1. a) Entrepreneurship

Our vision is for youth and women to enjoy equal economic opportunities so they can live to their full potential. We carry out community entrepreneurship projects that empower youth and women to start, sustain and grow successful businesses, and to build fair and inclusive business environments.

The Foundation exists to create a future where youth and women everywhere enjoy equal economic opportunities so they can thrive. Together with partners, we work with youth and women in marginalized areas so they can start, sustain and grow successful enterprises. We collaborate to create fairer business environments so that youth and women are not constrained by opportunity barriers and can reach their potential on their terms.

Our projects aim to contribute towards the reduction of unemployment, among the youth and women, through the creation of employment opportunities by bringing youth and women groups together to increase their technical, professional, social, and entrepreneurial skills in areas including agribusiness value chains. 

Our training and mentoring schemes improve their access to employment, markets, finance, land, and new technologies and more specifically: 

Income growth: We help youth and women increase their incomes by using financial services to start and grow their businesses and achieve a positive return on investments.

Asset accumulation: We help youth and women accumulate savings and physical assets by accessing savings accounts or groups, and increasing their agency to control these assets.

Resilience building: We help youth and women manage risks, protect investments, and maintain their wellbeing in the face of shocks and stresses like climate change, conflict, and market instability. We also support the resilience of financial service markets, so they are available during times of greatest need.

1. b) Better Health Practices and Provisions

Better health practices and provisions for the marginalized and vulnerable are important for ensuring that everyone has access to quality healthcare. Beegsan Foundation carries out capacity building activities around better healthy practices to ensure planned, safe pregnancy and childbirth; uptake of vaccines for the prevention of diseases; protecting children from all forms of violence, neglect and abuse; appropriate nutrition; safeguarding against losing access to health care services and provision of necessary supplies and equipment.

The right of young children to healthy development is key to promoting and protecting the right to health throughout life, and to foster sustainable human development. The Foundation carries out capacity building of mothers around the following critical elements of healthy child development:

• Stable, responsive and nurturing caregiving;
• Safe, supportive environments; and
• Appropriate nutrition.

Due to certain restrictive interpretations of religious and cultural values and beliefs, women and girls do not always have adequate access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services or education. The Foundation carries out trainings on removal of barriers that interfere with individual decision-making on health-related issues in order for the women and girls to realize their rights to health. The Foundation’s programs include training on access to health services, education and information. 

The Foundation carries out capacity building initiatives to ensure that Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) have a right to health, including to quality health-care services and that PWDs should not be discriminated against and should enjoy the right to health in their communities as persons without disabilities do.

The Foundation carries out trainings to encourage older persons to remain physically, politically, socially and economically active for as long as possible that will not only benefit the individual, but also the society as a whole.

1. c) Sustainable Democracy and Peace

Conflict and instability cause significant setbacks or even reverse decades of progress in areas that are key to a community’s future, like economic development, public health, and access to nutritious food. Communities experiencing conflict have higher rates of poverty in comparison to more stable communities. By 2030, it is estimated that two thirds of the world’s poorest people will live in conflict-affected areas.

Sharp economic downtowns, increasing inequality, and rising authoritarianism — to name a few — are not only contributing to the uptick in violence but are also eroding the very foundations that make communities strong and resilient. The effects of climate change and the COVID‑19 pandemic are only compounding these challenges. 

Beegsan Foundation works with vulnerable communities, whether defined by geography or other characteristics, to manage conflicts before they escalate. A cornerstone of the Foundation’s peacebuilding work is strengthening relationships and building trust within and across communities, identity groups, and authorities so that they are able to work together to achieve common goals. We also provide training in interest-based negotiation and mediation so conflicts can be resolved locally and peacefully.

The Foundation works to transform the norms, attitudes, and institutions that enable conflict. This includes a sharp focus on strengthening good governance practices. 

We do this by providing a collaborative platform for the communities to resolve their own conflicts and help local governments and communities work together to tackle some of the biggest drivers of conflict, like shrinking resources from climate change and economic inequality, and develop long-term solutions.

The drivers of conflict are complex and interconnected, and so are the solutions. Our approaches document the resilience factors among the local communities and span sectors and populations, building foundations for lasting peace. All our actions are anchored in the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 2250.