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Here’s What’s Happening At Our Zimbabwe Sites
In our last blog, we updated you on the #SKIC women of Chile (who are thriving in our SKImfi and SKILLS programs!) Now, our founder, Shyam, has been visiting our sites in Zimbabwe, and we have more exciting updates about our beneficiaries on the other side of the world. Thanks to our SKImfi manager, Beatrice,…
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A Conversation with Shyam: 2014 | The Year in Review
As we begin an exciting new year, SKIC founder Shyam K. Iyer takes a moment to reflect upon 2014. The organization saw a lot of growth this past year – with two programs operating fully in both Chile and Zimbabwe, SKIC’s operating sites. This past year we introduced a new program SKILLS, the SKI Local…
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Why Early-Stage Scholarships? (Part 2)
Early-stage scholarships offer tremendous benefits, not only for recipients, but also for their communities. In Part One of this series, we explored the direct benefits for early education scholarship recipients, including reduced criminal activity, fewer teenage pregnancies, and better employment rates. These outcomes create a more sustainable and healthy community environment. By investing in youth, SKIpgo is investing in everyone. “The young ladies of…
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Why Early-Stage Scholarships? (Part 1)
Shyam is often asked why SKIpgo focuses on early childhood education instead of adolescent or college education. SKIpgo focuses on making the largest impact by investing its resources in opportunities that will have the most long-term results possible. By offering early-stage scholarships for girls ages three to five years old, SKIpgo ensures that this investment…
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A Conversation with Shyam: State of the Foundation
2014 marks the beginning of SKI Charities’ fourth year of activity. In this podcast, the charity’s founder, Shyam K. Iyer, reflects upon the past year and articulates his goals for the coming year. Listen in to hear our Re-Cap of 2013 and Preview of 2014!
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A Word with our SKIpgo Zimbabwe Program Manager
Elizabeth, our program manager for SKIpgo-Zimbabwe, discusses her work with SKI Charities and her passion for child development. In your own words, what is your role in SKI charities? I work for the SKIpgo Zimbabwe Trust, one of the projects run by SKI charities in Mutare, Zimbabwe. I recruit candidates who are eligible for the…
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Less is More: The Benefits of Microfinance
For SKI Charities, keeping things at a micro level is essential to the organization’s success. Charity founder, Shyam K. Iyer asserts, “When you’re doing microfinance at such a local level, it’s not just about these women creating their own wealth and creating their own businesses. What about the spillover effects?” Shyam notes that SKImfi beneficiaries…
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Why Focus on Women?
SKI Charities founder Shyam has been asked why it is that the charity focuses exclusively on women. When he visits town halls and communities to tell them about SKIC, plenty of men attend. Some of them jokingly (and others more aggressively) ask him, “Why are we not included? Why do you just focus on women?…
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On the Right Track: Early Stage Scholarships in Zimbabwe
Shyam readily – and fondly – recalls observing young girls in Zimbabwe skipping their way to school at 4:30 in the morning. It’s a memory he can recount in vivid detail – and one that certainly left an impression on him. “There’s nothing like the sunsets and sunrises in Africa. The soil is blood red,…
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What’s in a Name?
SKIpgo Little girls skipped along the side of a dust road as an African sunrise peeked above the horizon, never knowing that the lasting image they created inspired the name of a scholarship program. It was 4:30 in the morning, and Shyam was driving with colleagues through the bush—rural areas—of Zimbabwe. They passed countless children who walked…