For the Love of Learning

Lyra’s Imarika Kijana program targets marginalised rural youth who drop out of education early, or face limited options for a steady income.

We provide an innovative training and “learning-by-doing” package that opens mindsets and transforms futures. Read more about the Imarika Kijana program here (hyperlink).

On Thursday 11th March, Lyra arranged exposure visits for a total of 78 Imarika Kijana participants. Excitement was in the air when the participants from Imalutwa, Kiwele, Lugalo, Mikong’wi Mawindi, Ndolela, Kiwalamo and Ilutila villages arrived in Iringa.

During the day, all 78 participants visited five different businesses to learn about new opportunities and best practices for creating or growing their own businesses.

Having learnt about a range of skills including, tailoring, carpentry, animal husbandry and beekeeping, we talked to two participants to hear their thoughts of the Imarika Kijana program and the exposure visits day:

Chemasco Luhwago, 26 years old (Male) from Kiwalamo village

“The Imarika Kijana program has changed my attitude. After having started the program, I now believe that anything can happen. I am about to start my own business growing maize and beans. The Imarika Kijana program motivated me, and I see different opportunities for what I want to do. Today’s study tour has given me a lot of other options, and I have much to share with my fellow program participants – my brothers and sisters - who are not here. My favourite was learning about animal husbandry.”

Rosemary Kipingi, 18 years old (Female) from Kiwalamo village

“I have learnt a lot of things from the Imarika Kijana program which can help me in my life, and take me to the next level. The exposure visits have been very good because I have learnt a lot of things that I did not know. I take this as an opportunity and will start practicing, and also teach others who are not with us today. My favourite was Neema Crafts, because my dream is to be a hotel manager.”

Lyra would like to thank Neema Crafts, Kulanga beekeeping project, VETA Mgongo, Rijk Zwaan and Kuku Point for sharing their knowledge and skills with the Imarika Kijana participants. 

Next up for the participants who completed the Imarika Kijana training, is forming savings and loans groups together with other community members. Through the village savings and loans groups, Lyra trains the members to become financially self-sufficient.

The activities under the Imarika Kijana program are delivered as part of the 2-year project ‘Empowering rural youth and marginalized groups to create sustainable livelihoods’, which is funded with UK aid from the UK government. Through the project, about 2,000 rural based youth will benefit, approximately 60% female and 3% youth with disability.

We're recruiting!

Do you want to empower girls through enhancing digital literacy? Are you our new Digital Learning Program Officer? Find out below…

Lyra in Africa Digital Learning Program

Digital Learning Program Officer Position

Lyra in Africa Organization (Lyra) is a registered Tanzanian Non-Governmental Organization based in Iringa, Tanzania. Lyra’s mission is to create vibrant communities by improving education and income opportunities for girls and women across rural Tanzania. Our main task is to give girls safety from abuse so that they can complete their studies and increase their access to secondary education and economic opportunities. Digital Learning (DL) is one of the four pillars of Lyra’s programs. Look through our website for more information about Lyra.

As part of the program, Lyra seeks to recruit a dedicated, self-motivated and highly organized individual for a Digital Learning Program Officer position (1 Position).

Direct Reporting Line: National Director

Location: Iringa region

Salary: Negotiable

Roles and Responsibilities:

Digital Learning - Supervision and Support:

• Coordinate all Lyra's digital learning initiatives

• Design and implement a coaching/ training guide for the Lyra DL Program for teachers to ensure that they use DL as part of their classroom teaching to ease their day to day work

• Design and implement a guide for coaching/ training of students on how to use the DL platform to search for content, perform quizzes and watch educational videos and other resources, in order to increase both group and self-study. Additional focus to be given to Hostel Girls

• Design and implement a guide for training student leaders in each Class (Form I – IV), who will be supporting their fellow students to navigate the educational resources

• Provide training to Digital Learning Mentor Girls, who will be long term supporters of the DL program

• Review and update a Coding training guide to be used for successful implementation the Lyra Coding Program in Schools

• Collect training data, prepare and submit reports to your line manager at the end of each training programme

• Formulate schedules for training programs to all Lyra supported schools and other beneficiaries of our DL program in a cost-effective manner

• Prepare and coordinate the Lyra Tech Annual event in line with the Africa Code Week

