This project will provide a six-month training in sewing and handicrafts for 23 Rwandan women, as well as provide literacy workshops for 15 Rwandan children in a low income neighborhood of Rwanda's capital Kigali. A locally-founded and administered NGO, Isano Women and Youth Empowerment has already trained over 50 women and currently has a waiting list for their vocational and literacy trainings. The next session beings on January 13th and they urgently need funds for their operating budget.
There are currently thousands of women and children in Rwanda's capital city of Kigali living in conditions of extreme vulnerability. Although the Rwandan government has made great strides in rebuilding the country since the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, many women and children do not have the opportunity to learn vocational or literacy skills, thus trapping them in a cycle of poverty and increasing the likelihood of economic and sexual exploitation.
Isano Women and Youth empowerment was founded by Elise Rida Musomandera, an entrepreneur, author, and survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The organisation offers no-cost trainings in handicrafts and literacy for at-risk women and children in Kigali. Since 2017, the group has trained and educated over 50 women and children through six-month workshops, giving them the opportunity to earn extra income or start a business. There is a waiting list for the January 2020 workshop.
Isano Women and Youth Empowerment is located in Kigali in a neighborhood where survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and their children are struggling to rebuild their lives. By training and educating the local population, they will reduce poverty and the risk of economic and sexual exploitation of the neighborhood's most vulnerable population. The dignity of work will help heal the wounds of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and contribute to a brighter future for Rwanda.
