CorpsAfrica/Rwanda

July 1, 2022 – Since October 13, 2021, CorpsAfrica has deployed 30 volunteers in 30 Districts in Rwanda. These volunteers are composed of young Rwandans who are university graduates, who receive training from CorpsAfrica and choose to dedicate almost one year of their life to the communities. This was enabled through a 3-year partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, aimed at providing opportunities for young people in Africa to become changemakers in the public health, education, and economic development sectors.

Taba Village is one of the sites where CorpsAfrica deployed a volunteer, upon request from Unity Club. Taba Village is one of the locations of Impinganzima, which is home for 100 men and women who were left alone during the genocide against the Tutsis in 1994. There, Unity Club developed an Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP) to integrate the Intwaza (the elderly people housed in Impinganzima) into the Taba community. It is in this regard that CorpsAfrica came in as a partner, to support the Unity Club ICDP project.

When CorpsAfrica Volunteers started their training program with the community in Taba Village, they discussed issues they face and identified assets they had as a community as well as the solutions that would help improve their livelihoods. The Taba Village community proposed to put together a livestock project which would be composed of pigs, rabbits, chickens for their capacity to reproduce fast. The community would also be able to produce manure that would be used in their farms to increase their harvests and help them generate income quickly.

“At CorpsAfrica, we engage the youth in a learning process to listen to communities, we are happy that our mission of empowering communities is being achieved through this livestock project which will improve the livelihoods in the Taba community as already observed in other places where similar projects were conducted,” said Eustochie Sezibera, CorpsAfrica/Rwanda Director.

In addition to the Taba Village livelihood projects, a total of 1,724 pigs, 160 goats, 100 sheep, 80 chickens and 70 rabbits have been distributed in other communities, with other local organisations’ support. The volunteers have started an initiative called “One Small Livestock Per Household.” with 2,222 households acquiring 1,051 rabbits and 1,126 chickens.

As part of their training and civic engagement mission, volunteers also facilitate green projects, for example they have facilitated the making of 72,848 fruit tree nursery beds that will be planted by the end of the year. They have also advocated for the installation of solar panels for 55 households.

The current partnership with the Mastercard Foundation will see the deployment of more than 100 young volunteers in Rwanda, and similar numbers in other countries in Africa.

About CorpsAfrica

Liz Fanning (Morocco 1993-95)

CorpsAfrica, an NGO founded in 2011 by Liz Fanning (Morocco 1993-95) a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, recruits, trains, and sends college-educated young Africans, for one year, to live in remote villages in their own countries to facilitate small-scale, high-impact projects that are identified by local people. CorpsAfrica started its operation in Rwanda in August 2018. Volunteers undergo a month-long Pre-Service Training (PST) with intensive Human-Centered Design (HCD) and Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approaches; after which they are deployed to their carefully selected sites across Rwanda for a period of one year. They spend the first weeks and months immersing themselves in their sites, building friendships and trust with the local people, and facilitating community meetings. Each volunteer lives in the community and supports it daily. Through listening to local people, Volunteers work to help them identify pressing issues unique to that community using HCD and ABCD tools. They also support local leadership. For more information on CorpsAfrica, please visit: www.corpsafrica.org.

About the Mastercard Foundation

The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organisations to enable young people in Africa and in Indigenous communities in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work. It is one of the largest, private foundations in the world with a mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world. The Foundation was created by Mastercard in 2006 as an independent organization with its own Board of Directors and management. For more information on the Foundation, please visit: www.mastercardfdn.org

Contact: 0785302234, Justin Nkunzimana, Communications Officer at CorpsAfrica/Rwanda.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com