• Coordinate participation of Lyra DL team from schools in approved annual tech events, such as the Girls Entrepreneurship Summit in Dar es Salaam

• Coordinate and write stories using Lyra's format for capturing stories, as will be guided by your line manager

Hostels Specific:

• Coordinate and ensure collection of data in all Lyra Hostels, to ensure that at all times the organization is aware of the current status of all the Hostels in terms of occupancy, sponsorship, contact details for the Hostel Parents Committee and Matron

• Update data in the Lyra database for girls provided with food support and monitor their academic performance

Technical:

• Perform technical work, including where required, software and hardware preparation, installations and troubleshooting

• Maintain a database of all Lyra Digital Learning Equipment for tracking

• Travel to Lyra schools to conduct hardware and software installations and preventive maintenance

• Research and suggest alternative technical solutions to meet technical needs of Lyra schools to increase efficiency of digital learning programs & expand usage by both teachers and students

• Assist fellow DL team members, including volunteers, digital mentors, teachers and student leaders in technical backstopping, to ensure continued delivery of the DL program

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL):

• Participate actively in the development and implementation of the MEL plan

• In collaboration with the Lyra MEL team, contribute to the technical design of MEL methodologies for the DL program

• Design and Implement regular data collection, storage, analysis and reports

• Provide support in collection of data by other Lyra staff, volunteers, digital mentors, teachers and, student leaders

• Ensure quality of data collected through validation and verification

• Ensure information from MEL activities is properly analysed and written up for reporting and learning

Administration:

• Coordinate and communicate regularly with your line manager and team

• Responsible for weekly, monthly and quarterly reporting

• Ensure all relevant DL team members including volunteers, digital mentors, teachers and student leaders, are adequately trained to provide support needed for coaching, training, data collection, and related tasks

Communication:

• Producing accurate and timely DL program status reports

• Manage the image of the organization to clients, partners and other DL stakeholders

• Design and implement different initiatives which will improve the Lyra DL program

• Manage communication between Lyra and its partners, clients and other stakeholders

• Communicate about Lyra programs to the different stakeholders and act as a champion for branding all our programs

Required Experience & Competence:

• Experience with at least one coding language: HTML, C++, Python, PHP or similar

• Good facilitation skills, with the ability to motivate, direct, and train people (mainly youth) and collaborate and interact with others effectively and productively

• Good analytical and quantitative skills with a strong attention to detail

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in both Swahili and English

• Commitment to excellence and ability to work both independently and in a collaborative environment

• Adaptability in dealing with change, delays or unexpected events to ensure the general welfare of the DL program

Required Skills:

• ICT: Includes but not limited to knowledge in hardware (maintenance, troubleshooting, configuration, installation, etc), software (application installation, troubleshooting, configuration, etc), Networking (LAN, WiFi, Internet, etc), ICT Training and Support (User Training, Customer Support, Help Desk, etc), Coding Skills (software design, mobile apps design, HTML, JavaScript, C#, PHP etc).

• Communication: Ability to prepare eye-catching reports, with figures and references. Excellent presentation and networking skills. Fluent in both English & Swahili.

Preferred Education Qualification:

• Diploma or Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems or Related Field
  

Mode of Application:

Applicants are invited to submit their details through this link: https://forms.gle/NuojqknsUvwnvv5i9

Applications should be sent not later than Sunday 7th February, 2021. Only successful applicants will be contacted.

NB: Lyra in Africa is an equal opportunity employer. Due to the interactive nature required of the role, female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply

We're looking for an intern!

Are you passionate about girls’ empowerment, and want to support our important work in rural Tanzania? If yes, then you might be exactly who we’re looking for! Find out more below.

Who we are

Lyra in Africa is a grass roots charity delivering programs in Southern Tanzania. We believe in the power of education to help end poverty. We work to equip youth, focusing on girls to drive systematic change, and create a positive multiplier effect throughout their rural communities.

In 2021, Lyra is taking a refreshed look at its social media platforms, to see how we can provide more engaging content and encourage more supporters. Lyra in Africa is looking for an enthusiastic and tenacious individual who will work directly with the small team in the UK to help us with this social media refresh. We are looking for someone with bags of energy, creative ideas, combined with meticulous attention to detail.

