AfricAid’s flagship program, the Kisa Project, is carried out in Arusha and Kilimanjaro Regions of Northern Tanzania. Eight staff work full-time developing, implementing and evaluating the Project.
The purpose of the Kisa Project is to deliver leadership and life skills training and mentoring to Tanzanian secondary school girls so that those girls gain new skills, increase their resilience, and become capable, confident young women who will be catalysts for change in Tanzanian society.
We currently employ a Country Director, an Operations Manager, two Kisa Project Managers, three Kisa Mentors, and a driver, who ensures Mentors make each Kisa Class safely, and on time.
In this post, we’d like to introduce you to our two Kisa Project Managers – Esther and Devotha. The success of the Project relies heavily on having active, engaged and passionate Project Managers and the great results for the Project to date are, in no short measure, the result of the efforts of Devotha and Esther.
Esther has more than 5 years’ experience with Kisa. She comes from a background in teaching English and Geography at the secondary school level and has an education degree from the University of Dar es Salaam. As a Kisa Project Manager, she draws on her own experiences as a leader in her community in order to be a role model to the Kisa Scholars. She hopes to inspire her students to find the confidence necessary to bring about change in their own communities.
Esther says that one of the things she loves most about her job is being part of theAfricAid team, especially “the way we work together and support each other as part of the AfricAid family”. She is continually inspired by “being part of a girl’s life change. I am inspired seeing a girl grow and come to realize her potential, gradually taking responsibility for her own life and that of her community”.
Esther speaking at Career Day Women’s Leadership Conference 2014
Esther with her year two Kisa Scholars at Engutoto Secondary School
Devotha commenced with AfricAid as a Kisa Mentor in January 2013 and holds a bachelor’s degree in language studies and has a background in project management. As a Mentor, Devotha advises young women to work hard so as to reach their dreams. Devotha believes that the way to success is having goals, and that a woman can achieve her goals only by working hard and remaining positive. She also believes that by mentoring young women in leadership, they can change their societies into a better place.
“What I love most about my job is the fact that it allows me to learn from other girls, but also to share my experience with them, inspire them and help them to become a source of positive change in their lives and their communities”.
She says that one of her most inspiring moments working on Kisa came “when AfricAid management trusted me and let me lead the opening of our new branch in Kilimanjaro Region. That moment proved to me that I have grown, and people trust me enough to give me such a huge responsibility”.
The Kisa Project. Arusha, Tanzania. 2013 (Photo by Kate Lord)
Devotha rewarding a certificate to a graduating Kisa Scholar
Devotha with her class at Weru Weru Secondary School
In a lovely twist, Esther and Devotha both attended secondary schools with whom we now partner – Maasae Girls, and Machame Girls, respectively, so they are also in a great position to foster those relationships. Esther is further able to empathize with Kisa Scholars, given that she was the first in her family to complete secondary school, let alone go to university.
Esther and Devotha are just two of the amazing women behind the Kisa Project. Stayed tuned if you’d like to meet more of AfricAid’s staff in Tanzania.
By: Ngaire McCubben, Communications, External Relations and Fundraising Officer, Tanzania
