Overview
- GOAL: TO DEVELOP THE SELF-CONFIDENCE AND SELF-ESTEEM OF YOUNG SOUTH AFRICAN GIRLS, WHO ARE OFTEN DISADVANTAGED OR CONFRONTED WITH EXCLUSION
- COUNTRY: South Africa
- DATE: since 2009
- FOR PEOPLE: EDUCATION – SCIENCES
The project
Founded in 2001, Valued Citizens Initiative is a South African NGO that aims to inspire individuals to become responsible citizens, determined to lead their lives by engaging with South Africa’s democracy and economy.
The iNSPIRE project consists of 12 training sessions in 6 public high schools. The program focuses on self-development with psychosocial support to help teenage girls free themselves from emotional wounds often linked to socio-cultural barriers and social norms (religions and cultures), discriminatory practices (patriarchy), and poverty levels – the cause of many social ills and addictions (betrayal, humiliation, abandonment, injustice…). The aim is to help young girls become aware of their potential, to make them actors in the development of their country.
Role of the ENGIE Foundation
The ENGIE Foundation is a long-standing partner of the NGO Valued Citizens Initiative, which it has supported since 2002 and since 2009 on the INSPIRE program.
ENGIE’s volunteer staff on site put their skills and passions into the service of the INSPIRE program. They give “life lessons” to teenage girls to motivate them to become leaders.
IMPACT 2023: 171 “Valued Citizens” teenagers have taken the leadership training courses and implemented their real-life, medium-scale citizenship project within their school community, with a direct impact on 3197 students involved in carrying out their project, and an indirect impact on 9414 middle-school students.