The Lyra in Africa Senior Management team is committed to nurturing future talent and will help the successful individual to build their skills, provide one to one support and feedback to help the individual grow. We will also provide a reference upon completion of the assignment, and share advice of how to step into and build your career in the International Development sector.

Interested? Read on…

Broad deliverables of this assignment

We are looking for someone who can work with us to deliver the following:

• Work with the Lyra in Africa Senior Management team members to enhance the profile of Lyra across all social media platforms. This will include

  • Creating content that is tailored to the different social media platforms

  • Contributing to strategies to maximize reach and engagement across the social media platforms

  • Support with the engagement on social media through replying to messages

  • Help to craft campaign messages and moments for 2021 and beyond

Whilst we feel it is important to set out the broad deliverables for this assignment, we will work with the right individual to shape the deliverables according to their expertise and areas they want to develop in.

Final few details

This assignment will be home based and can be based anywhere as long as you have access to the internet, a computer and a phone. You will need to speak English and feel at ease communicating in English. This is an intern position, and not paid, but Lyra in Africa will cover reasonable expenses.

Still interested?

Send your CV and one page overview of why you are an excellent fit for this assignment to info@lyrainafrica.org by 12th February 2021.

The Lyra Annual Report is Here!

Lyra’s Annual Report 2019 has arrived, so have a read about what we have proudly achieved.

Latest News from Lyra in Africa!

Our latest newsletter is out now!

Things have certainly been changing quickly since the last time we caught up with you. Despite the pandemic shutting down Tanzania operations for a while, we were keen to get back up and running as soon as it was safe to do so, and we’ve been busy ever since.

Catch up on our news from Tanzania which includes:

• Funding from the FCDO and BFSS.

• An update from Ngojea, a former graduate and now Lyra trainer on her Ngojea Baskets cooperative.

• A preview of our Christmas campaign - help us spread the word!

Grab a cuppa and sit down for 5 mins and have a read!

Ngojea Baskets: An Imarika Kijana Success Story

Ngojea Mgata is an Imarika Kijana graduate, who is now a Lyra community trainer. You can read her story here.

Following taking part in the IK programme, Ngojea started basket weaving to create baskets for use around the home. After realising her skill for weaving, she saw an opportunity to expand basket production, and started gathering interested weavers throughout the community to form a basket weaving cooperative, which they voted to name ‘Ngojea Baskets’.

Ngojea Baskets hand-weave baskets for sale across local craft fairs and pop-up shops, and have recently had a stall at the Arts and Crafts Fair, Iringa. The cooperative now has an impressive 46 women, and 1 man weaving baskets for sale. Each basket comes with a handwritten name of its maker stitched into the basket, each one is as individual as the person who made it.

We are looking at ways to sell these beautiful baskets in the UK, so if you would like to buy one, or think you could help us with shipping and import please get in touch!

UK Aid awards Lyra grant to expand programme for rural youth

Lyra is excited to today officially announce the approval and signing of a grant by FCDO (formerly the UK Department for International Development) for the expansion of our signature project ‘Improving Youth Livelihoods’ known as ‘Imarika Kijana’.

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Minister Baroness Liz Sugg said:

“This new project will help thousands of young people in Tanzania to get the life and business skills they need to build a better future for themselves. I’m proud that we are supporting this Henley-on-Thames charity to help young people – especially women and people with disabilities – to provide for themselves and their families.”

Through the funding from the UK Aid Direct Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF), Lyra will be able to scale the project to benefit 2,000 rural based youth during the two year program, starting on 1st May 2020. This project aims to meet the needs of out of school youth by addressing the acute need for entrepreneurship training and an understanding of finance.

The project will provide:

• Training in Business and Entrepreneurship Skills

• Training in Digital technology for Business

• Exposure trips to businesses and pairing of our students with business mentors.

• Training in formation and running of Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs)

In July 2018 Lyra piloted the first Imarika Kijana project with 15 rural based youth. After a successful trial, Lyra expanded the program and has currently trained 210 rural based youth aged 15 - 28. Out of these, 58% are female, of which 33% are single mothers. Following training, more than 50% of the youth have started new businesses or expanded on their existing small businesses, mainly in poultry, agriculture, beekeeping, tailoring, and kiosks (small shops). In addition, seven Youth Savings and Loans Associations (YSLAs) have been formed, the first in September 2018. With a total of 109 members (61% women), the groups started with total savings of TZS 3.2million (£1,100) growing to TZS. 12million (£4,200) in 12 months.

