SWAZILAND
About the Project
Young Heroes empowers Swaziland’s most vulnerable youth to achieve their fullest potential.
The project launched in 2006, originally intended to link sponsors and monthly life-support grants with orphan families in need of food, clothing, school fees and other necessities. A quarter of Swaziland’s children are orphans, in part due to its having the highest rate of HIV/AIDS on earth.
Today, the program has expanded to include health care; HIV education, prevention and care programs; educational support; and gender and economic empowerment programs.
By keeping the remaining family together, providing supervision and encouraging good education, Young Heroes gives an entire generation another chance.
Social & Environmental Impacts
Poverty and climate change are inextricably connected. Climate change hits poor communities hardest because they are vulnerable to natural disasters and more directly dependent on natural resources for daily life. At the same time, poverty creates a situation where individuals must prioritize their most immediate needs, without consideration of future environmental sustainability.
Half of the people living in poverty on this planet are under the age of 18. Young Heroes addresses the immediate needs of children, while helping them create a successful future. The prevalence of HIV tends to be higher for women and girls in Sub-saharan Africa, but when you educate girls, they are less likely to contract HIV/AIDS and they are more resilient in the face of climate change.
