Help Heidi Volunteer with Vulnerable Women in Rwanda

Heidi

In 2019, Venture 2 Impact and Hope and Homes for Children Rwanda had their first project together. V2I brought three teams of volunteers to work with youth, young mothers, and community members to provide them with the skills needed to qualify them for better jobs. The V2I team did this by teaching English, computers, and business skills as well as by training the English teachers and providing the HHC staff with technology training. Both V2I and HHC found it to be a successful pilot project and are excited to continue partnering together.

In 2020, both organizations would like to continue building on the work that was done in 2019.  We will continue to focus on training community members, entrepreneurs, HHC staff, and teachers in Kigarama to help reduce child abandonment due to the economic insecurity of their parents and increase the well-being of the entire community which has been seen to be very supportive and concerned for one another. It will also allow the Kingarama community hub to become self-reliant and sustainable, which is one of HHC’s goals for all of the community hubs.

For our entrepreneurship focus this year, we will hold an incubator. An incubator is an organizational structure designed to accelerate the growth and success of entrepreneurs and/or companies through a combination of business support resources and services that could include capital, coaching, and training. For the incubator, community members who have a small business already or community members with concrete business ideas will apply to be a part of the program. HHC and V2I will work together to select 8-12 candidates. The incubator will involve training in marketing, sales, and accounting, and those who participate will be expected to participate in business English classes as well. We will finish the 3 weeks with a demo day where the entrepreneurs will share their businesses with the community and have the opportunity to win a cash prize to support their business.

V2I will also teach English and computer lessons in the community hub and provide teacher training for the teachers who usually teach the lessons. V2I will also lead business and technology training sessions for the HHC staff.