The Lyra Imarika Kijana Program

Lyra’s central tenet looks at the rural Girl Child, promoting her education and entrepreneurship. Lyra’s mission is to create vibrant rural communities by improving the education and income for girls and women and supporting them to become part of the economy. Our aim is to keep rural girls in secondary school so they can finish their secondary studies, whilst improving girls’ access and quality to education and entrepreneurship.

One of the four pillars of Lyra’s model, the Imarika Kijana Program, is a scalable program for harnessing the energy and talents of young people not in education, 15 – 28 yrs, to enable them to become economically active, access financial services, and further their education. The model gives young people essential confidence, problem-solving skills and networks to drive innovation and lead the development of their communities. Traditional subsistence agriculture and businesses are not generating enough revenue to sustain a fast-growing population – both a challenge and an opportunity for young people if they can be supported to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. People with disability, who are normally disadvantaged, will be given an opportunity to fully participate and benefit from the program.

The Program focuses on delivering the Imarika Kijana Manual, which covers four main tiers:

i) The successfully tried-and-tested course called Grow Leadership and Enterprise (GLA) originally conducted by RLabs (www.rlabs.co.tz), a local enterprise, who have trained over 700 young people in urban settings through the GLA, where in addition to establishing successful and innovative businesses, participants report finding a completely different mindset as a result of the course. Many had lost hope after finding no employment opportunities after finishing school and didn’t know how to start their own businesses. RLabs is the main implementing partner for this part of the project.

ii) Digital Learning: introducing the participants to the power of technology and social media for businesses.

iii) Training in the VSLA methodology, adopting a well-established model from Care International. Lyra has so far trained community members to set up VSLAs to manage their savings and access loans which they use for developing businesses, investing in agriculture and businesses, paying school fees and improving housing. In addition to the seven YSLAs, Lyra currently has a network of 161 VSLAs (67% women), with about 4,000 community members and total savings of approx. TZS 950million (£ 310,000). We have seen a 3- to 4-fold increase in members’ incomes over the past five years.

iv) Business Mentorship: This combines two aspects, i) exposure visits to existing businesses in the region, where the youth can expand their knowledge on possibilities for new businesses, ii) business mentorship sessions, where owners and/or staff of existing successful businesses visit and hold sessions to all the training participants. Following these visits, youth grab opportunities around them using their available resources, such as land for agriculture, livestock keeping, poultry, cultural artefacts, business, etc.

We will be sharing news, pictures and videos from our training, so sign up to our newsletter or follow us on our social channels to keep in touch with news from the programme.

LYRA AWARDED GOLD STATUS AGAINST UNSDGs

Lyra and its Board are fully committed to the UN Sustainable Goals Agenda, so we were thrilled to be awarded a Gold status for our work.

A recent report from independent advisor, Earth51 reviewed Lyra against each of the 17 UNSDG areas. The was commissioned to ensure sustainability is integrated into the core of the organisation.

We’re pleased to say that was awarded GOLD status for delivering at least 15 out of the 17 UN SDG goals. In 10 of these 15 these areas, Lyra received over 78% for its contribution to these areas.

You can download the full report here.

International Day of the African Child 2020: Meet Grace & Hiyana

June 16th 2020 is the International Day of the African Child, and was first established in 1991 by the Organization of African Unity. The day aims to raise awareness of the situation for many children in Africa, and the need for their continuing support and education.

We’d like you to meet two of the girls Lyra is supporting in their hostels, who share their stories in their own words, and the harsh reality for many children in rural areas of Tanzania. We’re pleased to say that both girls have secured places in the Lyra hostel so they can continue their studies. To help the many more girls like Grace and Hiyana, you can make a donation here. To keep a girl in hostel with 3 meals a day and a matron and night guard costs $180 per year.

Meet Grace, age 13

My name is Grace Mtekele, I’m 13 years old, and come from Igungambugi Street Idete Village. I am the second born in a family of three children. Currently we are living with my sister who is in form four at Madege Secondary school, our last born passed away soon after mother’s death in 2011. Our father left us and married another woman. We are living with our grandparents in the village (from my father’s side).

They are cooking separately and have our own Shamba (vegetable garden). We are farming with grandmother in a small farm because she has not enough energy for work. We are harvesting little amount of maize which lasts us five months of the year.

