Economic Growth Rwanda Project #56877

Empowerment for indigenous People; Batwa in Rwanda

by RWANDAN YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATION

Project Report | Sep 7, 2022
Why empowering indigenous people in Rwanda?

By Jean Damascene Uwizeyimana | Project Leader

Dear Patrons,

We are very happy to thank you very much for all the support that you have provided so far for our RWAYDAVO projects.

We are so excited to share with you our need assessment that pouched Rwandan Youth Development and Voluntary organization to implement this project in order to empower indigenous people in Rwanda.

Batwa group is the most marginalized group in Rwanda, these people have lived in what is contemporary Rwanda as well as parts of neighboring Burundi, Uganda, and Congo for centuries, pursuing their traditional hunter-gatherer type existence in the region's once plentiful forests. Nowadays, they find their habitats and their livelihoods have been denied them.

The Rwandan state has for decades been taking over and controlling forest areas for conservation, tourism, and security purposes. The Batwa group has been effectively denied access to their homelands and with that have lost most of their means of making a living and now live a shockingly impoverished existence.

There are now acute problems such as the poverty and marginalization of the Batwa group. Due to their social status and poverty, they are self-isolated in the society in Rwanda. This project will provide social support, vocational training, mentorship, personal development training, technology literacy, and economic support for young indigenous people who are ready to take the next step towards adulthood by building the foundation for a strong future through personal growth and development.

The project will create vocational Batwa group cooperatives in the Rulindo district not only income generation projects, but also use experiential learning methods to develop Batwa young people about ancient cultural practices, traditional art, and music, human rights promoting an intercultural dialogue space for peace. We will organize personal development workshops to help young people develop their self-esteem and leadership abilities/ Batwa group will be empowered through income generation initiatives.

Before the planning of this proposed project, we conducted a needs assessment for marginalized people called “Abatwa” in Rulindo District in order to identify their needs and existing gaps. The survey revealed that above 85% of marginalized people in the Rulindo District live under the poverty line. They live in chronic poverty with high risks of different diseases or conditions such as malnutrition, worm infestation, infectious diseases, etc. compared to other people in Rwanda.

The main problem to be addressed by this project is the chronic poverty among marginalized people in Rwanda called “ABATWA” because of different issues such as low education, community stigma and social discrimination, and traditional beliefs.

Our project will address the following root causes of the chronic poverty among marginalized people “Abatwa” in Rulindo District mainly low education, lack of confidence or self-esteem, and social stigma.

We request you to donate generously to our project so that we can keep working and achieve our goals. You could also consider doing a monthly recurring donation for our project, which will help us with our ongoing work. The link for the monthly recurring donation is mentioned below in the report.

We thank you for everything that you have done for our project, and we look forward to your continued support.

Thanks and Best Regards.

Jean Damascene UWIZEYIMANA

RWAYDAVO President

Links:

Start a recurring donation for RWAYDAVO

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Aug 29, 2022
Immediate lifesaving support

By Jean Damascene Uwizeyimana | Project Leader

Dear Patrons,

On behalf of the Rwandan youth Development and Voluntary organization, I would like to thank you for donating to our projects through GlobalGiving. Your support helps ensure that we can continue helping our community!

Recently, we have introduced to you, Empowerment for indigenous People; Batwa in Rwanda project. This project aims to empower indigenous people in “Abatwa” through integrated social, health, economic, and technological interventions. We have done the project needs assessment and the results of this need assessment were used in the development of this project.

In Livelihood issues we found the following key points:

Generally, the unemployment rate in Rwanda increased to 23.8 % in November 2021

Batwa group had higher rates of temporary employment (35%) and other informal jobs (38.3%) but low rates of full-time employment (0%), as well as farming (26.7%), compared to the non-Batwa

68.3% of the Batwa group belonged to category 1 in Rwanda, which is composed of families who cannot afford basic needs

For health issues we found the following key points:

Batwa Group consistently faces poorer health, including mental health outcomes, exacerbated by the stigma and discrimination they face.

a lack of appropriate information on public health and impractical official hygiene requirements ill-suited to the local context.

Education issues we found the following key points:

98% of children are enrolled in primary school

only 71 percent of children complete their primary education

The Abatwa's educational level remains the lowest and the dropout rate the highest in Rwanda. According to the survey conducted by COPORWA, only 34% of Batwa had attended school, less than 1% secondary school and no one had completed higher education.

During our fieldwork, we found one family, composed of five members including parents, who live in a single-room house, which is a common problem here in the indigenous community but what makes our organization worry much about this family is the living conditions and the house which extremely very old tins with many holes. Whenever it is raining during the night they can not sleep and they have under five two children. We would like to do a modification of this house in the first two weeks of September 2022, and to do this we need immediate funds of 3000 USD. The photo of the photos is attached hereto to this report.

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Aug 24, 2022
Support Indigenousof Rwanda for Talent Development

By Jean Damascene Uwizeyimana | Project Leader

Dear Patrons,

We are very happy to thank you very much for all the support that you have provided so far for our organization and we are very happy to share with you our plan to develop talents for indigenous people in Rwanda.

Rwandan Youth Development and Voluntary Organization (RWAYDAVO) is willing to improve Batwa rudimentary pottery production to modern production and offers the Batwa population a platform to further their education, inform themselves about their own rights, and express themselves and their culture.

RWAYDAVO, therefore, provides the Twa with educational projects, advocacy work, seminars, and empowerment programs, especially in the northern and eastern provinces of Rwanda. The main aims of the project are to strengthen individual and collective rights, to support the establishment of a sustainable development structure in the Batwa communities, and to ensure the social, economic, and political inclusion of the Batwa in Rwandan society.

The concrete measures are geared toward the development of sustainable livelihoods and the capabilities and potential of the communities. Access to the labor market is becoming more and more important due to the increasing poverty of Batwa. However, within ceramic production (one of the main sources of income for the Batwa), there is a lack of know-how for modern production and product marketing strategies. Our organization will conduct vocational training and mentorship for talent development including handcrafting and pottery arts for income generation.

I attach photos of the current rudimentary pottery production that we wish to improve for modern production

We thank you for everything that you have done for our project, and we look forward to your continued support.

Thanks and Best Regards.

Jean Damascene UWIZEYIMANA

RWAYDAVO President

Links:

Start a recurring donation for RWAYDAVO

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