Her Initiative

Our Story, Our Evolution

In 2016, Her Initiative took root, fully blossoming into action in July 2019, propelled by a visionary team led by Lydia Charles Moyo. Her  personal journey as a young woman striving for financial independence fueled the organization's inception. Her own experiences inspired a commitment to seeking solutions not only for herself but for other young women facing similar financial constraints. Today, Her Initiative stands as a testament to a girl who empowers herself to confront social and economic challenges. Lydia's initial motivation stemmed from witnessing her peers drop out of school due to poverty, child marriage, and early pregnancies. In 2012, she rallied fellow high school gi/rls, sparking self-awareness campaigns and events on girls' rights and relevant laws across more than 10 schools in Dar es Salaam. Transitioning to university, Lydia spearheaded entrepreneurship campaigns like Panda events, fostering knowledge on entrepreneurship and facilitating connections with successful industry leaders.

Target group

Our work supports and prioritizes girls and young women and girls with limited economic opportunities in formal and informal labour markets, excluded from productive markets, and with increased economic vulnerability due to marginalization. We primarily work with and support women who are micro-entrepreneurs (often in the informal sector), small-scale producers, workers in the formal and informal sectors, and financially excluded women.

Mission

We are committed to economic rights and justice, and digital inclusion, supporting young women and girls to achieve economic resilience, financial autonomy, enabling them to overcome barriers and live with dignity.

Vision

We envision an inclusive society where adolescent girls and young women have the power to choose and create opportunities for themselves as they achieve economic resilience, overcome barriers, and live with dignity.

Our Why

Adolescent girls and young women in Tanzania face a distressing reality, trapped in a vicious circle of poverty, limited opportunities, and vulnerability to gender-based violence (GBV).   90% of working women are employed in the informal sector, which offers unstable, poorly paid jobs with little access to social protection. Women are 30% less likely than men to access financial services, making pursuing entrepreneurial ventures difficult due to restricted access to capital, limited business skills, and market challenges. Furthermore, GBV remains a pervasive issue, with 40% of women aged 15-49 having experienced physical violence, and 17% experiencing sexual violence, according to the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey (2022 TDHS-MIS).

Our Strategic Objectives

Strategic Priority 1: Enabling Economic and Financial Freedom - Facilitate economic and financial independence for 125,750 adolescent girls and young women through digital inclusion, income generation, and job creation initiatives.

Strategic Priority 2: Equipping Adolescent Girls and Young Women to Overcome Barriers - Equip adolescent girls and young women to break through the barriers that prevent them from reaching their full potential by actively championing against gender-based violence (GBV) and impacts of HIV/AIDS.

Strategic Priority 3: Developing Innovative Partnerships for Program Delivery

Forge innovative partnerships for program design and implementation, while championing the feminist movement, and support to ensure sustainability of programs.

Strategic Priority 4: Strengthening Institutional Capacity and Sustainability

Enhance Her Initiative’s institutional capacity and ensure long-term sustainability by building robust operational frameworks, securing diverse funding sources, and developing strong governance practices.

Our Approach

Our approach elevates from breaking barriers to changing behavior, advancing skills, and amplifying voices: Our holistic approach not only breaks down barriers but also fosters behavioral change, advances skills, and amplifies the voices of girls and young women, creating a comprehensive pathway to advancement and resilience.This comprehensive approach integrates 4 components:  skills development, agency empowerment, linkages to opportunities, and the creation of an enabling environment.

Our Model

At the heart of our programs is the Economic Rights and Justice Program, which includes entrepreneurship and digital inclusion and digital skills training, financial literacy, and mentorship. These initiatives empower participants with the skills and knowledge needed to gain financial independence. To further support this, we build linkages to opportunities through partnerships with financial institutions, including microfinance, facilitating access to loans and grants to start or expand businesses.

Recognizing that economic rights and justice alone is not sufficient for the success of girls and young women, we embed a holistic approach of feminist rights-based education within our model.