When I was in primary school, during lunch I go home and return hungry because there was no food, sometimes I was going to neighbours houses and ask for the food, otherwise I ate fruits. Studying while you’re hungry you are not understanding anything.

My sister who is in secondary school at Madege secondary school is living in Lyra Hostel because she is sponsored with Lyra. When she in holiday she is not happy because she is telling me how bad she feels during the holidays, she wishes there should be no holidays, so she can stay in hostel and have three meals a day.

During holidays we are working with my sister on other peoples farm, to earn money for our school needs. When my sister is at home, my life is simple because she is doing work and make sure that I eat.

I wish to stay in Hostel, because I hear of good hostel life from my sisters, I wish we could have good relatives who will help us, because we are living very difficult life since standard seven I was going to school without shoes.

I don’t know if I will ever get to secondary school, because our father never sees us and our grandparents have no money. I have no ability to work for other people alone, as I am waiting for my sister during holidays so as we work together trying to find money for my school needs. I wish to be a Lawyer and have ability to help needy girls.

Meet Hiyana, aged 13

My name is Hiyana, I'm 13 years old and from Madege Village. I completed Madege primary school in 2019 I scored an average of C. I live with my parents and my brothers and sisters. We are six children. My father is a farmer. My mother is bedridden with no ability to do anything. We are using a lot of time taking care of her.

Our Father is working very hard to be able to buy our mother’s medication. The Doctors said she has to stay home and attend clinic every two months.

Although she is using medicine, we are not seeing any changes to her health.

I am the third born, and I am worried because I’m not sure that if I get selected to join secondary school, my father will be able to support me. My brothers passed their exam to join secondary education but they could not, due to lack of money.

My father was very happy with my examination results, and he told me because I am a girl he will allow me to join secondary education. I was extremely happy to hear this, even though I know it will be a big challenge for me to walk to school and back every day, which is 7kms each way.

My father has told me that he cannot support to rent a room for me nor to pay for living in Hostel, and I understand him given our situation at home. I have promised my father that I will study hard in order to go to university level.

I want to be a Nun, in order to get a great chance to work for community since I see nuns have kind hearts and are helping needy people like our family and sick people like our mother.

We're recruiting!

THE APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR THESE ROLES HAS NOW PASSED.

Please sign up for our newsletter to hear about any other forthcoming roles. Thanks for your interest.

DO YOU WANT TO EMPOWER GIRLS IN RURAL TANZANIA?

Lyra in Africa (Lyra) is a registered Tanzanian Non-Governmental Organization based in Iringa, Tanzania. Lyra’s mission is to create vibrant communities by improving education and income opportunities for girls and women across rural Tanzania. We’re currently recruiting for two positions:

Project Officer, Tanzania

Lyra in Africa is expanding the Imarika Kijana Program (Youth Livelihoods Programme), and is now looking for a dedicated, self-motivated and highly organized Project Officer.

Digital Learning Project Officer, Iringa, Tanzania

Lyra works with Rural Ward Secondary Schools in Iringa to leverage learning through provision of Digital Learning Equipment, Offline Educational Resources, and Coding Training to Teachers and Students. We are now recruiting for a Digital Learning Program Officer: dedicated, self-motivated, highly organized, with necessary IT and Coding Skills.

Celebrating #GirlsinICT Day with our Coding Club Winners

Celebrating #GirlsinICT day with our Coding Club Girls'Achievements: Working to empower girls in tech and close the digital gender gap

On 23 April, Lyra joined UN Women and girls around the world to mark the International Girls in ICT Day, drawing attention to the critical need for more girls and women in the ICT sector.

With technology playing a role in all kinds of careers, from art and history to law, primary teaching and graphic design, learning tech skills at a young age will set girls up for economic independence. And, the ICT sector needs more girls and women. According to She Codes For Change, only 20% of girls enter STEAM careers, and this number is much lower in rural areas, where access to technology is non-existent. The jobs of the future will be driven by technology and innovation—65 percent of children entering primary school today will have jobs that do not yet exist.

Lyra partners with 8 rural schools on the Digital learning program. None of these schools are online, so all teaching is offline, using world class educational materials and hotspot devices. The students and most teachers had never touched a tablet or a computer before.

