A dream 18 years in the making

For 18 years, our partnership with Vumundzuku-bya Vana/Our Children’s Future (VVOCF) has been defined by learning, love, and lifesaving support. With the support of donors like you, we were there in the early days, ensuring children, youth, and their families had accessed HIV testing, treatment, and care.

Even as we navigated those critical times, we held fast to our mission: to connect youth around the world to each other and to their purpose. We dreamt of a space—more than just a traditional internet cafe or computer lab—where young people could do just that, connecting with their peers across the global, advancing their understanding of the world, developing critical and creative capacities, and progressing toward their purpose.

The vision: A studio for perception and expression

Today, that dream is within reach. We’re accelerating our partnership with VVOCF to launch the Zonkizizwe Youth Empowerment Studio.

This studio is not a classroom. It’s a creative and collaborative space where Zonkizizwe's young leaders will develop their powers of perception and expression in service to their community.

In this studio, youth will move beyond simply being "recipients" of services or “consumers” of Big Tech products. They will become creators, prototypes, data scientists, and community builders, learning to:

See the value of their own story: Transforming community data into powerful knowledge.
Solve local challenges: Applying their skills to meaningful projects that uplift their friends, families, and neighbors.
Connect globally: Engaging in cross-cultural dialogue and exchange, realizing they are part of an interdependent world.

This studio is the crucial next step in ensuring their future is defined by connection and opportunity, not limits.

Your investment: Move from prototype to practice

We’ve set an end-of-year fundraising goal of $6,000 to move the youth empowerment studio from a planned prototype to a functioning reality.

Your gift today provides the immediate acceleration we need to:

Fund the first cohort: Launching the initial learning and development projects for the first group of young leaders.
Jumpstart design and building: Securing the immediate funds necessary to finalize the physical design and prepare the building phase.

The power of the match: Double your impact!

Because a generous donor believes deeply in this vision, every dollar you contribute from now until the end of the year will be matched dollar for dollar.

A gift of $25 becomes $50
A gift of $100 becomes $200
A gift of $500 becomes $1,000

This is the most direct way to ensure we hit our $6,000 goal and lay the groundwork for the 2026 opening. Your generosity is multiplied, accelerating the studio's creation and immediately powering the potential of Zonkizizwe youth.

Giving is a connective act. Please join us in this vital and vibrant end-of-year burst to build something practical, beautiful, and enduring.

Zonkizize Youth Empowerment Studio

By Global Youth for Education and Change

Zonkizize Youth Empowerment Studio

Team Members