one of the refugee camps in the Bekaa valley, where women cook all day to provide meals for the community. By giving them the opportunity, they are also given their dignity back. 11Empowered raised $11,000 to launch the Intaliqi-Empowered11 Empowerment Agricultural Program, which falls within Intaliqi’s initiatives to empower refugee women to become self-sufficient and agents of change within their communities. 
 
The program’s objectives are to: 
* Empower displaced Syrian women refugees by providing them with employment, awareness, and training
* Nourish the displaced community with local and organic food 
* Establish relationships between Empowered 11 and sponsored women 
 
To accomplish these objectives Intaliqi leased a 7,000 square meters land in Majdal 3anjar in the Bekaa valley. The plot is strategically located next to a clean water source and the region has a reputation of being the agriculture center of Lebanon. The program is divided into 3 phases:
  • Phase 1: improving the quality of the soil following the winter season
  • Phase 2: plantation, maintenance and harvest, and finally
  • Phase 3: distributing and processing the produce. 
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2015 - 2016, Year 5: Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance (GAIA)

In 2015 we partnered with GAIA, which is an organization that develops innovative and caring healthcare programs in resource-deprived regions in Africa, especially those most affected by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. GAIA’s programs seek to empower girls and women, emphasize prevention, and expand access. The organization was founded in 2000 by Dr. William Rankin, former Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, and Dr. Charles Wilson, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Neurological Surgery, UCSF, in response to the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. GAIA’s founding Country Director, Jones Laviwa, MA, a Malawian development professional, was succeeded in 2015 by Joyce Jere, RN, MPH, a Malawian nurse with vast experience in both clinical work and administration. Under Joyce's leadership, the Malawi staff has grown to a team of 64, two-thirds of them are women. Currently, GAIA's works spans three countries:

LIBERIA
Nursing Scholarship: support to 8 students in response to the Ebola epidemic. 
MALAWI
Mobile Clinics: basic health services at 7 clinics serving 2 districts and more than 900,000 people in southern, rural Malawi.
Nursing Scholarship: support to 500+ students since 2005 with more than 380 graduates working in 28 districts in Malawi.​
Targeted Community Programs: prevention, testing and linkage to care for those most at risk of HIV/AIDS
​SOUTH AFRICA

Health Worker Scholarships: support to 2 students (Faculty Development for the Malawi College of Medicine) for Masters preparation in physical therapy.

11Empowered raised a total of $11,965 which went to the support two student nursing scholarships.
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2014 - 2015, Year 4: Akili Dada

This year we are partnering with Akili Dada, a wonderful organization based in Nairobi whose mission is to cultivate female leaders to build the future of Kenya. 

They target young, academically gifted but underprivileged women across Kenya and provide them access to high school education, mentorship, internships, leadership training, social entrepreneurship opportunities, and more. Founded in 2005, they have provided 61 scholarships to support girls through high school. 100% of their scholars qualify for scholarships to universities in Kenya and globally. 100 Kenyan women are providing regular mentoring activities. Alumnae have been placed in 26 internships often with NGOs and 5 fellowships have been granted to alumni to create social enterprises in Kenya. 

We feel Akili Dada is perfectly aligned with our mission and we are excited to work alongside them this year. We ultimately raised $11,880 to support the organization!

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​2013 - 2014, Year 3: Semillas

This year we are partnering with Semillas, a Mexican women's community foundation that provides grants and technical assistance to women's groups advancing the social, political, and economic rights of women in Mexico.

Specifically, we are trying to raise over $15,000 to fund Sbejel Ansetik Sociedad Cooperativa, based in Guaquitepec Chilón, Chiapas. This women’s cooperative was founded in 2012 by former Semillas grantee, Anita Gómez, with the goal to strengthen the economic autonomy of indigenous Tseltal women. The project will strengthen the abilities of 48 women to produce and sell natural products including marmalade, soap and artisan work. The project will also train sexual and reproductive health promoters specializing in women’s reproductive rights with the aim of decreasing maternal mortality. Further, this project will continue to develop Anita ́s leadership skills, as she has proven herself to be a strong voice, role model and advocate in the region. 

We are excited to support this ambitious project!
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2012 - 2013, Year 2: Camfed 

Camfed fights poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to become leaders of change. Their mission is to improve the lives of two million children by 2013. They have a girl-centric approach and a long-term program that provides long-term support via school fees, supplies, uniforms, etc. They offer business training and small grants to women through their Seed Money Program. The also empower women by providing a supportive alumni network.

Here the background story on Camfed:
In 1991, Founder, Ann Cotton, visited Zimbabwe to investigate why girls’ school enrollment in rural areas was so low. What she found surprised her. Contrary to the common assumption that families weren’t sending girls to school for cultural reasons, Ann discovered poverty was the main roadblock. In her first year, she raised funds through grass-roots efforts and sent 32 to girls to school. In 1993, Camfed was formalized.

Their target and impact to date:
Camfed services 2,517 communities in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania. Camfed has supported 602,405 girls and vulnerable boys through school, taught 20,216 young women basic economic skills and helped 6,915 young women launch small businesses. Our work has also started a local philanthropic movement: Cama members have helped 161,300 children go to school.

Camfed USA is based in San Francisco but focuses its efforts on Sub-Saharan Africa. 

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2011 - 2012, Year 1: The Women's Initiative

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Women's Initiative for Self Employment is a Bay Area non-profit which provides high-potential, lower-income women the training, resources and on-going support to start and grow their business. The business management training, technical assistance, and financial services they provide — in English and Spanish — improve the quality of life for the women they serve, their families and our communities.

Since inception Women's Initiative has served more than 22,000 women in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Their mission is to build the entrepreneurial capacity of women to overcome economic and social barriers and achieve self-sufficiency. Women's Initiative has proven that women create jobs for themselves and others, access the mainstream economy, and increase their economic self-sufficiency when they are given business planning and financing support.

Client Profile:
The average age is 41 and 100% are low-income women at program entry. 78% are women of color. 46% speak Spanish as their first or only language, 29% are single parents and 15% have a disability.

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Connie Rivera, owner of Mixcoatl Arts & Crafts
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A few amazing entrepreneurs!
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