Lyra In Africa + SoftCat
We matched Lyra in Africa, a grassroots organisation on a mission to educate and empower girls in rural Tanzania, with a product manager from softcat to develop a supporters’ scheme as a new income stream.
Lyra in Africa was started in 2012 by Maria Spink to educate and empower girls in rural Tanzania. Maria was working with a tree-planting company in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, where she met some local labourers and was shocked by the stories she was told by the girls and women there. Maria was driven to bring about real positive changes in their lives, helping them to choose the life they wanted to lead. Lyra’s primary tool for reaching this vision is education, including training opportunities, financial literacy education, and a youth entrepreneurship course.
Lyra is a registered charity in the UK and all programs are implemented in Southern Tanzania. Lyra’s vision is economically vibrant, sustainable rural communities where girls can complete secondary education and can access equal social and economic opportunities. They have been awarded gold status for delivering at least 15 of the 17 UN SDGs.
Until now, Lyra in Africa has had a donation option on their website, but no option for those interested in making a regular monthly donation to the organisation. Lyra has a growing engaged supporter base, who could provide an important revenue stream if offered the option of a monthly donation. They are also in the process of setting up a Lyra foundation in Finland where a key part of their offer will be a Lyra supporters scheme.
They contacted Matchable to help find volunteers to work on the creation of content for a Lyra supporters scheme that could speak to and engage a global audience, including naming of the initiative and social media plans for its launch.
Hannah Ellis from Softcat brought her technology consulting experience to Lyra in Africa. Her skill in coordinating and delivering complex projects was particularly relevant and helpful for Lyra’s needs. Hannah will be working with Lyra in Africa on an ongoing basis, working over time to develop the scheme that Lyra in Africa have in mind.
“Hannah Ellis has been a real asset to the team. We set a specific project for Hannah to work with us to deliver on, and from the get go, she went beyond what we asked her to deliver. She is proactive, has an excellent attention to detail, combined with a good ability to see the bigger picture. We are about half way through the project, but once the project is completed it will have a really transformational impact on Lyra going forward. We could not have got this far, this quickly without Hannah’s excellent skills and oversight. Her input has been invaluable”
“Lyra in Africa have been delighted to work with Matchable and their fantastic volunteers over the past six months. As a small charity, we have really appreciated the niche technical input – and enthusiasm – from the volunteers that have worked with us so far. Their contributions have been fantastic, and really helped move key areas forward within Lyra in Africa.”