Firelight Foundation

Firelight finds, funds, and strengthens catalytic community-based organizations (CBOs) working with their communities to address important systems for women and children in southern and eastern Africa. A critical aspect of Firelight’s work is centering and amplifying the perspectives, insights, and analysis of community stakeholders who are most affected by key issues. This grant supports research examining the intersectionality of women’s agency and choices with early childhood development realities and initiatives in Tanzania. Guided by an intersectional Global South feminist approach, and centering the perspectives, analysis, and thought leadership of community-based co-researchers, Firelight will collaborate with CBOs and research institutions to gather, make sense of, and build contextually grounded knowledge about how women’s agency and choices are affected by and affects early childhood development realities and initiatives in Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia.

The Firelight Foundation has a strong model for providing support to community-based organizations to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families in sub-Saharan Africa. Through this grant Firelight would support twelve community-based organizations in Tanzania with innovative approaches to improving children’s literacy and numeracy by strengthening families, increasing teacher competency, and increasing citizen engagement. As part of this grants program Firelight would also support organizational development for its grantees, evaluate the effectiveness of these innovative models, and encourage lateral replication of those models that improve children’s learning.