The results of a recent pilot project are expected to help government fight poverty. 

This was disclosed during a three-day conference that  opened in Kigali yesterday.

Participants in the conference explored, among other things, the programme, Enhancing the Productive Capacity of Extremely Poor People, and how it can be used to increase homeownership in Rwanda.

 The project, also known as the Graduate Programme, started through Concern Worldwide, a charity aimed at improving people’s livelihood.  

Over the years, the project has helped poor families emerge out of poverty.

 Sadna Samaranayake, a programme manager at BRAC, a US based organisation, said the programme will help achieve long term goals.

 "The programme will be long term since some people emerge from poverty and then slide back  due to various factors,” she said.  

 In May 2011, the pilot project sampled a total of 1,200 people in two districts of the Southern Province -Huye and Nyaruguru – for up to 18 months.

 The households received cash transfers of about Rwf18,000 per month, skills training and coaching as well as access to microcredit and savings.

 The programme is closely aligned with the Government of Rwanda’s Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP).

The VUP seeks to help the   extreme poor  in the country and through its efforts, over a million people have been lifted out of poverty.

Presenting the programme’s results at the conference is aimed at bolstering the government’s fight against poverty and influencing policy priorities.

"Rwanda has been implementing social protection programmes, especially since the first Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS I) started in 2007. Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP) was adopted as a tool to implement social protection, which was conceived as one of the flagships of EDPRS I,” said James Musoni, the Minister for Local Government.

 According to a report on the Graduate Programme’s results by Ricardo Sabates and Stephen Devereux, 45 per cent of the population lives in poverty, with 25 per cent in extreme poverty. Before the start of the programme, over half of the families were homeless. The programme has, however, dramatically reduced the rate to one in five.  

 Graham Gass, a panellist at the conference, said: "It is an expensive venture but the problem we are trying to tackle is a priority,” he said.

 Concern Worldwide first launched the Graduate Program in Bangladesh. The organisation has now been testing the same model in various locations, including Rwanda.   

On Thursday, the last day of the conference, officials and programme donors will decide if the graduate model should be implemented under VUP.