CARE, in partnership with DUHARANIRA AMAJYAMBERE Y’ICYARO (DUHAMIC-ADRI), is set to implement the ‘Kungahara’ Resilient Systems for the Food and Nutrition project funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation. In line with the EU’s global objective of the KUNGAHARA Call for proposals, the project's overall objective is to strengthen resilient food systems and nutrition security in Rwanda.

To tackle the different factors hindering food availability and nutrition, the project will enact locally-led and owned change at every stage of the food system – production, aggregation, processing, distribution, and consumption, specifically in Gicumbi, Gakenke, and Rulindo districts, for a period of 3 years, from 2024 through 2026.

It will directly benefit 31,000 smallholder farmers’ households, including 10,400 in Gicumbi, 10,300 in Gakenke, and 10,300 in Rulindo of whom 60 percent are women —by streamlining various identified value chains in the three districts.

The action will employ a comprehensive approach to improve production, market access, and nutritional outcomes, particularly for women and children.

Speaking during the ‘Kungahara’ project launch in Rulindo District on April 23, Gonzalez Diez Amparo, Team Leader for Rural Development, Environment, and Gender at European Union in Rwanda, said that the European Union launched, in 2023, ‘Kungahara’ to be implemented at the cost of over 11 million euros supporting 15 different projects.

 "The overall objective is to increase food production, food security, and nutrition across Rwanda. Kungahara covers 21 districts and targets more than 211,000 rural households- approximately 10% of rural agricultural households in Rwanda. In Rulindo District, CARE Rwanda is going to work on small livestock, providing support to farmers to improve their food security. I am particularly happy to see that the target is to reach over 60 per cent of women farmers in this project. This is a very good gender-responsive approach to make sure that there is an impact on the overall family.”

 Under the project, women, men, and youth smallholder farmers will benefit from increased and improved market-driven production using climate-smart approaches, while vulnerable households, women, and children will be consuming diverse and nutrient-rich foods.

"We know that women and youth, predominantly female youth, are the ones who can transform communities, as they are the ones who directly face social and gender norms that usually pull them back. And this is the reason why we intentionally focus our interventions on them. We work on economic justice, focusing mainly on women and girls, and will intentionally, through this intervention, touch on the very concerning issue of food insecurity and malnutrition. We also want to focus on youth because they are also the ones that need to have livelihoods and have more sustainable activities that can enable them to sustain their businesses in agriculture,” said Hela Gharbi, CARE Rwanda Country Director.

The project intends to establish and support 1,060 farmers’ groups from the three districts, in the whole chain, from farming inputs supply, production, post-harvest handling techniques, and commercialisation. Agriculture interventions will be delivered through CARE’s impactful and transformative model, the Farmer Field Business Schools (FFBS), and facilitated by 90 Farmers Promoters who will be selected from the existing structure.

About 212 Agri-Business Clusters (ABC) will be established and strengthened, to enable improved business relationships between the smallholder farmers and other actors within the same value chain. At least 60 actors, including input suppliers, buyers, aggregators, processors, financial and insurance service providers, among others, will be engaged.

At least 150 nutrition champions will be selected and capacitated to support the dissemination of information and skills needed to understand and embrace an affordable nutritious diet at household and community levels. They will work with 825 other stakeholders in nutrition, such as members of District Plan to Eliminate Malnutrition (DPEM) committees, nutritionists from health facilities and the Community Health Workers (CHWs).

Building resilience to climate risks

The targeted farmers will be linked to financial services to ensure better operation, scaling up capacity, and resilience to climate risks. "We know that agriculture is very much subject to climate-related hazards. And this is why we are talking about climate resilience,” Gharbi said, explaining the support is in line with the national strategy for transformation and Vision 2050 of Rwanda.

Gharbi said before the ‘Kungahara’ project was launched in Rulindo District, there were other programmes that were active in this district including the SERVE (Supporting and Enhancing Resilient and Viable Employment Opportunities) project funded by Mastercard Foundation that aims at creating 80,000 dignified and fulfilling work opportunities for predominantly female youth by 2027 through supporting 100,000 youth (70% youth female, 3% refugees and 3% persons with disabilities in 10 districts (Rwamagana, Kayonza, Ngoma, Kirehe, Rulindo, Gakenke, Nyabihu, Rubavu, Huye and Nyamagabe).

In Rulindo district, the SERVE project will support 10,000 predominantly female farmers, among which 7,000 young women and 300 Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) engaged in chili, tomatoes, French beans, and poultry value chain, enabling them to increase their agriculture productivity, have access to reliable markets and appropriate agriculture financial services. SERVE is implemented in collaboration with Profemme Twese Hamwe (PFTH), DUHAMIC-ADRI, the Association of Micro-Finance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR), and Urwego Finance among other key stakeholders.

Another programme in Rulindo, she said, is the one completed in 2022 to close the financial inclusion gap in Rwanda (CFIGR) funded by the government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN). This programme increased CARE’s portfolio for Village Savings and Loan Groups (VSLAs) in Rulindo District to 2,300 saving groups (VSLAs) comprising 65,000 people (78% women). In Rulindo District, these saving group members who were extremely poor when they joined CARE’s programme are now saving up to Rwf 1.4 billion and using loans of around Rwf 962 million for a saving cycle of 9-12 months.

This enables them to accumulate productive assets at the household level, invest in income-generating activities that enable them to increase their household income, and access different services such as education and health where 96% of them pay their Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) contributions on time. Across the 30 districts, CARE supports above one million citizens (76% women) organised into 39,000 VSLAs with the ability to save up to Rwf 25 billion and use around Rwf 22 billion in their micro and small businesses.

She said that by 2025, CARE Rwanda will be working with its partners to support 1.5 million women and girls aged 10 to 59 years to graduate out of poverty and position themselves in the green private-led economy while enjoying equal rights, voice, leadership, and opportunities and living in dignity; adding that this strategy is aimed at graduating people out of poverty, and also indirectly tackling issues such as malnutrition in their households.

Janvier Ugeziwe, the Programme Manager at (DUHAMIC-ADRI), an implementing partner, said: "We will implement the project together with CARE Rwanda in 10 sectors of Rulindo District. We have implemented other projects in Rulindo with CARE Rwanda and they were successful. We are optimistic that the ‘Kungahara’ implementation will also be successful. We urge local leaders and farmers to play an important role in the implementation.”

Theoneste Rugerinyange, the Vice Mayor in Charge of Economic Development in Rulindo District, said: "We expect increased agriculture and livestock production in our district thanks to the project. The nutrition will be improved to achieve our targets in reducing stunting and malnutrition.

"Our farmers will easily have access to markets. We welcome the approach since youth who comprise 60 per cent of the population, and women who are pillars of development in families, have been focused on in the project. The project is also timely amidst effects of climate change.”

He reiterated that farmers need more access to finance to increase production, an issue that the project plans to address, adding that the district will closely collaborate with the implementing partners to ensure the success of the project as it does with other ongoing projects.

Wellars Habumuremyi, the president of a cooperative that grows maize, beans, vegetables, and potatoes on over 300 hectares in Bahimba arable wetland in Rulindo District, said that market linkages is the main support the 2,539 cooperative members currently need. 

"We still need financial capacity to get enough agro-inputs to increase production per hectare. The other gap is the lack of immediate access to the market which leads us to sell the produce at giveaway prices. Today we harvested but we have not yet got buyers. The project will intervene in market access, post-harvest handling as well as value addition to our produce,” he said.