Women's Initiatives that Strengthen & Empower

WISE supports empowerment and economic independence for vulnerable children and women in Zambia through educational, economic, and agricultural initiatives. At present, we fulfill our mission through two main programs: educational empowerment and agricultural self-sufficiency. Of course, like many missions, that is very broad. More specifically, we work in rural Zambia, providing educational opportunities to vulnerable children and agricultural support to their families. Our flagship program can be described as a "scholarship" program; working with local governmental officials and traditional leaders to identify vulnerable students in remote communities (primarily, but not exclus... read more WISE supports empowerment and economic independence for vulnerable children and women in Zambia through educational, economic, and agricultural initiatives. At present, we fulfill our mission through two main programs: educational empowerment and agricultural self-sufficiency. Of course, like many missions, that is very broad. More specifically, we work in rural Zambia, providing educational opportunities to vulnerable children and agricultural support to their families. Our flagship program can be described as a "scholarship" program; working with local governmental officials and traditional leaders to identify vulnerable students in remote communities (primarily, but not exclusively, female students), and provide them with the resources to attend both secondary and tertiary school. The two key components of tihs program: 1. "High hanging fruit": Almost without exception, the community schools with which we work are located in remote areas, where education ends at the 7th grade and the students (and their families) lack the resources to go to secondary school, let alone post-secondary school. For female students, this often means marriage with a year or two following the 7th grade. 2. "360-degree support": For most of our students, attending secondary school means leaving home for the nearest boarding school. For all of our students, we provide complete support to make their success possible, including school supplies, mentoring, emotional support, and agricultural training and support for their families. Our six core values are: 1. "Self-Determination": Whether on an individual, family, community, or national level, WISE's programs are designed to enable true self-determination, rather thna simply incremental improvements. 2. "Giving Back": A critical component of our programs, and particularly those involving our scholarship students, is that none of our students develop a sense of entitlement; in fact, we seek the opposite, a sense of gratitude and desire to "give back" or "pay it forward." Our students commit to giving back, either through service or monies, once they become self-sufficient, to either their communities, WISE, or both. 3. Long-Term Commitment: Long-term change requires long-term commitment, both to communities and individuals. Thus, our students are aware that, upon receiving a scholarship, that WISE will support them through their educational careers. We follow each student from the 7th grade through tertiary school, whether university, college, or trade school. 4. "No Ceilings": A value closely related to long-term commitment, it is our belief that temporal assistance or programs that do not facilitate true economic independence are not truly effective. We work on a "ripple effect" model, believing that enabling our students and clients to achieve economic independence frees them to be part of a stable workforce for Zambia-ensuring the country's own economic growth-as well as freeing these individuals to provide assistance to their own families and communities. 5. Cooperation: Programmatic success requires cooperation with all stakeholders, particularly the government, traditional and community leaders, and local educators. Coordinating programs with relevant government agencies, as well as traditional and community leaders, maximizes the likelihood of programmatic success. 6. "Self-Determination": Whether on an individual, family, community, or national level, WISE's programs are intended to promote true self-determination. It is for that reason that our programs focus on education. Cross-Pollination: WISE attempts to structure its programs in a manner to obtain maximum benefits for a wide range of constituents. For example, WISE's agricultural conservation training program began with the families of WISE's scholarship students; thus, the first training program not only assisted subsistence level families, but had the added benefit of providing additional support for WISE's scholarship students.