Our IMPACT

At Her Initiative, our impact speaks volumes — directly engaging and uplifting 31823 young women, facilitating the establishment of 210 women-owned businesses, and driving the digitization of business operations for 2,265 women and youth. Through our Panda Digital platform, we've disseminated essential business concepts to over 6000 young minds, unlocking their entrepreneurial potential. 500 adolescent girls were engaged in financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership training through Mshiko clubs. 500 parents, 10 teachers, 10 local government officials, and 150 boys engaged to support girl's inclusion in education.

Furthermore, our dedication to nurturing the sector is evident in our support for 18 youth-led non-profit organizations.

Our interventions

1. Mshiko Club:

Mshiko clubs is a project that aims at setting a road map to financial freedom for girls (14-19) in schools by using a hybrid model of economic empowerment that includes the adoption of good financial behaviors, extracurricular income-generating activities, and girls agency empowerment to promote girl’s self-esteem and self-efficacy that help girls stay and enjoy school.

2. Panda Digital:

Panda Digital is a Swahili hybrid e-learning platform using a website and AI SMS to empower young women with skills, business support, and social justice. It tackles unemployment by promoting self-employment and has impacted over 7,000 women, bridging the digital gender gap and addressing sextortion. Panda Digital is a Swahili hybrid e-learning platform using a website and AI SMS to empower young women with skills, opportunities, personalized business support, and social justice.

3. Panda on The Grounds

Panda on the Ground is a project that aims at planting a seed of financial freedom for women aged 18-35 who have the desire to start businesses through income generation and job creation. The program offers hands-on entrepreneurial training, mentorship, and financial linkages, impacting 210 women who have launched their businesses.

4. Digimali

DigiMali comes from the two Swahili words “Digitali na Mjasiliamali” translating to “Digital and Entrepreneur” in English, the project aims to transform and uplift communities through the power of digital literacy and technology. The program intends to boost self-employment by training young entrepreneurs to run sustainable businesses helping them transform traditional businesses into digital enterprises. Since its inception, DigiMali has directly empowered 201 individuals and reached an additional 2,806 through its Training of Trainers (TOT) model.

5. Youth Employability Boot Camp

The Youth Employability Boot Camp (YEB) focuses on honing the skills of young graduates, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. Through training, mentorship, and placements, we equip youth with essential technical and soft skills, increasing their employability in the job market.

6. Plan B Project

Plan B project aims to support out of school adolescent girls,unemployed and young mothers aged (15-24) in Tanzania overcoming barriers of gender based violence whilst building their financial resilience through entrepreneurship skills and seed support resources. Since its inception, Plan B has empowered over 300 girls in Kisarawe District, helping 150 of them start businesses and join saving groups. The project has increased advocacy and leadership skills, improved confidence, and raised awareness about gender-based violence within the community.

 7. FIKIA+

The FIKIA+ Project targets HIV prevention and economic empowerment for Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) aged 15-24 living with HIV (PLHIV). So far, the project has supported 103 AGYW in Nyamagana district, Mwanza region by providing economic empowerment, agency empowerment and comprehensive SRH education to create demand for HIV testing services and retention to treatment services among AGYW PLHIV (15-24) in Tanzania.

8. STAWI Lab

The 'Stawi Lab' (Flourish Lab in English) project is at the forefront of an ambitious ecosystem-building initiative, with a singular goal: supporting youth-led organizations dedicated to championing the rights and interests of girls and women. Our approach is multifaceted, weaving together capacity-building, mentorship, and the provision of unrestricted seed grants. In our collective movement, these youth-led organizations passionately advocate for the decolonization of funding, rallying for research, data, and empirical evidence to underpin funding approaches that are not only inclusive but also imbued with deep meaning.

Our Team

At the heart of our mission, we are a dynamic team of young women leaders who intimately understand and resonate with the challenges faced by our peers. Our identity is rooted in being girl-centric, where the needs and aspirations of young women and girls are at the forefront of every endeavour we undertake.