SFH-funded youth cooperative raises the bar for community organisations

Deep inside Gatsibo District lies Gasange Sector. A low lying area whose swathes is swampy—good for rice farming, but prone to high rate of mosquitoes breeding. The road that connects to the area is in a sorry state, with some sections in low lying areas like swamps almost impassable especially during this rainy season. The area has neither access to electricity nor piped water. Driving through the villages, at around midday, we see children running back home from school in their blue and khaki uniforms, some barefooted and a few in plastic sandals. Scores of elders climbing hills carrying jerrycans of water on their heads indicate that the main source of water in the area are wells down in the valleys. It tells a big story about the standards of living of the people in the area. Filled with anxiety, it would certainly be exciting to learn about Gasange residents’ health behaviour. Finally, we arrive at Gasange trading centre at about one o’clock. It is a market day that comes once in a week, so the area is buzzing. Must be quite unusual today, as marketgoers are distracted by a public address system and an exciting drama on malaria prevention staged by Nshobozwa Vision Youth Community (NVYC). It is a play that carries key messages about; how malaria is spread, can be prevented or treated and the fight against associated misconceptions like witchcraft. Residents are profusely entertained with a one-hour play. They had the opportunity to ask questions about malaria and were answered by Society for Family Health (SFH) staff. NVYC is one of the voluntary community-based organisations (CBOs) partnering with SFH Rwanda in the implementation of health programmes such as malaria control and prevention, HIV/Aids prevention, provision of safe water, distribution of family planning products and services and nutrition. A farmers’ co-operative based in Kabarole Sector, Gatsibo District, Eastern Province, NVYC has 45 members. It specialises in the growing of hybrid and nutritious varieties of sweet potatoes, rice and vegetables. These, the cooperative juggles with the responsibilities contained in the memorandum of understanding they signed with SFH—of partnership in the implementation of health programmes. Emmanuel Nsekanayo, the president of the cooperative, says they have made a reputation for growing the highly-nourishing foods. “Recently, Urwibutso Enterprise Nyirangarama, a popular agro investment group in the country promised to start offering us market soon for some of our products and that would be a huge boost,” Nsekanayo says. The farming has transformed their lives over the years since most of them have been able to acquire decent houses and plots. He believes that as youth, there is a lot they can contribute to the community. “Our homes were still plagued by ailments like malaria, water borne diseases, HIV/Aids. So, in April last year, we signed up with SFH as framework through which we could give our contributions in fighting diseases in Gatsibo,” he says. “We discovered that some of the NVYC members are either living with HIV or have relatives infected with the virus.” For instance, Divine Umurerwa, aged 20, also a member of NVYC cannot conceal her gratitude about SFH for the support extended. “They have confidence in us, their door is always open to us,” Umurerwa says, adding that if it was not for the awareness programmes from SFH about the need to sleep under mosquitoes nets, her neighbourhood would have been wiped out by malaria now. Dieudonne Hakizimana, the SFH team leader for eastern region, says six members of NVYC were trained as peer educators with a view that they train other members of the cooperative. He says financial and technical support has been extended to all CBOs in the region in promotion of aspects like condom use, safe water products, Inter-personal skills development, and supervision of Malaria prevention programmes. Asked what area he thinks CBOs like NVYC will need further support in, Hakizimana noted that: “they need continuous support to improve their report writing skills and management skills. Management skills would include health programmes management, financial and cooperative management skills; as many of the members have only primary education yet SFH will be bridging them along with supportive supervisions and trainings” “They are doing a great job though. A lot of behaviour change is evident in their respective areas of operation and we are thankful,” Hakizimana added.