July 11, 2007 - 1:07am — workingte
What is Working To Empower
Working to Empower is a non-profit and non-governmental organization working to empower sustainable, community-based change. Focused mainly upon HIV/AIDS education, WTE works in additional areas so as to counter-act the negative effects felt within society. Other approaches include providing school fees for orphans and income generating projects for the most vulnerable of society. Key to Working To Empower's success is the prominent role of local partners. Local needs are matched with locally based proposals by members of the community. Working To Empower aims to make proposals a reality so as to facilitate the implementation of locally demanded projects. We fundamentally assert the equality of all peoples and are rooted in the three core values of Responsibility, Respect, and Sustainability. It is our view that inequal distribution of goods, rights, education, and other resources produce inequal opportunity for certain peoples. It is our motivation to equalize these resources in order to empower people so that needed social changes can occur. Working to Empower is actively engaged in community-based empowerment within refugee camps in Tanzania and Benin, repatriation areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and IDP camps in Northern Uganda.
Why are we different?
Working To Empower is different from other "aid/development" organizations for several important reasons:
WTE does not have any offices anywhere in the world. Instead, WTE uses and builds capacity within already existing locally based organizations.
WTE also has no vehicles or paid staff (our local peer educators do receive small incentive). Our focus is upon locally developed initiatives and we only work with organizations who have requested a partnership, using their members and expanding the work already under way by these locals who are concerned about their community and seeking to make positive change, particularly in regards to HIV and AIDS.
WTE is also culturally and socially focused within its approach to HIV and AIDS education, as opposed to being medically centered. We intend our approaches to be respectful and sustainable through the use of locally based organizations and people, the key to any positive change in the eyes of our team. Projects driven and sustained by members of the local community are the goal and intended result of all our projects.