Since introducing its Digital Learning program in 2017, Lyra has helped 4,000 students (2,200 girls) and teachers develop skills and passion for technology and coding. These skills support the girls to develop curiosity, independence, equality and to share their knowledge within their local community.

Pictured, are Lightness and Dorcas with Roselyne, Lyra’s National Director. Lyra has sponsored Lightness and Dorcas to attend a six months Advanced IT and Entrepreneurship training for underprivileged girls and young women offered by Apps and Girls in Dar es Salaam. With this program, students will gain important tech skills that will help them navigate the workplace of the 21st Century, and be able to create their own technology-based start-ups thus elevating women’s socio-economic empowerment.

Lightness and Dorcas are both girls who stayed in Lyra Hostels, and will become the very first Lyra Digital Mentors who will support Lyra’s Digital learning program. Over the next two years, Lyra will continue to train an additional number of Digital Mentors (all Lyra alumni) to ensure sustainability of Lyra’s Digital Learning Programme.

19 girls and 6 teachers from 6 Lyra supported schools participated at the Regional International Girls Entrepreneurship Summit. This is a coding competition, where the Lyra sponsored coding club from Ilambilole school girls' coding team won 2nd place. We were so happy to see that all Lyra teams entering the competition came within the 20 best project ideas.

In 2020, Lyra will implement coding clubs in ten rural schools, teaching design thinking process, idea generation, coding and programming, in partnership with NLabs – an Apps and Girls initiative.

You can read more about our Digital Skills program here>>

Dr Philip Marsden joins Lyra as Chairman and Board Member

The Trustees of Lyra in Africa are delighted that Dr Philip Marsden has agreed to join us as Chairman and board member.

With such a distinguished career in the government, NGO and private sector, and with a strong interest in education and digital platforms, we know that Philip's experience will greatly assist us in our mission to improve the education and lives of girls and women across rural Tanzania.

Dr Philip said of his appointment:

"Lyra In Africa’s work is so important, protecting and empowering these young Tanzanian women - it is an honour to join and help grow such an essential and important mission.”

You can follow Dr Philip on Twitter.

Lyra's programs are temporarily closed, but the Girls in Tanzania need your help more than ever

We’ve temporarily closed all Lyra’s programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the girls still need your help to meet their vital needs to keep healthy and safe.

Due to the global pandemic caused by Coronavirus, we’ve suspended all our programs until it is safe to reopen, safeguarding children and adults in the communities we serve. We continue to monitor the situation very closely.

We do still have a group of community based trainers ‘virtually’ teaching the girls and their families to make soap and face masks to protect their wider communities, reaching more than 5,000 households.

We desperately need your help to meet the girls most basic needs, such as reusable menstruation and sanitary kits, and to ensure they receive the much needed training on Covid-19 to help protect themselves and their communities at this crucial period.

Find out how you can help give hope to the girls and their families here.

Celebrating International Women's Day 2020

Sunday marks International Women’s Day 2020. A day to celebrate the achievements of women all around the world, and a great opportunity to raise awareness about the need for greater gender equality.

In today’s world, women’s economic equality is non-negotiable.

All over the world, women earn less than men and are more likely to own small, informal businesses. They are less likely to have access to assets and property.

Women are more likely to do unpaid work. This doesn’t just limit their opportunities and livelihoods. It means half the world’s population is being denied basic human rights.

Lyra is committed to help change the lives of girls and young women who would otherwise feel like they had no other option

Through our education and entrepreneurship, we help women take control of their lives and create a route towards financial independence based upon our core values. By providing basic facilities that so many of us take for granted, we can help to change lives for the better and empower girls and young women. We now have 1,000 girls in safe accommodation so they can go to school.

"We ran 16kms to school and back, crossing mountains and rivers. Four girls in my class got pregnant because of unsafe accommodation, and that was the end of their education. Living in the Lyra dormitory changed my life. I was the first girl from my school to pass Form IV exams. I am now at University studying to be a teacher, thanks to Lyra. My Mum is so proud of me!" –Zainabu

Find out how you can help us to empower thousands more girls and young women in Tanzania and continue to champion equality for everyone.

Stories of our Imarika Kijana Entrepreneurship Program: Meet Ngojea

Imarika Kijana (Thriving Rural Youth) Program

One of four interlinked programs across the key problem areas of health, education, sexual violence, gender equality and economic stability, livelihood training is delivered to rural students and girls, and targets the urgent need to support young people to develop new business ideas and improve livelihoods when they leave school.

