![[ map of Africa ]](../images/mapallhighlighted.gif)
Problem
AIDS is the leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fear, stigma, and a lack of education and resources perpetuate HIV/AIDS, and as a result, there are 11 million AIDS-orphaned children in the region. Older siblings and elderly grandparents are often burdened with the care of young children when they are barely able to care for themselves. The lack of micro-enterprise opportunities keeps providers from breaking the cycle of extreme poverty. Basic healthcare needs go unmet and thousands die each year from preventable diseases, lack of basic hygiene education and vaccinations. Millions face hunger and starvation because needed clean water and the access to modern agricultural techniques are out of reach to the farmers and rural residents who would otherwise grow food for the nations.
Solution
Community Empowerment Initiatives are ideas, plans or processes that enable the people of Africa to free themselves from the shackles of extreme poverty. When families, communities and organizations come together to carefully define and systematically overcome the problems that they face; the collaboration provides a synergized energy that allows for an exponential outcome. Many hands working towards a common goal can accomplish much more than individuals who are able to do little more than survive when tackling the same problems alone. Reach the Children provides opportunities for this to happen by facilitating African-initiated projects, introducing an element of training the trainers into each project, providing shadow leadership and mentoring and by empowering community leaders, in-country associates and indigenous organizations access to Reach the Children programs of AIDS Prevention Education, Healthcare, Education, Micro-enterprise and Water and Agriculture.
Success
At the request of African communities, Reach the Children provides training, materials, effort, and support to assist community members in solving their problems. For example, prevention education is often requested as it involves all levels and ages of society and is the key to striking at the roots of HIV/AIDS. Reach the Children trains teachers in the Stay Alive™ HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Program (licensed by United Families International). This program encourages hope by teaching children how to remain disease-free through consequential thinking. The Education branch of Reach the Children is raising the quality and quantity of education for children attending partnering schools under the guidelines and supervision of in-country leaders. Both teens and adults can receive vocational training to assist them in becoming productive members of their society and providing for their families. Through requested inoculations, lives can be saved, and with hygiene and dental training, lives can be improved. Reach the Children assists in placing orphans with loving African families where the needs of the children will be provided for, and they can grow and learn in a peaceful environment. For poverty-stricken caregivers, Reach the Children provides training, mentoring, and capital for motivated applicants to start their own businesses. Finally, Reach the Children helps communities create new wells, and trains farmers in drip irrigation – drip irrigation has the potential of solving many of Africa's water and agriculture problems—as well as marketing and new farming techniques. We believe that community members can discuss, evaluate, and solve their own problems using a holistic approach. Reach the Children provides them with facilitation, tools, and techniques to do so.