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Support to Illiterate Women in Rwanda
Project / Programme summary

I.Basic data

Sector(s): Women empowerment / Social development
Title: Support to illiterate women in Rwanda
Donor country/organisation: United Nations Volunteer Programme
Other donors/organisations involved: UNDP
Beneficiary countries/regions: 5 provincial capitals of Rwanda
Implementing agencies in beneficiary countries/regions: PROFEMMES
Duration: 1 year
Starting date: September 1998
Project/Programme budget: 295,000 US$
Finance/type of co-operation: Technical co-operation / income generating micro-projects

II.Project / Programme description

  1. Objectives
    As a result of the crisis of 1994, women have become the most important and vulnerable group in Rwanda. They are responsible for their families'livelihood but are handicapped by their illiteracy and their lack of skills to develop and manage income generating activities.
    The project (funded out of the UNV Programme' Special Voluntary Fund) aims at providing intensive literacy programmes to groups of women to enhance their ability to manage micro-enterprises thereby contributing to the development of their self-reliance.
  2. Activities/contents
    22 UNV field workers (15 national and 7 international) will collaborate with 2 local NGOs specialised in support to women, to undertake the following activities:
    • Identification of the needs of the targeted population;
    • Support to the organisation of the women' groups;
    • Selection of members of the associations/groups to be trained in: development and management of micro-projects; resource mobilisation and networking:
    • Training of about 5000 women in literacy as well as the above mentioned training programmes;
    • Development of micro-projects;
    • Development of a self-sustaining fund for micro-projects.
  3. Expected outcomes / impacts
    Through this project, women'groups/associations will join their forces, organising themselves to acquire the necessary skills to develop income generating activities in order to sustain their family.
  4. Features in line with the Agenda for Action
    The project covers one of the priority areas of the Agenda for Action: the role and empowerment of women towards sustainable development. One of its other interesting features is that it implies co-operation between different types of development partners, namely, the United Nations, governmental authorities, NGOs and women'associations. Finally, as it tackles a typical problem of post-conflict countries, it could consequently serve as an example and be duplicated in other countries of the Great Lakes Region.

III.Contact point:

  • NGOs PROFEMMES/AMAFA
  • UNDP Kigali, Rwanda
  • UNV Headquarters:
Ms. Elisabeth Chauveau-Bais Tel: +49-228-8152212
Programme Specialist Fax: +49-228-8152001
Africa Section Email: elisabeth.chauveau@unv.org
Operations Group
Postfach 26011
D-53153 Bonn
Germany

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