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There are many vulnerable children in the world — who face food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of access to education and other virtual resources that aid development and growth. One organization, the Amani Centre for Street Children (Amani), has worked tirelessly to provide hope, education, and a brighter future for many of these children. Based in Tanzania, Amani Kids is committed to reducing the number of Tanzanian children living on the streets by providing a nurturing place for homeless children to heal, grow, and learn.
Amani was founded in 2001 when three Tanzanians got together to start a home for street children, and in its 20+ years, it has grown to impact the lives of thousands of at-risk youth in Tanzania.
Innovo Benefits Group is a proud supporter of Amani, and our team has been inspired by Amani's commitment to providing these children with the opportunity for a brighter future. To that end, Innovo has pledged a three-year commitment to support the sustainability of Amani Kids’ mission. This long-term commitment allows Amani to plan and execute their projects more effectively, knowing they have a reliable partner in Innovo Benefits Group. After just one year of support, Innovo’s partnership with Amani has yielded some remarkable results.
From Amani’s First-Year Activity Report:
From July 2022 to July 2023, The Amani-Innovo Child Counseling and Well-Being Program supported Amani’s two psychological counselors to reach 201 children (99 boys and 102 girls). More than 800 individual counseling sessions were held, focusing on deep interventions around tension and stress management, fitting in in society well (including stopping stealing and substance abuse), trauma relief and trauma processing, building self-esteem and dealing with grief (for the loss of parents).
In addition, a total of 56 group counseling/life skills sessions were conducted for different groups of children – both from the streets and in the Amani Safe House. These group sessions allow children with similar experiences to share, discuss, and progress together. Key topics that were covered in these group sessions were:
- Substance use
- Sexual Health
- Adolescent life changes
- Self-esteem and self-confidence
- Dealing with peer pressure
- Building (and maintaining) healthy relationships
- Managing difficult emotions
- Goal setting/planning
- Healthy coping strategies/tactics
- Preparing for family reintegration
Beyond the individual and group counseling and therapy, all 201 children also participated in numerous hours of fun healing activities, such as sports (soccer, volleyball, basketball, acrobatics), dancing and drumming, arts (painting, drawing, sculpting), and games (foosball, drafts, connect-four, Lego, etc.). All these ‘alternative healing’ activities aimed to enrich the children’s social skills and build self-confidence and pride.
The Parntership’s Next Two Years:
Over the next two years of the Amani-Innovo partnership, Amani will continue to strengthen its child counseling program and implement three new elements to further help the children they serve.
Rescue Program for Young Teenage Girls Involved in Sex Work
In June 2023, Amani launched a new 3-year pilot program aimed at rescuing street-connected young girls (aged 12-16) who have engaged in sex work to obtain money or goods (or protection/shelter). As part of this comprehensive rescue-rehabilitation-reintegration program, these girls will receive deep individual and group counseling and regular peer group sessions to help them transition from sex work to brighter futures. In the next three years, Amani aims to successfully reintegrate at least 35 of these young girls.
Digital Child Case Management System
In August, Amani introduced a powerful digital child case management system across its three locations (Moshi, Arusha, Singida). This tool will streamline monitoring and managing each child’s case and progress and strengthen how Amani implements its counseling work.
Online Learning Community for Frontline Staff
To help our Amani frontline staff grow their skills and their professional development, Amani has started building its own online learning community. This online learning community offers a variety of (micro) learning tools – quizzes, blog posts, mini-videos, dedicated mini-apps, etc. – that all aim to help improve the success rates of Amani’s work with children. The hope is that Amani can expand its learning community to dozens of other street children organizations in the next years.
“We are incredibly proud to be partnered with such an amazing organization addressing this significant challenge in the Tanzanian community, said Innovo President Eric Gulko. “We are even more proud to share that our contribution through this three-year partnership has benefited so many children in just one year. We are excited to continue this partnership over the next two years and continue to support the work Amani does so well.”
To become a supporter of Amani Kids, Please visit their website: https://www.amanikids.org/donate