Rwanda 20 years On: The Future of Rwanda

Rwanda 20 years On: The Future of Rwanda

April 7th marks the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. Twenty years later, people throughout Rwanda are coming together to remember the horrific events of 1994. At the same time, they are finding ways to move beyond the past and work together towards building a better future. 
 
We are working with Rwanda communities towards this goal by providing support to vulnerable households and bolstering livelihoods through cooperative development, agricultural training, nutrition education, access to financial services and literacy.

Nutrition Education Nourishes Lives in Rural Rwanda
In Rwanda, approximately 44 percent of children are stunted due to malnutrition. To address this Global Communities is implementing the USAID Ejo Heza (Brighter Future) program which aims to improve the livelihoods and food consumption of 75,000 Rwandans, particularly women. The program provides training and creating community groups to disseminate nutrition messaging and promote kitchen gardening and improved food handling to help reduce malnutrition in the country. Read more here.

Rwandans Bank on Banking as Avenue to Greater Gains
The Government of Rwanda has set a benchmark that 90% of its population will become clients of formal financial institutions as part of the country’s larger goal to increase agricultural productivity through financial services and become a middle-income country by 2020. Through the USAID Higa Ubeho (Be Determined and Live) program, Global Communities is helping communities form savings and lending groups and providing them the tools and knowledge needed for saving and investing, as well as helping these groups establish linkages to the formal financial sector. Read more here.Promoting Youth Entrepreneurship through Technical and Vocational Education and Training
Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) is among the top priorities in Rwanda’s education sector and is an important component of the Government of Rwanda’s policy to end poverty. Global Communities is partnering with the Ministry of Education to promote TVET for youth entrepreneurship and life skills development across the country. Read more here.Preparing Rwanda’s Next Generation to Succeed in School and Life
Under the USAID Higa Ubeho program, Global Communities is helping to promote childhood development through the establishment of playgroups. The playgroups are open to all children under 5, but were created to target children from poor, rural areas and orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) who have limited learning opportunities. Young children of poor families, especially those affected by HIV and AIDS, can be isolated, under-stimulated and slow to learn. The playgroup activities are designed to engage the children and help develop their social, motor, language and cognitive thinking skills. Read more here.

Literacy is Key to a Better Life
Under the USAID Ejo Heza program, Global Communities is working with the Association d’Entraide des Eglises de Pentecotes du Rwanda (ADEPR) to offer adult literacy courses. The  adult literacy program‘s main objective is to develop literacy and numeracy skills using  nutrition, health, financial education and agriculture. It focuses on the basic skills of reading , writing and counting through a functional literacy curriculum. Read more here.