Vision
A Tanzania where young women earn sustainable income and lead with confidence.
We turn Learning into earning for young women in Tanzania
A rights-based blueprint for Young women's economic power that turns learning into earning at scale.
WHO WE ARE
We are a Young Women led organization that delivers a rights-based Blueprint for Young women's Economic Power that turns learning into earning by strengthening the enterprise ecosystems that support women's long-term economic success.
Mission
We provide entrepreneurship and digital skills platforms to young women and support youth led organizations to replicate and scale our approach.
OUR STORY
Built from a blueprint, not a programme.
Her Initiative was built not with another program, but with a blueprint. The blueprint began with one number. When Lydia Charles Moyo, the founder, looked back at her school cohort, only 9 out of 200 girls had progressed to high school. The system was working against them through poverty, child marriage, and early pregnancy not because they lacked ability. Lydia’s response wasn’t to wait.
At 16, she was already leading rights awareness campaigns in Dar es Salaam schools. At university, she used Panda events to connect young women with entrepreneurship networks. By 2016, those efforts had a name: Her Initiative.
What we built is not a single intervention. It is a connected system: Learn → Earn → Lead designed so that every pathway reinforces the next. Young women don’t just gain skills; they access capital.
They don’t just start businesses; they become ecosystem builders who train the next cohort. In 2021, during COVID-19, the model evolved. At a time when many paused, Her Initiative launched Panda Digital, a Swahili hybrid platform combining web and AI to continue reaching young women despite physical limitations.
What began as a response to the crisis is now a core part of the model, positioning Her Initiative as a digitally enabled organization expanding access and impact at scale.
THE PROBLEM
The system is failing young women.
Economic exclusion, patriarchal norms, and systemic injustice deny young women access to skills, capital, and decision making power. The response has been fragmented training here, a microloan there, never connected.
18M
Women make up Tanzania's working age female population
93.8%
Of women in non agricultural work are in informal, insecure jobs
0%
Integrated pathways linking skills → income → leadership
LEARN. EARN. LEAD.
One connected pathway, not isolated projects.
01
Learn
Practical entrepreneurship, digital, and rights based skills
02
Earn
Business launch support, market access, and savings
03
Lead
Agency, protection, and leadership roles
THE ENGINE
A scalable blueprint for young women's economic power
Her Initiative delivers a rights based blueprint
01
Training
Structured entrepreneurship, digital, and rights based curriculum delivered at scale.
02
Practice
Real world application with guided business simulations such as product improvement and customer outreach through mentorship and coaching.
03
Access
Capital, markets, tools, VSLA, and referral pathways unlocked for participants.
04
Action
Launch businesses, generate income, take on leadership roles.
05
Replication
Scaling through youth led organizations that are trained to deliver the same blueprint with quality assurance.
Built for scale from day one.
The blueprint is standardised, evidence tracked, and designed so any youth led organisation can replicate it with quality assurance.
USD 50
PER PARTICIPANT TODAY
346,960
WOMEN BY 2029
WATCH
Her Initiative in motion
Going Beyond Documentary Phase 2
Her initiative Organization Profile
KBF Award Documentary
OUR PARTNERS
Backed by leading global organizations
