Socioeconomic empowerment for women in Rwanda

“Before joining the Women for Women programs, I was a poor woman, isolated, who demand everything from the husband, and it was not sufficient because he was doing casual work like farming activities for others,” said 31-year-old Claudine—now a widow—living in Rwanda’s Bugesera District.

But then in 2019 Claudine joined in Women for Women International’s Stronger Women, Stronger Nations program. Over the course of a year, she took part in training sessions on saving, business know-how, vocational knowledge, and other life skills.

By selling bananas at market, she is able to save each week, and she used funds from the program to invest in two goats and in renovating her house. She’s now planning to invest a second round of financial support in building a house to generate rent income that can help support her family—all the while paying it forward by guiding women in her community as they work to start their own small business.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) proudly supports Women for Women International in implementing its socioeconomic empowerment program for marginalized women in Rwanda, many of whom have experienced conflict, extreme poverty, and exclusion from education and employment. SNF supports this work through a grant to the organization’s UK branch.

Read what other graduates had to say about the Stronger Women, Stronger Nations program.