Accelerating Progress towards Economics Empowerment or Rural Women in Rwanda (JP-RWEE)

Narrative description of Project

SAFE has received financial support from IFAD to implement the Joint Programme “Accelerating progress towards economic empowerment of rural women in Rwanda” (JP RWEE) in Kirehe district of the Eastern Province.

SAFE has supported 10 groups to upgrade to formal cooperatives from which, 2 are registered at RCA level, 4 at district level and others at sector level. GALS has been disseminated to 208 community households in Kirehe District with appreciations from the district partners who requested its extension to 270 local leaders. SAFE has conducted a trajectory learning with other organizations (HEIFER, Send A Cow, Gender monitoring office, MINAGRI, etc.) to integrate GALS in other value chains and they have agreed to create a Partnership on enhanced Accountability for Women Empowerment in Agriculture and Livestock (PA WEAL) under which GALS would be rolled out. The project has also supported 200 vulnerable women-headed households with laying hens’ business incubation model which stretches from provision of start-ups like construction of henhouses, provision of hens, and support in sustainable feeding means (chicken feed processing unit) to an incubated mentoring and coaching strategy using local chicken rearing experts.

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:

The services provided are:

1. Assisting Rural Women’s groups/associations to upgrade to formal cooperatives,

2. Introducing and supporting “GALS” at scale for community and household development

3. Training and providing common henhouses for laying hens and broilers

4. Providing laying hens to women groups

5. Training and providing seeds to enable vulnerable women headed households to establish kitchen gardens.

6. Conducting a series of GALS learning trajectory workshops  with different livestock development organizations (e.g. Heifer, Send a Cow) and government institutions in livestock and gender mainstreaming to discuss how GALS can be integrated in livestock value chain.