Starting with an idea and mobilising his own skills though a youth leadership and innovation program, the Sprout e-course, Valens created the Lusa Program initiative (LP). The Lusa Program provides Rwandan women with access to land, seeds and technical assistance in order to increase their income, in turn increasing household incomes, food security, soil fertility and environmental protection. Through three cooperatives of 300 members, the community gardens, made available by local governments, grow such staple vegetables as eggplants, beets, cabbages and squash.
The women and girls who benefit from such an innovative program are extremely vulnerable in Rwandan society. Mainly female sex workers, street girls, adolescent mothers and girls who are out-of school, they are particularly at risk of violence, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition and poverty. Isolated due to their social status, their need to have a stable and reliable source of income is vital for their own, and their family’s survival.
While providing women and girls with technical training in food production, the program simultaneously also develops their professional, leadership and advocacy skills, in a backdrop of community cooperation. Working in line with the Rwandan government’s policy of promoting gender equality and female empowerment, these women are being given a vital life line into the labour market and out of the social and economic isolation they have previously suffered.
This empowerment project in Rwanda is changing lives. mage Credit: Lusa Program.
Background
The Rwanda genocide of 1994 caused over 99.9% of the population, whom are mostly female, to witness horrific violence and death. Over 300,000 children were made orphans and 85,000 under 18’s were left with the responsibility to care for younger siblings. Many women were made widows, infected with HIV/AIDS, led into prostitution and suffered immense poverty with little alternative. This has caused a dangerous environment for very young girls, who often drop out of schools very early and are vulnerable to rape, commercial sex and a complete lack of social support. At only 24 years old, Valens Ntamushobora’s innovative business model is working to counteract this framework to bring about an alternative for young girls and women.
To read about Valen’s project on the Huffington Post click here.
To read more about the Sprout e-course and the opportunity it provides to women and girls in Rwanda click here.
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