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 Recent Projects
Since 2006, Global Grassroots has trained nearly 250 Rwandans who have
designed 29 social projects benefiting marginalized women. Each
project has between 10 and 45 team members, and supports countless others
within each community. Following are recent examples: |
Meg Foundation School
Grant amount: $3200
Team size: 45 men & women
Social impact: 60 women & their families
The Problem:
This
team has identified women’s involvement in sex work, and in turn exposure
to and lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS as one of the greatest problems
facing their community. In Kinamba, Kigali, many women and girls have been
left widowed or orphaned from the genocide and have felt forced into
prostitution with little to no education and skills to secure other jobs.
One team-member states, “After talking to the women, we have helped them
to decide to leave prostitution and change their lives, but they need
skills training in order to be able to earn a living without
prostitution.”
The Solution:
To help
vulnerable women earn a sustainable living without exposing themselves to
HIV/AIDS through prostitution, the MEG Foundation School plans to offer
training in tailoring, workshops on HIV/AIDS prevention and reproductive
health as well as literacy and English classes.
Methods of
Evaluation:
In year one, the MEG Foundation School will provide 60 prostitutes a
sustainable and healthy alternative for themselves and their families.
The goals of the project, measured through surveys,
interviews and home visits, include that
every student is
able to make clothes on her own, that the hygiene and nutrition of the
women improve, that they understand the consequences of HIV/AIDS and how
to prevent it by using condoms, that women understand their options for
contraception, and that the participants learn to read and write.
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Invincible Vision 20/20
Grant amount: $2800
Team size: 8 men & women
Social impact: 1027 women
The Problem:
In the Byimana Sector of rural Kigali,
62.4% of the female population is illiterate. Despite the District
Government literacy program, the 8 members of the Invincible Vision 20/20
project team have found that local women are still lacking adequate
reading and writing skills to inform their knowledge of laws that protect
them and their families. Without these skills, these women are
essentially excluded from development and are unable to participate fully
in society.
The Solution: To
provide training for these women in reading, writing and basic math skills
so that they feel empowered to become active participants in society and
take charge of their own development. As a creative resourcing strategy to
cover their ongoing operating costs, the team has encouraged local school
children and their participants to collect rocks, broken bricks and
firewood from the side of the road. After about one week, the team
collects enough to sell a truckload to construction companies.
Methods of
Evaluation: Invincible
Vision 20/20 will train 1,270 women who are not benefiting from the
District Government literacy program. The team will use examinations and
surveys to measure its progress in teaching women to read, write, open
bank accounts, perform financial tasks on their own, participate in local
government and develop the courage to approach local authorities and
police to report
violations of the rights of other women.
With literacy and basic mathematical
instruction, these women will be better equipped to bring change for the
future generations of Byimana. |
ABANYAMURAVA “Hard Worker”
Grant amount: $2600
Team size: 10 women
Social impact: 500-600 people
The Problem:
In a community on the
outskirts of mountainous Kigali, a team of ten women led by HACIMANA
Seraphine have been particularly troubled by the long journey they must
embark upon each day to collect water down a long hill to a dirty creek
bed. In addition to the disease and poor hygiene associated with poor
water access, many of those who were left physically disabled or HIV
positive from the genocide are unable to collect for their daily needs.
Instead, they are forced to turn to local men with bicycle access, some of
whom have begun exploiting them for sex in return for water delivery.
The Solution:
ABANYAMURAVA has designed a
water tank project in their remote community that will serve 60 households
(with an average number of children of 6-10). This social project will
also:
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donate 10 jerry cans of
water per tank to five orphan headed households,
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pay the school fees for
five children who are AIDS orphans or genocide orphans and
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buy annual health
insurance for 15 women and their families
By providing clean and
affordable water to their community members, ABANYAMURAVA will be able to
reduce the prevalence of water related disease as well as diminish the
vulnerability of women who are unable to make the long journey to what was
previously, the only other water source.