This is specifically important in the rural areas where Lyra is active, as over 80% of the community members are subsistence farmers. To-date we have trained 175 young adolescents in 2019 and we will treble this number in 2020.

Introducing Ngojea Mgata, budding entrepreneur and basket maker

Ngojea is a 25 year old single mother to two boys aged 8 and 2. Her mother died when she was 7 years old, and her father moved away and remarried. She became a housemaid looking for work, but returned after the birth of her two sons to live with her grandmother.

In 2016, Ngojea decided to start life afresh, taking up small scale farming and hair braiding to earn a bit of income to support her children and her grandmother. When the Lyra entrepreneurship training arrived in her village, Ngojea was keen to take part.

Lyra invited Catherine of Vikapu Bomba (a successful local entrepreneur who makes and sells woven reed baskets) to speak to the girls about the opportunities in basket weaving. This was particularly relevant to Ngojea and her group, as they already had the right skills, and access to local materials needed for basket weaving.

Now, Ngojea is earning an additional income making and selling baskets, and she is also a Community Based Trainer, supporting others to improve academic performance in both primary and secondary schools locally. She is also a youth chairperson for her church.

Together with 29 other people, she has also joined a Lyra savings and loan group, and in the first six weeks of the program, Ngojea had saved USD 16 and doubled her weekly income with her basket weaving.

“In our community, basket weaving is for home use. Little did we know that this can be an important income generating activity. The opportunity to meet Catherine, the founder of Vikapu Bomba, was an eye opener to all of us. I have already starting weaving better, continually improving my skills. I aim to be the lead trainer in good quality baskets in our community”. Ngojea

Lyra is now supporting Ngojea and twelve other youth from the same community to weave baskets with a view to export. We’ll check in again with her soon, and see how her career is progressing.

Our Imarika Kijana Entrepreneurship Program: Checking in with Sayuni

Stories from our Imarika Kijana (Thriving Rural Youth) Program

One of four interlinked programs across the key problem areas of health, education, sexual violence, gender equality and economic stability, youth entreprenurship is delivered to rural students and girls, and targets the urgent need to support young people to develop new business ideas and improve livelihoods when they leave school.

This is specifically important in the rural areas where Lyra is active, as over 80% of the community members are subsistence farmers. To-date we have trained 175 young adolescents in 2019 and this will treble this number in 2020.

Checking back in with Sayuni

Now, 20 years old - Sayuni (pictured) was one of the first girls to stay in the hostel at Lundamatwe Secondary School, built by Lyra in 2013. She joined Lyra’s pilot school leavers program in 2018 and is now teaching other young people in her community how to start their own businesses.

Before joining the entrepreneurship training, Sayuni was running a small Genge (road side stall) which was earning her just 50,000/=Tsh a week (which equates to USD 17). Since joining the program, she’s used her newly-learned skills to double her income, and also put in place plans to diversify with a first ever fishpond in the village.

Funded by the Lyra Savings & Loans scheme, Sayuni has now taken out a loan to create a fish pond for the village, which will supply fresh fish and give her an additional source of income. She also dug a well in the village to create a local water supply, to save hours travelling to and from the nearest water supply, saving her time and effort.

As a result of Sayuni’s training and initiatives, she’s now seen as an educator in the village, and is able to share her skills and learnings to help the wider community.

“Before I didn’t see any importance in my life. Now I am self-motivated and valued as a knowledgeable person in my community. Now I see challenges around me as opportunities.” – Sayuni Msigala

We look forward to seeing Sayuni’s progress this year with her business initiatives and will check back in with her soon.

Collaboration in the Community: A new classroom for Idete

Having been built originally in 1950, the primary school building in Idete was in desperate need of refurbishment. In late 2019, that project was successfully completed in collaboration with the local community.

The long-awaited project received much support from the villagers and district authorities, with the village women running a rota to deliver water to the building site, and when rain made the local roads impassable, the villagers stepped in with 'all hands on deck' to deliver materials from the vehicle. A true display of one of Lyra's key values 'Recognising the energy and creativity of rural communities.'

