Rwanda 2019 Chart page

Women’s ability to earn money is not only a fundamental economic right but also critical to improving their and their family’s wellbeing. Through our programme, women gain knowledge in small business management and in a vocational skill (e.g. tailoring) that can help them to earn. Despite a fast-growing economy in Rwanda, around 35% of people still live in poverty. Our data shows that with investment and support, marginalised women are able to lift themselves out of poverty and provide more stability for their families. 

18% of women graduates of our programme in Rwanda reported personal earnings of at least $1.90 a day, compared to 12% at enrolment.

Savings and assets are critical for women and households to cope with economic shocks, by providing a safety net for hard times. For women living in poverty, savings can be seen as an unaffordable luxury. In our programme, women learn how they can save even on a low income. The women we serve live in fragile contexts so saving money is important to building women’s resilience to economic shocks and protecting their families financially.

99% of graduates of our programme in Rwanda reported saving a portion of their earnings, compared to 53% at enrolment. 

Food security is a key indicator of wellbeing and decreasing poverty. Food security is not just about having access to enough food but also nutritious food. Nutrition is a key part of our training, supporting women and their family’s health and wellbeing.

Upon graduating from our year-long programme, 79% of women reported having sufficient food in the house in the last four weeks, compared to 56% at enrolment.

Any significant increase in the number of women practising family planning is extremely encouraging. As well as supporting women to know their reproductive rights, our programme supports women to have greater decision-making power (which we see in Goal 5.6), access to referral services such as access to contraceptives and increase their self-efficacy (which we see in 5.1) – all of which contribute to the increase in women who practice family planning.

74% of women on our programme in Rwanda reported sometimes or frequently practising family planning compared to 48% at enrolment.

Many of the women we serve have never completed primary school due to discrimination in their communities that undervalue girls and blocks them from opportunities. Increases in education for girls is a positive sign of change across generations. 

Women graduates of our programme in Rwanda reported 52% of girls in school compared to 48% at enrolment.

Women gaining confidence is central to their empowerment, believing in themselves and their abilities to participate, succeed, engage and create change for themselves, their facilities and communities. It is also a positive sign of recovery from trauma and isolation. Using a set of questions commonly used in women’s empowerment research studies, we present self-efficacy as a score on a scale of 0-1, where 1 indicates the highest possible level of self-efficacy. 

The perceived self-efficacy of the women on our programme in Rwanda has increased on graduation, from 0.57 on average to 0.70 on a scale of 0-1.

In the conservative communities where we work, women are denied influence over decision-making, including over their own bodies. Our data highlights an important shift in women’s voices being heard in decision-making which should also lead to positive changes in wellbeing.

92% of women graduates of our programme in Rwanda reported at graduation being involved in decisions about having more children compared to 90% at enrolment.

Women face multiple barriers to accessing employment. For example, in Rwanda, attitudes in communities favour men working with women expected to stay at home to cook, clean and look after the children. Yet women’s employment is critical to their economic opportunities. 

On graduation of our programme in Rwanda, 63% of women reported employment across all occupation levels, compared to 54% at enrolment.

Conflict and poverty increase women’s vulnerability to all forms of violence, with violence acting as both a consequence and driver of discrimination with women surviving violence being more vulnerable to further abuse.

41% of graduates from our programme in Rwanda reported publicly speaking out against abuse of women compared to 19% at enrolment.

Women’s engagement with groups in their community demonstrates women’s increasing participation. Informal networks are key for providing social and economic support as well as group decision-making skills through elections of committees to manage the group. 

The percentage of women who were a member of a group outside our training had increased by the end of our year-long programme in Rwanda, from 66% at graduation compared to 45% at enrolment.