About Us
It started with Leah
FOMO Initiative is a Tanzanian non-profit socio-health and community development organisation focused on women, girls, children and marginalised communities. We combine health education, livelihood skills, entrepreneurship, menstrual health, education support and community-based empowerment.
- Legal name
- FOMO Initiative
- Registration
- 00NGO/R/7009
- Based in
- Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- Safeguarding
- Three adopted policies
Our story
Every movement begins with one story
In 2011, FOMO Initiative’s journey began after an encounter with Leah, a sixteen-year-old mother of two.
Her first pregnancy followed sexual abuse by a family member, which she was pressured to keep secret because of family shame. Later, while working as a domestic worker in another region, she was exploited again, became pregnant, contracted HIV, and was abandoned. She returned to her grandmother’s village with two children and almost no means of survival.
Leah’s story raised a question that could not be ignored: how many other girls are living the same reality, judged for circumstances they did not choose, yet given little opportunity to rebuild their lives?
That question became FOMO Initiative: a Tanzanian organisation committed to replacing stigma with dignity, vulnerability with skills, and exclusion with opportunity.
Vision
What we are working towards
A Tanzania where every girl and woman, regardless of background or circumstance, can live with dignity, access opportunity, and build a healthy and economically independent future.
Mission
How we get there
To empower marginalised women, girls and children through practical skills, health and menstrual education, livelihood opportunities, education support and community partnerships that create sustainable pathways out of vulnerability.
From the Founder
Every time I see a young mother learning, sewing, baking, building confidence or earning an income, I am reminded why FOMO Initiative exists. The smiles and changes in the girls we serve feel like giving them a second chance at life.
As a mother to a daughter, I carry this work personally. I believe that helping vulnerable girls reclaim dignity and opportunity is part of fulfilling God’s work through service.
One of the hardest lessons has been seeing how often fellow women are among those who point fingers at teenage mothers and label them instead of helping them. FOMO Initiative chooses compassion over condemnation.
Vivian Sirikwa
Founder & Managing Director
Accountability
What we hold ourselves to
- Signed safeguarding policies: our PSEAH Policy, Child Protection Policy and Risk Management Strategy are signed and available on request.
- Evidence-labelled figures: results carry their reporting period and source, and planning assumptions are labelled as such.
- Consent before images: no beneficiary photograph is published without documented consent, and children are never identified by full name or precise location.
Due diligence welcome
If you are assessing FOMO Initiative for a grant or partnership, we will gladly walk you through our registration, policies and programme records.