Page 12 - Big Ideas | Issue 1

Big Ideas
In addition to all of our other work, we are very proud of the work we are doing within the community. In August, we started working with a local NGO that runs a school offering different programs to children living with disabilities. As in much of the developed world, individuals with disabilities are often marginalized and not afforded the educational opportunities that they need. We have helped Juwasha build a website, build a Facebook page, and list their school on Google Maps. We have also used our tourism contacts to find local volunteers, all of whom are artists who sell their artwork to tourists. These new volunteers allow Juwasha to offer more days of classes throughout the week for their students. This has been very well received by the students and their parents.
Juwasha receives funding from one resort on the island, but we are
Community Involvement
tourism providers on the island and are actively working with them to develop a funding proposal and identify various funding opportunities.
One of our students, Ramadhan, already volunteers with Juwasha. We hope to involve more of our students as we partner with Juwasha to offer life skills classes and other programs. As these children become young adults, we hope to enroll some of them in the Welcome Ideas short courses, certificate programs, or diploma programs. We will keep you updated on this exciting and rewarding partnership. To learn more visit: juwasha.org.
In June, Welcome Ideas joined a group called the HubNetwork, a group of NGOs focused on youth employment and entrepreneurship. This group has been headed by EqwipHubs, a Canadian NGO that will be closing in December. We have taken on an active role within the HubNetwork and hope to continue building this network and partnering with other organizations in this network.
In addition to the HubNetwork, we partnered with the Zanzibar Association of Tourism Investors (ZATI), Volunteer Service Organization (VSO), Kawa Training Center, and other groups to prepare youth employment initiatives in tourism for the President of Zanzibar. We have also been working with UNICEF to offer our programs in the northern part of the island to assist in one of their youth employment initiatives. While we have had good discussions with UNICEF, we currently do not have the financial or human resources to help with the project.
Through our work with the HubNetwork, we were introduced to Sisi Women & Children, a new organization founded by a group of local women who want to improve the access to IT education for girls. In Zanzibar, IT education in primary and secondary education is almost exclusively dominated by boys. Sisi has created after-school programs and clubs to help mentor girls in secondary school and expose them to the benefits of pursuing IT education. As we train our students, we will be working with Sisi to partner our female students with some of the young girls in their program to act as mentors. We’re very excited about the opportunity to partner with Sisi Women & Children and we hope to share with you some of our successes through them in the future. To learn more visit: sisiwomenandchildren.org.
working with them to diversify their funding sources. We hope to help them raise additional funds from other