The mission of Vanavevhu – Children of the Soil is to provide support to and advocate for child-headed households in the low-income neighborhoods in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city. Vanavevhu provides for children orphaned by AIDS the resources that a parent would otherwise provide: food, education, health care, and shelter. Vanavevhu is dedicated to the financial self-sufficiency of child-headed families and seeks to contribute to the development of this youth community by providing education and training that will ensure a measurable improvement in their lives. Vanavevhu gives these youth the chance to overcome the obstacles they face as a consequence of the AIDS pandemic, economic crisis, and political turmoil. Vanavevhu nurtures and empowers these youth, as they are the future of Zimbabwe. Our investment strengthens and supports these disadvantaged families and prepares its young participants to become individuals committed to the success and growth of their immediate communities, thus benefiting the nation as a whole.
Vanavevhu is a youth-led social enterprise that combines income-generating projects with training and workforce development for youth who are heads of household. The enterprise creates training opportunities and jobs for youth in underserved communities in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe. Through projects that provide services and resources that are needed and hard to come by, the organization envisions the reengagement of youth who have experienced isolation in their communities. The enterprise uses an empowerment model to foster business, academic, and life skills in challenged young people, giving them the means to become self-sufficient, contributing adults. Programming for Vanavevhu has been developed around economic security and the transformation of child-headed households into independent youth families, the latter term connoting a sense of empowerment and acknowledging the resilience and strength that have characterised Zimbabwe’s young household heads. Given the feminised nature of primary caregiving in Africa and the need to strengthen women’s economic status, Vanavevhu pays particular attention to girl child-heads.
- Location: Evanston, Illinois
- Visit the website: vanavevhu.org