OUR approach
Empowering youth. Strengthening families. Transforming communities.
Behind every statistic is a young person discovering their potential and a family finding renewed hope. We believe that children, adolescents, and young adults are capable individuals with strengths that can be developed, rather than seeing them as problems that need to be solved. Stepping Stones International is helping young people move beyond survival toward opportunity, rediscover the joy of childhood, and grow into confident, self-reliant adults.
Our
Footprints
Real-World Work Experience
Youth gain practical career exposure through job-shadowing placements
Community-Based Child Protection
Child protection committees strengthening local responses to child abuse and neglect.
Community Outreach
Home visits to support families affected by HIV and AIDS, providing risk assessments and referrals
Two-Generation Approach
We strengthen young people and their caregivers beyond the program into the home environment.
Our positive youth development approach guides our person-centered interventions that meet the psychosocial and socio-economic needs of young people and enables them to lead healthy, entrepreneurial lives. Our partnerships with ministries of education, health, youth, and gender, schools, district health teams, and community leaders enhance our outcomes.
Our comprehensive approach integrates evidence-based activities into existing spaces, meeting youth where they are and influencing their environment with interventions for families and communities.
Achievements
Many young people entering SSI programs have experienced trauma, poverty, or the pressures of becoming caregivers at an early age.
Through trauma-informed psychosocial support, SSI has helped participants:
- Heal from past experiences
- Build self-confidence and self-worth
- Develop healthy coping and communication skills
- Make safer life choices
This mental health support plays a critical role in helping youth reclaim the joy of childhood and build resilience for adulthood.
Through Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM) and the Grannies Tea Group, SSI drives intergenerational change by empowering young men and grandmothers as community leaders.
CBIM challenges harmful norms and builds respectful, accountable leadership among boys, while the Grannies Tea Group equips grandmothers to prevent gender-based violence, support families, and pursue income-generating activities. Together, they promote safer communities and help break cycles of violence and poverty.
Through the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Programme, SSI strengthens community capacity to support families affected by HIV/AIDS.
Key interventions include:
- Household visits and outreach services
- HIV testing referrals and treatment adherence support
- Perma-garden training to improve household nutrition and generate income
These initiatives improve both health outcomes and economic resilience for vulnerable families.
WE CHANGE LIVES
Over the past 25 years Stepping Stones International has changed the lives of many vulnerable children, youth and families in Botswana.
