Tariro is delighted to announce that our Annual Report for 2016 is now available! Please see below for the message from the President of the International Board of Directors and click here to view the full report. Many thanks to our many supporters who are joining Tariro in our important mission to educate and empower young Zimbabwean women and girls.
—-
Dear friends and faithful supporters,
Despite some of the dire conditions in Zimbabwe in 2016, it has been a great year for Tariro. We started off the year by hiring Simbarashe Kanyimo as our new Executive Coordinator in Zimbabwe, and he has had a great year guiding Tariro forward. Simba came to Tariro with more than seven years’ experience in the development and humanitarian field and has been involved in capacity building and communication for the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Centre for Cultural Development Initiatives, the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council-Global Fund Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health project, and Muongoli Home-Based Care Programme run by the Chikombedzi Mission Hospital. Simba has also taught within the school system as a guidance teacher and counsellor, giving him a first-hand knowledge of the schools our students attend. Simba has significant working experience in working with vulnerable communities, orphans, youth, and the “girl child” in difficult circumstances, returnees, refugees and internally displaced persons. We are very lucky to have him on our team! Some of our supporters had the opportunity to meet him in person when he visited Portland and Eugene, Oregon and Victoria, Canada in late 2016.
Within Simba’s first three months on the job, he secured a large corporate grant in Zimbabwe from CBZ Holdings (“CBZ”) that made it possible for us to enrol new students for the first time in two years. We decided to enrol primary school students because we want to establish a long and fruitful relationship with our new beneficiaries. We have so many students currently in tertiary institutions, and soon they will move on from Tariro support to become Tariro alumni. We are excited to welcome new students into the Tariro program, the next generation of young girls who will grow up to complete their education, be firmly rooted in the Tariro community, and be empowered to know that they, too, are valuable contributors to their society.
I think the thing I am most excited about this year is the large grant we got from CBZ. CBZ is Zimbabwe’s largest financial services group by asset base. This is the first time in Tariro’s 13-year history that we have received significant support from a local organization. Our goal is not just to provide education for these young women, but to be a community where we support them and their families, a place where they can explore their dreams and be encouraged and supported to go out and achieve them. We are closely integrated in the communities we serve, and we are delighted and humbled to find support from a new local partner in Harare. If Tariro is to thrive and grow over time, we depend not only on financial support from donors both local and international but on support from the community we serve. This grant from CBZ represents to us that the community is with us in our effort to change the future for these young women. The community is with us, encouraging our students to pursue their education and their dreams.
Simba closed out the year with an incredibly successful trip to the United States of America and to Canada during our Fall Fundraising Campaign. He was able to talk to our supporters about Tariro and share his passion for our work and in seeing our students’ lives change because they are able to finish their education. Simba participated in promoting the Quite for Zimbabwe and selling raffle tickets, updated Tariro supporters about Tariro programs and plans, and met with high school students to talk about Tariro.
We have big plans for 2017 – including a year-long program to educate and empower our students on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and career mentoring and counselling. We are also looking into starting a poultry farming project, which will serve as a source of income for Tariro while acting as a method for teaching business and entrepreneurial skills to our students, in an environmentally responsible way.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Davis, President, International Board of Directors