Project Update: The Baytree Centre are sparking brighter futures!


Yas Comez
7 March 2023


We are thrilled to present another update on one of the brilliant projects we are supporting! This time, it’s from the Baytree’s Sparking Futures Employability Hub for girls aged 14-20 in South London. We awarded a grant at the start of 2022 to help the Baytree Centre establish a new employability hub and the project has now been running for a year.
 

Over that time, 90 girls have benefitted from the hub and taken part in 580 hours of development training. The original target was to help 60 girls and young women, which has been overachieved by 50%!


Due to the funding provided by the EA Foundation, a unique programme has been developed that supports the girls and young women in six key areas: 

  • Skills 
  • Exposure and networking 
  • Routes to employment 
  • Practical support 
  • Rights and civic responsibility 
  • Financial literacy

The programme is delivered through various elements of provision. These include weekly personal development sessions, monthly employability workshops, 1-to-1 mentoring with career champions, work experience bootcamps and career insight days, and opportunities to volunteer within their communities. Below, are some of the recent highlights from the project so far: To celebrate Black History Month, a career panel was hosted where the girls were joined by five successful black women from different sectors spoke to discuss their career journeys. The women were April Jackson, Sareeta Domingo, Lily Naadu Mensah, Antoinette Yetunde Oni and Temi Adedoyin. 

A career fest was attended with the main focus being hospitality – enabling girls to practice a variety of skills such as mocktail making and serving customers in a high-pressured environment. The girls took part in a workshop collaboration with the WOW Foundation (Women of the World). This provided the girls with the opportunity to learn about different creative careers and how to become a creative freelancer. 21 girls have benefitted from 1-to-1 career guidance, alongside bespoke practical support to write a CV or apply for jobs through the career champions programme that’s offered. There is a Youth Council made up of 14 active and engaged councillors who meet twice a month on a Friday and are involved in the planning & decision-making process across the service. This is inclusive of the 2 new peer mentors and the 1 youth support worker that Baytree has hired from the group of girls themselves! 

An exciting 7-week financial literacy programme has just been launched! This means that 18 girls will gain both the skills and knowledge to manage their money and work towards building their personal capital. 

These are just some of the many wonderful activities that are being carried out at the Baytree’s Sparking Futures Employability Hub! The project has also involved developing strong relationships with various partner organisations, 12 of which have already helped deliver employability opportunities with more planned in the coming months.


The Baytree Centre has been monitoring the results of this project and a strong majority of participants report having improved understanding of career opportunities and how to pursue them as well as improved workplace skills. Two-thirds also indicated they have met people who provide them advice or support to secure a job through the project. The project is delivering lasting benefits in the shape of better employment opportunities.

Given these successes, we are also extremely pleased to announce that we have agreed to provide a further £10,000 of funding to continue the project beyond the initial year, providing even more girls and young women with targeted employability and personal development opportunities. The Baytree Centre will also use this time to ensure the Sparking Futures Employability Hub is on a financially sustainable footing for the long term. 

