Rwandan Producer Support Launch!

I barely slept last night as the anticipation of the big day grew closer. Today is the official launch of Shared Interest Foundation 3 year project in Rwanda, we have over 50 participants from all over the country, representing 30 businesses, as well as our 19 trainers, 2 Rwandan officials oh and did I forget to mention the media – and a whole troop of media representatives from the national TV network, the radio station, and two newspapers one Kinyarwanda and the other English – the pressure was on!

The day stated with the official opening ceremony, Donatien our project coordinator briefed the room with an over view of the project, mentioning our key partners, COFTA (Cooperation for Fairtrade in Africa), Traidcraft, RPSF (Rwandan Private Sector Federation) and REDO (Rural Environmental Development Organisation).

It was then my turn to my speech, equipped with a handy translator (as my kinyarwanda is limited to hello’s, goodbye’s and thank yous!) I began to explain how this project has brought me to this beautiful and inspiring country on several occasions now and how I never cease to be amazed by the strength and courage of Rwandans.

However as a result of the genocide all of the businesses had to start from scratch 15 years ago, they lost the majority of their skilled work force and as such are lagging behind their neighbours Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

However what has always struck me most about Rwandans is there strong work ethic and beautiful unique handicrafts. And so I am here now, and extremely excited about the impact this project will have not only on the people sitting in this room, but on all of the producers within their businesses. Together we will work together to grow the sustainability of their business, grow their markets and grow their incomes.

After my speach, Epa, the Chair of the Chamber of Arts and Crafts was up. He gave a Rwandan version of the saying “you can buy a man a fish and he will feed for a day, however if you teach him to fish he will be able to feed his family for a lifetime”. He stated that everyone in the room should feel very privileged to be a part of this project and that the principles of shared interest and fair trade mean that we work together as one, not taking handouts, but working our way out of poverty. This is extremely important in a country which receives more aid money than their GDP.

Next up was Prisca, the deputy secretary general of the Rwandan Private Sector Federation. She gave an extremely inspiring speech, thanking Shared Interest for placing their trust in Rwandan producers and having the vision for this project. She talked about the strong work ethic of Rwandans and stated that our project is in line with the nations 2020 vision – at present craft workers get paid on average $200 per year (less than a $1 per day) and their vision is to raise this to a minimum of $960 per year by 2020. The room applauded and the excitement to start this training was felt across the whole of Kigali!

With that the training started!

If you would like to support projects like this please visit our JustGiving site http://www.justgiving.com/sif