Ko-K-Yo Foundation is working on the following projects to fulfill its mission of empowering the women and providing education to the children of two villages in the Afar region. All of these projects are in varying stages of planning and fundraising, we need your support to achieve the goals of each project!
building literacy
Without literacy, the children will not be able to fulfill their full potential as it is the foundation on which their futures will be built.
goals
- 100% of children in both villages aged 12 and under will be enrolled in primary school
- 90% of children in both villages aged 12 and under will achieve basic literacy in their native language, Afar, and the national language of Ethiopia, as well as basic math skills
tactics
In order to achieve these goals, Ko-K-Yo Foundation needs to first provide the children with a dedicated space that will enable and encourage learning. This will entail the building of a primary school that will be staffed with professional teachers. One of the biggest challenges is the inability to attract and retain teachers due to the remoteness of the region. The Foundation will work to rectify this through providing amenities (for example, teacher housing) and stable funding for recruiting, hiring and retaining professional teachers. To spur the children's interest in reading, we will also fund professional children's book authors and illustrators to create storybooks in Afar and Amharic languages that will have stories that are familiar and relevant to the people of the region. There are currently no children's books in these languages that best fit the Afar culture and tradition.
- We will construct school facilities that will enable learning
- We will offer breakfast and lunch in order to prevent hunger from being a deterrent to learning
- We will provide stable funding to the community to recruit, hire, and retain professional teachers
- We will build housing for teachers to live in while she/he works in the community
- We will fund the publication of children's books written in Afar and Amharic to encourage reading
building empowerment
The Afars have a male-dominated society where women have very few rights and opportunities. We aim to empower the women of these villages by providing education and business opportunities that would allow them to take ownership over their own future, be equal partners in determining their community's future direction, and contribute to the country's economy.
goals
- Train women on basic skills of entrepreneurship
- Assist female entrepreneurs to establish profitable businesses
- Enable them contribute to the region's economy, which gives them power over their own futures
tactics
We will offer free training programs to the adult women in the community. In these programs, we will work with the women to determine what type of business has the most potential, help them achieve functional literacy, and obtain basic business skills. For the women who finish the training programs, we will provide micro-financing for the initial capital necessary to start their businesses.
- We will fund an economic assessment of the region to establish what type of businesses have the most potential for success in the region, for example, souvenir manufacturing, tourism services, textiles
- We will offer free programs in functional literacy and business skills for the adult women of the community
- We will provide micro-financing to the women who complete the training program for initial capital for their businesses