Lyra's founder, Maria says of the project :

"Every family we have ever worked with, has been striving tirelessly to secure a better life for their children. We are always amazed by how generously the community contributes to construction of girls' dormitories, despite low family incomes. Women and men, old and young, entrepreneurs and subsistence farmers - all with the same drive to improve their lives."

At the opening in November 2019, the whole village took part in the celebrations - recognising the lasting investment for the Idete community. Since its opening in November 2019, 244 children and 6 teachers have benefitted from the new school building, and Government has promised to refurbish 2 other buildings in the school. The construction was generously supported by the Michael Matthews Foundation, a long-term partner with Lyra.

(Pictured: Maria, Lyra's founder with the District Executive Director and students and villagers officially open the classroom)

From Tablets to Computers: First Computer Labs installed in ward secondary schools of Iringa - Funded by Capital Group

In June 2019, Lyra received funding support from Capital Group for installation of 19 Computers in a rural based secondary school in Iringa. Lyra used the support to benefit two schools, each with 11 computers impacting 741 students and 50 teachers. These are the very first Computer Labs installed by Lyra since the beginning of Lyra’s Digital Learning program in January 2017. They are also the very first computers that all students, and the majority of teachers have ever seen, or used.

Desktops will enable students to achieve a better grasp of handling a proper computer, a skill that is highly relevant in today’s labour market.

The Computers bring a transformation in learning, with a high increase in usage among students and teachers immediately after installation. The program included five days training to all teachers by Camara Education in basic computing, MS Office, Classroom teaching, management and monitoring.

Historically, the digital learning project was introduced as a pilot in January 2017 in 3 partner schools (Lundamatwe, Mazombe and Madege Secondary Schools), and 3 Lyra coaches were trained to introduce, supervise and support teachers and students on digital learning (DL).

We started the project with 90 tablets that were distributed to the 3 schools, 30 per school. Lyra introduced e-learning using resources available through ‘RACHEL’ (Remote Access Community Hotspot Educational Learning), a hot spot device containing different educational material of all levels of studying. The server enables students to access materials offline and is the perfect solution in rural schools with limitations in electricity and connectivity. The material is also suitable for teachers, as a vast amount of supplementary educational resources is available including content by Khan Academy (KA Lite). To improve the program further, In July 2018, Lyra partnered with Shule Direct for provision of Tanzania based Curricula content (notes and quizzes) for five core Science subjects, leading to increased usage in Digital learning.

With growing number of students per class, sharing of a tablet continues to be challenge, making it difficult for each child to handle the tablet on a daily basis (see photos). The ideal number of tablets per school is 50 -60, so that at least every student in a class could have a personal tablet. The alternative is to install computer desktops to leverage the Digital Learning platform throughout the day. Installing computer labs require main grid electricity and can therefore only be introduced in schools with electricity. Prior to the Capital Group funded computer labs being installed in Q4 2019, both schools had 20 tablets each.

Following installation of the Computers at the Lulanzi and Nyang’oro Secondary Schools, there was a significant rise in usage by both students in hostel and others, while hostelers have the biggest benefit.

The significant increase in use from installation in Q4 2019, in the number of students using Shule Direct is also

evident in the usage data from the hostel.

Beni Hamis Mwakafwila, a Civics and Kiswahili Teacher at Nyang’oro secondary school says:

“First of all I would like to thank Lyra in Africa for installing a Computer lab in our School, and I am so happy to hear that this is the first lab to be installed by Lyra. Also, I would like to thank Lyra for the training that they have provide to us teachers. For me before the training, I was using computers for leisure, however after the training I came to realize that there were a lot things which I had no idea of.

I bought my computer soon after being employed for sure it was my desire to know how to use it effectively but instead, I was using it to watch movies. My computer eventually collapsed. I saw my fellow teachers typing exams and arranging their examination results. I was envious and desired to do the same, but failed because I lacked computer skills.

I am so thankful that I have received free computer training. Before installation of computer lab materials, the tablets had Tanzanian Science subjects only, discouraging the rest of us Art teachers to use digital equipment. But with the Computer Lab, all the subjects are there, and I am happy that I can see all the notes needed for teaching and learning. I was so excited when I saw ‘Ngoswe penzi kitovu cha uzembe’ notes in which for me was a big surprise.

I am very interested in using the class management tool (veyon) installed for teaching because it makes students to love the class and session very well and it makes my work a lot easier and fun.”