In one of the most remote parts of Gishamvu Sector in Huye District, Eugénie Niragire is working her way out of personal hardships.

From whichever angle you see it, Niragire and a group of 19 other women are succeeding. They contributed Rwf400 each per week and they managed to buy a pig for each member.

You would think their prospects were bleak. But Niragire and colleagues were not among the downhearted.

They later contributed Rwf1,600 per week. Then, with the help of Rwf1.5 million from USAID Integrated Improved Livelihoods Programme (IILP), locally known as USAID Ejo Heza, each member got a cow.

Speaking to Saturday Times, the women said they are on track to break the cycle of inherited poverty.

Niragire’s target is to extend electricity to their homes, and are contributing Rwf2,100 each toward that goal.

The 41-year-old said members are also seeking a Rwf3 million loan from the bank to start milk business.

"We learnt the culture of saving and budgeting which has been key. We have the ability and attitude. If we have skills, with little financial experience and working with financial institutions, we have a firm foundation,” Niragire said.

The Ejo Heza (Kinyarwanda for ‘Bright Future’) programme wound down its work in the area on Thursday.

The $13 million five-year programme (2011-2016), sponsored by USAID Feed the Future initiative, sought to improve the livelihoods and food consumption of 75,000 of the needy, particularly women in different parts of the country, through increasing supply of financial services, behaviourial change, social marketing, and health and nutrition.

Beneficiaries said agriculture techniques including proper land preparation, planting on time, proper application of both manure and manufactured fertiliser and the cultivation of selected seeds helped them improve agricultural produce.

"I could get like 30 kilogrammes of beans from a five acre of land with traditional cultivation methods. But now I can harvest 150 kilogrammes of maize per five acre- after adopting modern agricultural practices,” said Jeanne Niyitegeka, 55.

The residents trained in modern farming and post-harvest handling techniques, Thaéogène Karambizi, the president of KOAMU, a cooperative growing maize in Gishamvu Sector, said.

Niyitegeka, a mother of six from Maraba Sector, recalled that they used to harvest 35 tonnes of maize on a 12-hectare piece of land. But after training, they are able to harvest more than 50 tonnes of maize on the same piece of land.

John Ames, the USAID Ejo Heza chief of party, said the programme’s agriculture interventions were in line with the priorities of the Ministry of Agriculture to help farmers increase produce for improved livelihoods.

With the support of Global Communities Agronomists, field officers, behaviourial change volunteers and cooperatives leaders, 18,259 farmers have been trained in best practices, specifically maize, beans and dairy and post-harvest handling techniques.

Ames said the programme’s nutrition improvement component has seen 83,000 people in the eight districts become health nutrition members and learnt improved nutrition at household level.

He said Integrated Savings and Lending Groups helped groups come together and engage in the culture of saving and lending to one another.

"We have created 2,011 savings groups in eight districts with about 41,000 members. In Huye alone, the groups saved Rwf102 million and lent more than Rwf80 million among themselves,” Ames said.

He said a sustainable approach to develop a country is to provide people with the skills to make own decisions and improve their lives in a way that suits them.

Marie-Jeanne Uwumukiza, the director of good governance in Huye, said the local leadership will ensure the gains from the programme are sustained.

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