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Resilience & Livelihoods
Develop financial and food security in Rwanda’s poorer communities
EE Rwanda knows from experience that development is most effective when approached holistically. Households must have sustainable incomes to maintain progress and sufficient reserves to withstand both natural and human-caused shocks. Supporting people in becoming self-reliant is central to AEE Rwanda’s approach. Our programs target households with dependent children and youth, focusing on establishing the income and food security essential for the wellbeing and flourishing of children. We provide disadvantaged youth with the vocational and life skills needed to realize their potential, become valued community members, and future parents.
Savings & Self-Help Groups
Savings and self-help groups are central to AEE Rwanda’s approach to grassroots development. Each group typically consists of fifteen to twenty members of similar social and economic backgrounds who live near one another. Many groups are women-only, while others are men-only or mixed.
Group members receive training on how to save—even on a very limited income—and how to provide small loans from the group for income-generating activities. In the early stages, for example, a member might take a small loan to buy bananas from a farmer and sell them at a local market. The loan is repaid, and the profit remains with the borrower. As members’ incomes grow, so do the group’s savings and opportunities to start and expand small businesses.
Beyond financial benefits, these groups also build social capital. Members meet regularly over many years, fostering trust, mutual support, and community cohesion. Groups continue operating after project support ends, and membership is typically for life.
Groups are supported to form clusters, which allow them to pool resources for larger cooperative projects. As the number of groups and clusters increases, clusters may come together to form federations. These community-based institutions advocate to local and district authorities on behalf of their members and become trusted partners of local governments.
With a strong and stable network of savings and self-help groups—and their associated clusters and federations—communities are well-positioned to benefit from further development interventions.
Technical & Vocational Education & Training
AEE Rwanda equips youth with in-demand skills through our Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs. These programs prepare students for stable employment in skilled trades that offer significantly higher income than unskilled casual labor. For those with the aptitude and determination, our TVET programs also provide a pathway to university.
In addition to technical skills, our programs teach financial literacy and essential life skills—particularly to youth from disadvantaged and marginalized backgrounds. Many participants form savings groups and small cooperatives, which help meet their immediate financial needs. Through loans and mutual support, these groups enable young people to launch small businesses in their chosen trades.
Small Business Support
AEE Rwanda programs offer a range of support to small businesses, from coaching entrepreneurs to write a business plan, linking people with micro-finance and banking services, training in financial and business management, and supplying start up capital or equipment to new businesses.
Our agricultural programs link farmers to export markets to broaden their opportunities for selling their produce at a good price.
Agriculture
Many of Rwanda’s poorest people are smallholder farmers or agricultural laborers—many of them women—engaged in subsistence farming or small-scale market activities. AEE Rwanda programs support these farmers by providing the skills to select crops suited to their local climate and conditions, adopt techniques that improve land and input efficiency, and access essential resources such as seeds, fertilizers, and tools. The programs also link farmers to local, regional, and international markets, helping to sustainably increase crop yields and household income.
As global climate change brings more unpredictable rainfall and frequent extreme weather, AEE Rwanda programs promote climate-smart agriculture—increasingly supported by technology—to help smallholder farmers adapt. The programs also encourage agroforestry, both as an income source and as a means to rehabilitate Rwanda’s heavily deforested landscape.