By Yas Comez October 17, 2024
In January this year, the EA Foundation awarded £25,000 to the Refugee Council towards its Refugee Advice Project (RAP). Last month, our Communications volunteer Yasmin Comez accompanied EA Foundation's Director Georgina Awoonor-Gordon on a visit to the Refugee Council at their offices in East London. Here, Yasmin reflects on the visit and the impact of our funding.
By Georgina Awoonor-Gordon September 9, 2024
Our Continued Commitment to Under-served Communities Trustees are excited to announce funding of over £1.3m to new projects across the globe. Richard Bronze, Chair of the Board noted: ‘As Trustees, we remain inspired by the ongoing commitment of our funded partners across the globe, working tirelessly to address a multitude of social injustices. We continue to learn and grow through our partners and look forward to seeing the impact in the lives of the communities we work with.’ We are pleased to present a summary of our new funded partnerships: Able Child Africa Project Summary: Testing a new approach of focusing on parents of children with disabilities (CwD) to address the barriers they face Location: Kenya Grant amount: £49,084 For more information on Able Child Africa’s work, please visit: https://ablechildafrica.org/ ADD International Project summary: Piloting a Global Disability Leadership Academy for young disabled people to support their leadership journey Location: Uganda, Bangladesh Grant amount: £35,000 For more information on ADD International’s work, please visit: https://add.org.uk/ Afrikids Project summary: Delivering the 'Every Child in School' programme – a catalyst for education reform in the overlooked and marginalised communities of Northern Ghana Location: Ghana Grant amount: £27,867 For more information on Afrikids’ work, please visit: https://afrikids.org/ BE REEL Project summary: Providing education for women in Gambia, previously uneducated or with minimal education, to enable them to run microbusinesses to improve their self-sufficiency and contribution to family income Location: The Gambia Grant amount: £28,940 For more information on BE REEL’s work, please visit: https://www.bereel.org/ Chance for Childhood Project summary: Promoting Inclusive Education in Greater Accra Location: Ghana Grant amount: £75,547 For more information on Chance for Childhood’s work, please visit: https://chanceforchildhood.org/about-us/ Concern Worldwide Project summary: Building community resilience and sustainable community led solutions for improved access to safe water and natural resource management Location: Liberia Grant amount: £47,000 For more information on Concern Worldwide’s work, please visit: https://www.concern.org.uk/ Fields of Life Project summary: Improving sanitation and hygiene for over 19 thousand adolescent boys and girls across 32 schools and addressing barriers to accessing education for teenage mothers Location: Uganda Grant amount: £45,680 For more information Field of Life’s work, please visit: https://fieldsoflife.org/ Frank Water Project summary: Working with over 10 thousand people in the drought-prone Indian state of Maharashtra to support them in sustainably managing their limited water resources Location: India 18 Grant amount: £63,281 For more information on Frank Water’s work, please visit: https://www.frankwater.com/ Health Poverty Action Project summary: Enhancing the quality and accessibility of Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health services in the pastoralist communities of Dolobay Location: Ethiopia Grant amount: £37,943 For more information on Health Poverty Action’s work, please visit: https://www.healthpovertyaction.org/ Mercy Hands Europe Project summary: Establishing a dedicated healthcare and protection centre in the Qabbasin – Al-Bab area of Aleppo Governorate, with a strong focus on the well-being of women and children Location: Syria Grant amount: £49,558 For more information on Mercy Hands Europe’s work, please visit: https://mercyhandseurope.org/ Mumba Children's Project Project summary: Providing vulnerable school children, female youths and women of rural Zambia with a source of water, an income generating activity and source of nutrition, enabling them to become productive and self-reliant Location: Zambia Grant amount: £16,000 For more information on Mumba Children’s Project work, please visit: https://mumbachildrensproject.org/ Railway Children Project summary: Preventing 400 children arriving alone and vulnerable at two of Delhi’s major railway stations from slipping into street life Location: India Grant amount: £35,000 For more information on Railway Children’s work, please visit: https://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/ Shared Interest Foundation Project summary: Reducing the poverty levels of 75 economically vulnerable women with disabilities in Burkina Faso through establishing a sustainable, organic vegetable production enterprise Location: Burkina Faso Grant amount: £41,044 For more information on Shared Interest Foundation’s work, please visit: https://www.shared-interest.com/gb Smart Girls Uganda Project summary: Scaling training for 100 youth in non-traditional STEM trades and distributing 1,000 Solar Smart Bag ((menstrual hygiene kit/backpack) Location: Uganda Grant amount: £47,553 For more information on Smart Girls Uganda’s work, please visit: https://www.smartsgirls.org/ Smiling Through Light Project summary: Utilising digital innovation and implementation of Pay as You Go (PAYG) Solar Home Systems to rural communities in Sierra Leone through a network of female sales agents Location: Sierra Leone Grant amount: £30,000 For more information on Smiling Through Light’s work, please visit: https://www.smilingthroughlight.com/ Sophia Akash Foundation Project summary: Delivering inclusive and equitable training for 200 marginalised women to adopt sustainable farming practices Location: India Grant amount: £50,000 For more information on Sophia Akash Foundation’s work, please visit: https://www.sophiaakashfoundation.com/ Syrian Forum Project summary: Transformative project designed to uplift women in northwest Syria by equipping them with essential digital skills crucial for the modern workforce Location: Syria Grant amount: £49,000 For more information on Syrian Forum’s work, please visit: https://syrianforum.org/ Tackle Africa Project summary: Using the power and popularity of football to reach 1,000 adolescents and young people with the Sexual Reproductive Health knowledge Location: Zambia Grant amount: £40,065 For more information on Able Child Africa’s work, please visit: https://tackleafrica.org/ Their Future Today Project summary: Pioneering the first foster and alternative care/kinship centre for children currently in institutional care settings Location: Sri Lanka Grant amount: £50,000 For more information on Their Future Today’s work, please visit: https://www.theirfuturetoday.org/ UK for UNHCR Project summary: contribution to the Middle East Appeal Location: Middle East Grant amount: £20,000 For more information on UK for UNHCR’s work, please visit: https://www.unrefugees.org.uk/ United World Schools (UWS) Project summary: Strategic partnership - delivering quality education and expanding school infrastructure over three years Location: Madagascar Grant amount: £319,209 For more information on United World Schools’ work, please visit: https://uwsglobal.net/ WasteAid Project summary: Empowering marginalised and underserviced communities to recover the value of waste from within their communities and help lift themselves out of poverty Location: South Africa Grant amount: £45,000 For more information on Wasteaid’s work, please visit: https://wasteaid.org/ Women for Women International Project summary: Supporting 200 marginalised women in Plateau State to build pathways out of poverty via a holistic approach to tackling multiple social, economic, and cultural barriers to women’s progress Location: Nigeria Grant amount: £50,000 For more information on Women for Women International’s work, please visit: https://womenforwomen.org.uk/
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