Methods of
Evaluation:
The project has arranged partnership with the local clinic, church
and authorities to properly evaluate their impact. They are also planning
on conducting regular meetings with families within the community to
confirm that the project has improved their health and reduced any former
reliance on others for access to water.
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HARANIRA UBUZIMA “Work For Life”
Grant Amount: $1232
Team size: 16 women
Social impact: 1750 - 2250 people
The Problem:
Under the leadership of KABAGABIRE Francine, 16 women have decided
to address the issue of limited and unreliable access to clean water in
their community. The extremely limited capacity results in hours of
waiting for one's daily supply of water, causing job tardiness and lack of
school attendance. While unpredictable water access affects all community
members, the HARANIRA UBUZIMA group identified widow and orphan-headed
households as the most vulnerable groups bearing the brunt of this
problem.
The Solution:
To help address these debilitating issues for vulnerable members
within the community, HARANIRA UBUZIMA has developed a socially motivated
venture. These 16 women are installing a water tank on land donated to
them by their local church. Here they will tap into the local piping
system, gaining access to clean and more readily available water for 250
local households. The group will use proceeds to provide:
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two jerry cans of
water for five vulnerable households per day,
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soap, cleaning
services, and cultivation guidance for five vulnerable households per
week,
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10 kilos of rice for
five households per month
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school fees for five
orphans,
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annual health insurance
for five families (each with six members) and
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rent for eight
association and eight non-association members.
Methods of
Evaluation:
In order to
ensure that HARANIRA UBUZIMA is making a positive social impact in their
community, interviews and testimonies will be collected every two months
following project implementation to gather data about the project’s impact
for the local clinic, school, community and group members.
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NEW! February
2008 Project Update:
Project Leader HACIMANA Seraphine and
team have reduced the vulnerability of their neighbors
By Gillian Porcella - Team ABANYAMURAVA's
First Water Delivery
During Global Grassroots' most recent trip
to Rwanda in January, we visited Gahanga, a community on the outskirts of
mountainous Kigali where project leader HACIMANA Seraphine and the
ABANYAMURAVA team gathered their neighbors to speak with us about their
first water delivery earlier that week.
Gahanga was formerly forced to rely upon a dirty water source located at
the bottom of the valley. Before attending Global Grassroots training,
Seraphine noticed that not only was the two-hour water collection too time
intensive for her busy community, it often left those physically disabled
or infected with HIV from the genocide relying on men with bicycles to
collect water in exchange for money or sex. After graduating from our
training, Seraphine and her fellow team members realized that they had the
power to combat this issue head-on.
This dedicated group of women designed a water tank project
that could reach over 60 households, including Gahanga’s most vulnerable
neighbors by providing clean, reliable and affordable water. However, the
quickly-rising price of cement and professional labor meant that our
original Global Grassroots grant would no longer cover the construction of
the tank foundation. Instead of abandoning their project, ABANYAMURAVA put
their newly-learned creative resourcing skills to work and decided to
sacrifice their time and wages to come together and build the foundation
themselves. They were then able to rely upon the newly designed rain-water
collectors during rainy season, and saved what was necessary so that they
could ensure their first water delivery once dry season began.
During our visit, community members shared with us that they were
incredibly grateful for the water tank. It meant that they no longer had
to forfeit part of their busy day to make the arduous journey down the
valley to only return with dirty water. Children were now on-time for
school and mothers had enough water to cook for their families throughout
the day. We also learned that people were now able to clean their houses
and themselves much more often, which they told us greatly improved their
quality of everyday life. We were especially pleased to hear that with the
new tank, many women were no longer sexually exploited because of their
need for water.
What was most thrilling to see, was the pride exhibited by these women.
With the help of Global Grassroots, these community members learned to
properly diagnose an issue and found the solution to promote social change
on their own. Seraphine, who is married with seven children at the age of
38, has been approached by several individuals requesting that she share
her skills and guidance so that they too may combat issues within their
own communities. These “hard workers” have
truly shown us that they are willing to sacrifice in the spirit of
improving their community. |
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