This is the story of Madina Karere, an entrepreneur woman living in Kiyanzi Sector, Kirehe District, Rwanda. Madina is a single mother of 6 children who struggles to make ends meet for her family. She is among the 354 community members whose livelihoods were affected and have been improved by the Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project (RRFHP) which aims to increase supply of electricity to the three national grids of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania by generating 80 megawatts of renewable, clean, relatively low cost power to be shared equally.
Until 2014, Madina was running a bar-restaurant providing catering services near the Rusumo Border on the Rwanda side. Madina was directly economically affected by the project when her business was displaced from the Rusumo area prior to the beginning of construction. The Project compensated Madina along with other people who were going to be impacted by the project. But Madina received more than financial compensation.
Like other people who were impacted by the project, Madina received training in financial practices and budgeting before she was paid the cash compensation. This additional support, provided under the Livelihood Restoration Program, helped ensure that Madina was able to make the best possible use of her compensation for livelihood improvement. Participants in the training program were also sensitized on the benefits of working in collaboration. We met with Madina recently to learn more about her experience with the Livelihood Restoration Program.
"As an entrepreneur lady, I have decided to invest in knowledge of poultry farming and I am excited by the development of our activity".
The Poultry group started with 2 tones of chicken food at 670,440 with a transport from Kigali bought by LRP program.
"The Poultry group, we are working hard to reach sustainable feeding of our chicken very soon, Madina says.
Madina told us that the training on finance management was an opportunity for her to use new skills and learn how to manage her money better. She used her compensation fund to revamp her business, to trade and supply fresh crops, especially cassava bread to neighboring markets bordering Rwanda, in Ngara, Tanzania and in Mirama, Uganda.
"I have been a member of other women’s development groups, but I have never experienced quality support like this. We learnt how to work together and how to manage the payments we received. I cannot thank the Rusumo Project Livelihood Program and our local leadership enough," she says.
In order to put these new skills to work for the benefit of the larger community, a Community of Project Affected People was established to promote the wellbeing of the members through livestock, agriculture and business projects, to promote the culture of saving and working with financial institutions and promote the culture of working as a group cooperative. Kirehe District played a key role in the establishment of the Community of Project Affected People which now has an office, a chairman, a secretary, and procurement specialists. The accountant on the team is Madina Karere.
On top of volunteering to work as CPAP accountant, Madina chose to do poultry farming with 8 other beneficiaries. Madina volunteered to donate a piece of her land for 5 years to the poultry group and was elected by the group members to serve as their Chair. She has been putting her financial and business training to work ever since.
In September 2017, the poultry house was built and 1000 chicks arrived from Belgium with the support of the Community of Project Affected People Procurement committee.
The Poultry group exhibited and sold eggs at the Kirehe Open Day on March 1-3, 2018.
The Poultry group is using the business skills they learned in the training sessions and is considering expanding to a second poultry business. They are planning to offer services to build capacity in poultry farming for their village neighbors.
The training Madina and her colleagues received under the Livelihood Restoration Program has taught them to collaborate in business development and manage their poultry business wisely.
“My son now has an interest in poultry farming too,” said Madina. “He helps after school and is eager to learn more about the business.”
Through the livelihoods program, Madina and others in her community are learning new skills, developing their professional interests, and working together across the local community.