10 young women aged 17 to 24 years who dropped out of school will learn vocational skills in fashion, sewing, and handicrafts, as well as entrepreneurial skills. After the training, Grown to Help will support them towards employment or with starting-up a business. For financial sustainability they also support the women to start a savings-group. Altogether empowering individuals to become self-sufficient and providing opportunities for personal growth and economic independence.

The young women come from Nyarugenge district in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. They have dropped out of schools due to various reasons including teen pregnancy, lack of moral and financial support and family poverty. This interruption in their education causes a lack of employment opportunities and limited resources, in turn making them vulnerable to early-marriage and abuse, which makes it difficult for them to break the cycle of poverty.

Through a discussion with these women, they proposed to be trained in sewing. And we at Grown to Help agreed as sewing has a great potential. We are already running a Women Creative Centre, with clients among public schools and others for sewing services and sewing and selling school and choir uniforms. Besides, we collaborate with several partners that provide points of sales (online & onsite).

The 7-month training starts with 2 sessions per week on entrepreneurship, boosting skills of creativity and problem-solving, and financial literacy, which will equip young women with the necessary tools to make informed financial decisions. After the first month, a six-month training of 3 days a week starts learning theory and practice on sewing and making handicrafts. Theory also involves marketing skills, using your network, social media and market research.  

After the training, 4 young women are supported to find employment at our Women Creative Centre, and 6 women are supported to start a business. Those will receive a sewing machine and a loan of 130,000 Rwandan Francs (or €95). 

Ultimately, at the end of this project we will help all graduates to create and participate in a saving group, whereby everyone transfers 1,000 Rwandan Francs (or €0.95) per week to a shared bank account. After 6 months of regular savings, members can request small loans to support their sewing businesses or solve an emergency at their homes. 

Grown To Help has the expertise in developing vocational training that aligns with recipients’ passion, needs, capacities and market demand, ensuring women gain practical skills relevant to job opportunities and entrepreneurship.

In one year, graduated students will have the skills that will enable them to find a job or start a business in the fashion industry. From experience, Grown to Help expects at least 8 participants found a job or started a business that raises their income by at least 60%, enabling recipients to build assets, and secure a stable financial future for themselves and their family members. In total 24 family members (the average family size of the participants is 3) will benefit from the rise of income. Getting out of extreme poverty directly affects access to nutritious meals, access to school and health care, or improved housing for the entire family.

Moreover, the participating young women will gain self-confidence by becoming economically independent, so that they can trust and believe in themselves, as some of them have been in environments where they were always underestimated.

With the repayments of loan as well as from additional funding, 20 young women will be supported in 2025 and 30 in 2026, totalling 60 women who benefit from this project.

In addition, those who are successful in starting their business, will grow, and will hire staff from the community, providing jobs for more women. 

Also 500 students from Gitega elementary school, and Groupe Scolaire Cyahafi benefit, by buying their school uniform from the project at a lower cost. What’s more, we hope the women in the project will be a role model for girls in the community, preventing dropout and encouraging entrepreneurship.

The budget we will be receiving through iMPACT direct for this project is RWF4,454,716 (or €3.221). The donation received through iMPACT direct will be used to:

• To buy equipment, including 4 different types of sewing machines
• 10 craft Kits; a box that contains tools, supplies, and information needed to ease crafting processes.
• Teachers’ salary for 12 months: €1440 
• 5% to iMPACT direct for facilitating direct donations to local solutions (which helps to cover costs of the website, promotion and proposal writing, costs of financial services and the support to NGOs)

Our own contribution:

We have already raised funds for additional costs from other funders at the value of €3,700, for sewing kits, fabrics, rent & electricity, watchman, machine maintenance, capital for graduates, graduation ceremony, and volunteer transport and communication.