Programs & Events

The Ambassador's Self-Help Program

Through the Ambassador’s Self-Help Fund, the U.S. Embassy supports small scale community projects throughout Swaziland. In 2004, Self-Help grants were awarded to:

 
• Amanzi Community Clean Water Project: $8,000 to install a roundabout play water pump used to provide up to 100 homesteads with access to clean drinking water. 
  

• Sigombeni Secondary School:  $4,500 to construct a fence for school grounds.  The fence was needed to keep children away from road and to protect the windows from cattle. 
  

• Mbhava Primary School:  $6,600 to purchase roofing materials, door and window frames needed to finish the construction of the school the community had partially built. 
  
• Elulakeni Rural Education Center:  $3,100 to purchase an industrial sewing machine, table saw, doors, burglar bars and locks to protect the instructional equipment used by the center to provide non-formal education, high school equivalency, and income generation activities for adults and youth. 
  
• Mhlabeni Community Water Project:  $3,500 for the drilling of a borehole used to address local community drinking water and vegetable gardens irrigation needs.
  
• Naledi Candles and Soaps:  $2,400 to purchase supplies for a community income generation project through the production of bar soap. 
  
• Shiselweni Disabled People’s Organization:  $4,700 to purchase a disposable nappy (diaper) manufacturing machine used by a group of several hundreds disabled persons to pursue income generation schemes.
  
• Zombodze Youth Organization Piggery Project:  $1,300 to build three pig- housing units for an income generation project serving youth and community outreach programs. 
  
• Makhosini Youth in Development Association:  $1,300 to purchase building materials to construct pig-housing structures needed to provide both income generation and self-sustaining source of income for 40 members as well as financial support for community outreach programs.
  
• Phutsetela Hammer Mill:  $1,400 to erect a building to house a community maize grinder serving over 4,000 people.
  
• Duze Community Water Association:  $1,700 to install a water pump for use by 250 homesteads with 1,000 people, two schools with 1,300 students, and a vegetable garden for 103 orphans. 
  
• Musi Community School:  $4,000 to purchase roofing materials for two classrooms accommodating about 70 children.
  
• Ligolide Letfu Women’s Association:  $2,100 to provide a 5,000-liter water tank and pit latrines needed for the operation of a community maize hammer mill.
  
• Ndinabanye Association Benefiting Women and Orphans:  $1,300 to build pig-housing units supporting pig raising income generation activities for women to benefit orphans and community outreach programs related to HIV/AIDS.
  
• Siphamandla Sewing Association:  $700 to purchase one hundred bags of cement to build a structure to house a women’s sewing collective with 100 members that produces clothes in the local community. 
  
• Nhlabantfu Women’s Handicraft:  $1,200 to provide the 40-women association with sewing equipment and materials for income generation through the production of hand brooms, sleeping mats, placemats, jewelry, and traditional clothing.

To qualify for Self-Help funding a project must: 

• Be aimed at the grass roots
• Promise quick implementation and high impact
• respond to a significant local contribution
• correspond to local initiatives and aspirations
• be self-sustaining

Inquiries regarding the Ambassador's Self-Help Fund should be directed to:

Ambassador's Self-Help Fund Coordinator
Address: P.O. Box 199, Mbabane
Telephone: 404-6441
Fax: 404-5959