WOMEN AND CHILDRENS ADVOCACY CENTRE

Loom emerged from the belief that social innovators are the local experts – the ones who know their communities best. Our goal is to strategically build their capacity for greater effectiveness and accelerate their growth towards sustainability. To do this, we focus on ten strategic ingredients to sustainable, thriving communities:
Education
Family
Health
Jobs
Agriculture
Environment
Culture
Energy
Housing
Faith

These elements are critical to create sustainable, thriving communities – to see parents be able to provide for their families; children have the opportunity of education; young women have the choice of work with dignity; pregnant women and their children have adequate nutrition and medical care; the elderly cared for; and space for all the creativity and culture that is part of a full and rich life.

Local social innovators we partner with are starting schools, clinics, school sponsorship, after-school programs, parenting classes, vocational schools and social enterprise. Loom accelerates these local leaders to expand their impact and work towards sustainable change in which everyone can thrive. Together, we believe that investing wisely in children, families, and their communities means the following generation will contribute much more through their healthy and productive lives.

Loom International believes sustainable social change comes through investing in local people working with the most vulnerable in their communities. Local social innovators work with integrity and passion, bringing hope and change in their community—the place they know best. What they lack are resources, training and relationships with people who believe in them and give them tools to succeed on a much bigger scale.

Loom has identified the biggest roadblocks to success are:

a lack of training
a lack of financial sustainability
a lack of access to reliable infrastructure, such as energy, water, or clinics.

To address these problems, Loom offers tailor-made solutions through capacity building and connections. Our greatest hope is that soon they have everything they need to successfully work without us.

Some of our capacity building solutions include:
Targeting training for those working with children at risk through Loom’s Celebrating Children Workshop
Small business and social enterprise start-up through Vuka Small Business Training and grants
Coalitions among like-minded local innovators for greater efficacy, such as the East Africa Education Alliance
Consultation gatherings of social innovators in a region to share information, strategize on how to move forward and encourage each other
One-on-one coaching with a trained coach
Connection to expertise, training, and funding that Loom cannot provide

With more than 30 years of experience in global development work, Loom’s leadership is obsessed with sustainability. Our founder and executive director have extensive connections and experience throughout the regions of East Africa in which Loom currently works. Our Board of Directors has a diverse range of experience in business, government, NGO, leadership, and financial oversight.

From South Africa to New Zealand to Cameroon, our diverse team brings a wealth of expertise in coaching, international training, best practices among children at risk, and more. Our flagship training, the Celebrating Children Workshop, has been multiplied on four continents and translated into multiple languages, and is now the launching-off point for new capacity building training and initiatives.

Lastly, Loom is only as strong as the strength and integrity of our partners. We are committed to building trusted relationships with grassroots leaders. Once a genuine two-way trust relationship is in place, we do a thorough assessment of leadership, structure, and organization potential, and invest in skill sharpening and capacity building. Initially this relational investment seems time consuming, but it is essential for true exponential growth. Loom’s partners are selected based on their unique ideas, demonstrated commitment, and track record; after which an intentional, customized investment is made to maximize their intervention for long term sustainability.

Ten years after Loom began…

31 pre and primary schools are part of the East African Education Alliance, with planning in place for the next 10 years as we seek to secure funding for 100 new pre/primary schools and 22 secondary/tertiary schools – changing the futures of an entire generation.

3 health clinics and many medical camps
mean fewer children die from preventable diseases, pregnant mothers have a safe place to give birth, and children with disabilities are cared for.

27 small businesses launched a new movement of income generation for the most vulnerable.

Over 65 trainings on 4 continents
transformed hundreds of thousands of lives around the world.

4 agriculture projects steward the environment and train a new generation in effective models of food production.

4 biogas digesters and 40 Biogas Bootcamp students are providing green solutions for Africa’s energy and health crisis.

45 participants of our most recent Trauma Competent Care training
are going on to impact the lives of over 17,400 community members across East Africa.

Since October 2020, 16 facilitators have successfully launched 28 Celebrating Children Workshops in various locations in East Africa. These 16 facilitators have trained 1311 beneficiaries which resulted in approximately 26,649 children being directly impacted.