Moya Trust (also known as Moya Centre)

Moya centre was established in 1999 and over the past twenty years, has continuously changed to meet the needs of the community we serve. With our centre situated in Mahlanya, all beneficiaries are orphaned and vulnerable children and youth (OVCY), and their families, in the Lobamba Lomdzala constituency. Our main beneficiaries range from the ages of 2-22, yet we also service the families of these main beneficiaries, whose ages range greatly. Our longevity and placement within the community allows us to connect on a personal, trusted & purely grassroots level. The moto of Moya centre is "Strengthening the future of Eswatini through the nurturing of children". Our mission is "Creating opportunities and providing a support network for disadvantaged children to realise their full potential throughout their school years while promoting individual and communal well-being." The vision of Moya is "Generations of self-sufficient, responsible young people who have survived adversity to lead Eswatini toward a stronger, healthier future." Currently, Moya Centre is running three main programs: Educational Support, Psycho-Social Support, and Healthy Pro-active Living. We have many programs within the Educational and Psycho-social support framework. The Educational Support program has, since 2009, provided high school sponsorship to approximately 150 students a year who attend one of our four partner high schools. The sponsorship covers all top-up fees, school uniforms and stationary for each of the students, along with educational guidance and support. Our drop-out rate for sponsored students stands at only 4% over the last four years. The Educational Support program also includes afternoon tutoring clubs on our premises for all primary schools grades. Due to proximity, most of the students (around 130) who attend are from Mahlanya Primary School. They receive additional assistance with English and Maths. We also strive to identify and develop individual talents of each child through this program. The Afternoon Club takes place four days each week from 2pm-4pm. The Education program does have an Early Childhood Development component, as we currently have two preschools (one at Moya Centre and the other in the community of Mpofane) and five Kids Clubs throughout the constituency. The Kids Clubs are for children aged 2-6 to learn a variety of skills needed for healthy development. The clubs often times benefit a population of children whose families cannot afford preschool, or who live too far to walk to preschool. While the Moya preschools operate five days per week, the Kids Clubs only meet twice a week for two-hour sessions. We also provide additional support to our partner primary and high schools, including the building of counselling rooms, compensation for library teachers, food support when necessary, and a variety of other initiatives based on the needs of the schools. The Psycho-social Support program, also started in 2009, often works in partnership with the Education program, on the concept that children who are involved with our educational programs often face major challenges at home and in life, and so the psycho-social support will help them to focus on, and be successful in their studies, and therefore have brighter futures. However, this program has proved very successful, and has branched out to a larger population within the constituency. In the last six years, we have trained 36 community members to be Community Caregivers, 13 of which were capacitated further on providing counselling. The remaining Caregivers are responsible for facilitating our Kids Clubs and Youth Clubs which fall under the Healthy Proactive Living framework. Of those 13 counsellors, 5 now work on a team directly with our psycho-social support officer on cases identified within the community or through any of our programs. The remaining counsellors now work in a freelance capacity, bringing in cases when they are identified. Community members are also free to come to Moya Centre to receive psycho-social support. Most often, the beneficiary is counselled, and monitoring then takes place to ensure their well-being. Often, restorative justice techniques are used with cases of homestead/family disputes, along with some cases of gender-based violence. Of course, severe cases are reported to the police and Department of Social Welfare, both of whom we have a positive working relationship with. Another highly successful element of our psycho-social support program is that of our Peer Supporters. We now have peer supporters in seven of our partner schools, including three of the four partner high schools, along with all four of our partner primary schools. Since 2018, approximately 85 students are trained in peer supporting, including active listening and the basics of counselling. These students are able to identify the children most in need of dignity packs from Moya, and also those who are facing issues which should be brought to the attention of the school guidance teacher, and at times, the Moya PSS staff. The Healthy Proactive Living (HPL) Framework is new for 2019. Although we are looking to grow the projects under the program, the foundation is strong. Our Youth Clubs project has established seven clubs at the community level, and four in each of our partner primary schools. The facilitators, which include Community Caregivers and Youth Leaders, have been trained by, and use the curriculum of US Peace Corps' BRO and GLOW programs. We have a strong partnership with the Peace Corps through BRO and GLOW, and are the first organization in Eswatini to use the model of overseeing several clubs in one area. A second component of the HPL framework is that of promoting environmental responsibility and food sustainability through homestead gardens. Our Permaculture Officer has received lengthy training through Guba in Malkerns and is responsible not only for the garden on our premises, but also to educate and promote our beneficiaries on the importance of food production, along with taking care of the earth through reducing, reusing and recycling. This year, we have made it mandatory for all of our sponsored students to create and maintain a garden on their homesteads. We are looking to create sustainability in a place where dependence on donations of food is apparent. Therefore, we have limited our food donations to homesteads (only the sickly and neediest few receive), and have provided materials and education to start gardens. We are capturing data on the entire process, through digital surveys taken on the homesteads, to see the benefits, along with the challenges of this project. Up until this point, our Education Department has had an open door policy to alumni who have graduated high school under a Moya sponsorship. We provide them with educational and career guidance, and in certain situations, provide them with tertiary application fees. However, as our alumni population continues to grow, we have decided that an Alumni-focused component is needed within the Healthy Proactive Living program, in order to ensure our beneficiaries, some who have been with us since preschool, are able to live fulfilled lives on their own, without the assistance of Moya as they move into adulthood. This would be considered an exit strategy for our beneficiaries. This component includes a pilot program to send a small number of alumni to trade schools, income-generating projects and a resource library for alumni to research opportunities to fund their tertiary education, create resumes and find job openings. This is a direction we intend to go with our HPL program in the future as we receive additional funding. Global Giving can provide us with a perfect platform to receive more funding for such initiatives, since although our funding has not severely decreased, it has not increased either. And with the cost-of-living rising in the region, along with a high unemployment rate, more children will have the opportunity to benefit from Moya with additional funds. We also wanted to be sure to provide an explanation for the documents you will find in the next section of this application, and decided to do so here as the space allows. Moya Centre was founded in 1999, and have had audits dating back to this point (we would be happy to provide such documentation upon request). In 2001, UNICEF partnered with us, making clear that even without documentation, Moya was recognized as a functioning non-profit. In 2002, the organization was registered and the Notarial Deed was written. This leads to the registration # of 27/2002. However, due to a lack of efficiency in government offices at that time, we did not receive a certificate of incorporation until 2016. This came with a company ID: 201610043020568, and a company #: R7/46853. Throughout that 15 year gap, Moya was a fully-functioning organization. We would be delighted to provide you proof of that if necessary to proceed with this amazing opportunity.