Our Mission + History

We empower vulnerable children and youth.

Our programs deliver high-impact, community-based services that improve health, education, protection, and livelihoods for children and youth.

• Health: Increase the uptake of high-impact health services among vulnerable children and youth 
• Education: Increase access, retention, and completion rates in primary and secondary education among vulnerable children and youth 
• Safe: Establish and operationalize child protection and safeguarding mechanisms to reduce violence against children (VAC) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) 
• Stable: Equip vulnerable youth and families with livelihood skills, ensuring improved income-generating capacity to provide a stable and protective environment for children and youth

Our Values:

1. Dignity – Respect, empathy, inclusivity, and non-discrimination
2. Integrity – Transparent, fair, and accountable in all practices
3. Passion – Dedicated service that prioritizes the needs and aspirations of children and youth

While serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) in early 2005, Steve Kallaugher was asked by the country’s National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA) to create a means for people both within Eswatini and overseas to help the country’s burgeoning population of AIDS orphans.

The result is Young Heroes, which launched on February 3, 2006 as a program of NERCHA. Young Heroes Foundation, our 501(c)(3) American affiliate, launched at the same time.

Our original program links sponsors who provide monthly life-support grants with orphan families in need. These stipends give them funds for food, clothing, school fees and other necessities, so they can stay together as a family on their homesteads, where they feel most safe and secure.

In 2009, we launched our Healthcare Program, followed by the Skills Training Empowerment Program (STEP) in 2013.

In 2014, Young Heroes became an independently registered NGO in Eswatini. In the autumn of 2015, Young Heroes received a three-year grant from USAID and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) via PACT to undertake the Umliba Loya Embili project, which was succeeded by Insika Yakusasa. Building on the successes of these projects, Young Heroes transitioned to a Local Prime Recipient of PEPFAR grants in Eswatini to implement Phila Unotse (“Be healthy, economically stable and informed”) in late 2020, and the Sabelo Sensha (youth inheritance) in 2023 to 2025.

In 2017, a grant from the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands through the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and CANGO enabled Young Heroes to implement READY+ in Eswatini. READY+ 2 reached more age groups and directly impacted more than 70,000 people over a five-year period starting in 2021.

In 2018, through the support of the Thomas Engel Foundation and the Moewenweg Foundation, Young Heroes introduced Litsemba project in the Shiselweni region.

With the intention to halt the spread of HIV and reverse its impact in Eswatini, in 2018 through funding from CANGO, Young Heroes started to implement The Halt Project in seven constituencies and five tertiary institutions.   

Through the support of Together Women Rise, Young Heroes introduced a WORTH project in 2020 in Lubombo and Manzini regions targeting caregivers of OVC.