Lyra in Africa

Lyra strategy and mission: Tanzania has sustained high economic growth over the last decade, averaging 6-7% a year. But while its poverty rate has declined from 60% in 2007 to an estimated 47% in 2016, about 12 million Tanzanians still live in extreme poverty on earnings of less than US$0.60 per day due to fast population growth rate of over 3% per year. Young people in rural Tanzania are still growing up to a future of poverty and hunger. Lyra is working to change that: unlocking local opportunities to shift rural poverty. Lyra's mission is to create sustainable, vibrant rural communities by improving the education of girls and women and creating economic incentives, allowing them to ... read more Lyra strategy and mission: Tanzania has sustained high economic growth over the last decade, averaging 6-7% a year. But while its poverty rate has declined from 60% in 2007 to an estimated 47% in 2016, about 12 million Tanzanians still live in extreme poverty on earnings of less than US$0.60 per day due to fast population growth rate of over 3% per year. Young people in rural Tanzania are still growing up to a future of poverty and hunger. Lyra is working to change that: unlocking local opportunities to shift rural poverty. Lyra's mission is to create sustainable, vibrant rural communities by improving the education of girls and women and creating economic incentives, allowing them to stay in their own villages. Lyra's goal is to build a girls hostel for every secondary school in the Iringa region of Tanzania: guaranteeing accommodation so that girls from wide rural catchment areas can attend secondary school safely and complete their studies. We subsidise attendance for the poorest girls, while mobilising communities to provide food in the long-term. Secondary education transforms girls' opportunities and the prosperity of the whole community. An important effect of girls finishing their secondary education, is smaller, healthier families, specifically as Tanzania has one of the highest birth rates in the world, with more than 44% of the population under the age of 15 in 2017. We leverage the power of digital technology through tablets and computer labs to transform classroom teaching and self-study, so that girls and boys gain more relevant skills to prepare them for work. In the absence of formal banking structures, we create village savings and loan groups, which help families manage their money and access credit to invest in business activities. We support our growing movement of 3,800 members with business skills and entrepreneur training to generate more profitable and diverse businesses. Together, these initiatives enable young people and their families to raise their income and quality of life, securing a better, healthier future in their own, rural villages.