Young Heroes (organization)
Young Heroes is an charity, based in Mbabane, Swaziland. Its mission is to support HIV Orphans in their own homes by raising funds and redistributing these via caretakers.
Organization
Young Heroes is an initiative by Swaziland’s National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA). NERCHA underwrites all costs of the Young Heroes program, with the exception of overhead costs, such as bank wiring fees, PayPal transaction fees and foreign exchange fees.
Young Heroes has a staff of just four full-time employees and a total budget upon inception of $80,000 for its first year of operation and $60,000 for its second.
Sponsorship program
Young Heroes raises funds by offering a sponsorship program. For a monthly donation of $19.95 one child is provided with food, and for $29.95, a child is also provided with food and clothing. Instead of being moved to an orphanage, children stay in their homestead. A caretaker receives monthly financial support to nourish and cloth the children. This caretaker is usually a grandmother, the eldest child or a trusted relative, neighbor or community member.
With the help of local organizations and community members, Young Heroes employees identify and enroll orphan families throughout Swaziland. Families in the program are listed on Young Heroes' website, where sponsors can communicate with them, with Young Heroes providing translation from and to English.
Three days per week, Young Heroes staff members make site visits to sponsored families, both to ensure that the program is working well and to monitor that the funds are being spent appropriately. A family misusing donations is given one warning and monitored more closely. If a problem persists, the family is removed from the program and the donor notified.
Young Heroes' goal in creating this system has been to develop procedures that are as transparent and accountable as possible, and to create as direct a link as possible between the sponsor and the family, with a minimum of administration in between.