Empowering Orphans and other Vulnerable Children in Zimbabwe
About Us
Vision
To be a Charity of Choice for orphans & vulnerable children Support in Zimbabwe by 2025
Mission
To empower gifted orphans & vulnerable children through a scholarship for education & general welbeing complemented by performing arts & culture, sports, environmental awareness & employability skills.
Values
Kindness & compassion, respect & integrity, assiduity & initiative, transparency, care for our environment.
Dzikwa Trust has built a multi-functional Activity Centre in 2008-2021 at # 3147 Rujeko St. DZ 1. We bought the one-acre stand from the City of Harare in 2005. Initial funding for purchasing the land came from Scottish Freemasons. We have built the following facilities: kitchen/dining hall, ICT block, children’s ablution block, office block, multi-purpose ball court, bore hole with two 5000 L water tanks and a converted 40-foot container as an IT-coding Lab. The Centre is powered with solar energy. In addition to the Government of Finland, the Australian, Japanese and Czech Embassies have funded the facilities, and children’s ablution block was funded through UNICEF Zimbabwe. Numerous private donors, from Finland and Germany, have also contributed.
In November 2021, we completed a Community Outreach & Skills Training building, funded by the Government of Japan. Community capacity building and youth employability & entrepreneurship skills training activities are implemented with funding from the Finnish development cooperation funds and with the assistance of key Partners in Harare.
What we are doing
The Dzikwa Trust Fund, (Trust Deed M.A. 957/2002) runs its education and general wellbeing programme for 400 orphaned and other vulnerable children in one of the poor townships of Harare, called Dzivarasekwa, with about 150,000 inhabitants. Education support operations started already in 1993 as a private Finnish initiative. Today, Dzikwa Trust is a well-appreciated partner in the Dzivarasekwa for comprehensive OVC-support.
Besides support for education, Dzikwa Trust offers its children: remedial lessons, e-learning, IT skills & ICDL-certification, career guidance, girls’ empowerment, a daily hot meal, basic health care, missing birth certificates, athletics and ball games, training and performance opportunities in various performing arts, field trips and environmental activities, including reforestation and food security.
Key criteria in selecting new children for the support program are: The guardian of the child is unable to provide the funding for schooling, the child is gifted and highly motivated to study, and well behaved. Most of the children are enlisted at the age of 6-7 years when they start primary school.
Dzikwa Trust operates from its Activity Centre premises in the middle of Dzivarasekwa.
A major voluntary contribution is given by the two Finnish founders, Seppo Ainamo and Oili Wuolle, who spend every year about six months in Zimbabwe coordinating and overseeing programme delivery, PR, networking and fundraising.
Children joining Dzikwa Trust support
Dzikwa Trust’s prime focus is on ensuring basic education and wellbeing for 400 underprivileged children annually, with the girls’ share at 2/3. To qualify for support, the child must be gifted, live and go to school in Dzivarasekwa, be motivated showing commitment to schoolwork, and be well-behaved. Dzikwa Trust team interviews each child and visits the child’s home and school to make an informed decision. Dzikwa Trust pays all school charges to schools directly and buys supplies in bulk. The annual sponsorship fee covers school and exam fees, school levies, compulsory school uniforms, sportswear, textbooks, stationery, vacation school lessons, remedial lessons, e-learning, and basic IT skills at Dzikwa Centre, and some of the wellbeing and recreation support.
WHAT IS THE FINNISH CSO – CHILDREN OF ZIMBABWE SOCIETY?
Registered as a charitable organization in Finland in April 2003, the Society (until 2021 Zimbabwe Aids Orphans Society) is a Finnish charitable civic organization without political or religious affiliations. It acts as the main fundraising arm for the Dzikwa Trust Fund. The Society currently has 360 members and over 500 dedicated and general Sponsors. Because all the work in Finland is done on a voluntary basis, administrative costs in Finland are low and can be covered by annual membership fees. This way, the Society ensures that all donor funds are directed without deductions to supporting activities for the underprivileged children in Dzivarasekwa.
What is Friends of Dzikwa Society all about?
Friends of Dzikwa Society/ FODS was established in 2009 to take lead of public fundraising in Zimbabwe for Dzikwa Trust support programme. It got its Private Voluntary Organisation registration in 2014, with a certificate PVO 10/2014. FODS organises charity golf tournaments for fundraising, is in charge of Dzikwa Annual Athletics Day and gathers both cash and in-kind donations mainly for Dzikwa Kitchen.
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Sponsorship Programme
Make a difference that will last a lifetime. By becoming a sponsor, you make a meaningful contribution for a better tomorrow in Zimbabwe. You will have the opportunity to get to know a Zimbabwean child and you will be able to closely follow how your support changes his/her life at the grassroots level. You will regularly get information about our work, and your child’s school achievements, home life, and general development and important life events. You are also welcomed to visit Zimbabwe and interact with your sponsored child and other children!
The Sponsorship fee is paid annually, at the beginning of the school year or in regular monthly instalments or according to an individual plan suitable to you.
Sponsor a Child Through Primary
Sponsor a Child Through O’Level
Sponsor a Child Through A’ Level
Sponsor a Child Through Tertiary
A Special Thank You to Our Donors & Partners
