What we do

Strengthening Agricultural Resilience through Learning and Innovation (STARLIT) is an eighteen months (January 2022-July 2023) project funded by IFAD and implemented by Cordaid in Kayonza District, Eastern Province of Rwanda, and Kakamega county in Kenya. STARLIT targets smallholder farmers through farming cooperatives and partners with Financial Institutions, Youth networks, platforms, Equipment Suppliers, Government institutions, and digital companies. STARLIT project aims to strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers against climate change and prolonged disasters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, through four components: Improved access to agricultural mechanization, Improved access to digital agricultural information, Improved capacity to agri-finance for smallholder farmers and South-south knowledge exchange through learning events and digital peer-to-peer exchange.

STARS is a program implemented in four African countries, namely Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ethiopia, and Rwanda, by ICCO-cooperation and ICCO Terrafina in partnership with MasterCard Foundation to support rural finance and value chain development/finance.  The program’s main aim is to increase smallholder farmers’ income by improving access to finance and markets and to strengthen value chains in line with the Market Systems Development (MSD) approach.

The socio-Economic Inclusion of Refugees & Host Communities in Rwanda Project (SEIRHCRP) is financed by The International Development Association (World Bank). The overall aim of the project is to improve access to basic services and economic opportunities for refugees and host communities and support environmental management in five districts hosting refugee camps in Rwanda (Karongi, Gisagara, Nyamagabe, Kirehe, and Gatsibo) and refugees located in urban areas of Kigali City, Huye district and Bugesera district

The study aimed to validate the capacity of mobile-phone-based deployment of the DQQ for generating high-frequency, reliable, and cost-effective diet quality data. The DQQ represents a versatile and validated tool for monitoring diet quality. This versatility would be strengthened if evidence outlined that deployment across multiple data collection approaches yielded equally reliable and accurate data. The study assessed how the modality of DQQ collection affects participants’ responses. It used benchmark responses collected by mobile self-administration against face-to-face interviews, 24-hour recall, and a recorded observational method of consumption – the weighed food record. 

The Inclusive Nutrition and Early Childhood Development (INECD) project is a five-year 2022-2027 activity funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by a consortium of nine partners led by Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The main objective of the INECD activity is to promote nurturing and responsive care practices in the areas of health, functioning, nutrition, and Early Childhood Development (ECD) for caregivers and children. The INECD activity focuses on community-level service delivery, community-health facility linkages, and district-level capacity development, as well as addresses issues of inclusion and participation, including access to programs and services for children and adults with disabilities, in line with the Government of Rwanda’s priorities.

The USAID Strengthening Civil Society to Support Vulnerable Populations (SCSSVP) is an 8-year 2012-2020 program funded by USAID PEPFAR and the Global health nutrition Fund. The USAID SCSSVP program through its two components, Nutrition and Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), was mandated to improve the nutritional status of vulnerable (pregnant and lactating) mothers and children under five, as well as to strengthen the well-being of orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC) and their families in Rwanda.

The Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Weze activity is a five-year, USAID-funded activity that aims to sustainably increase smallholder farmers’ income, improve the nutritional status of women of reproductive age (15-49) and children under two, and increase the resilience of Rwanda’s agricultural and food systems to a changing climate. Hinga Weze works through holistic interventions that target the interrelated issues of undernutrition, food insecurity, barriers to agricultural productivity, and other challenges

GEWEP II is a four years 2016-2020 project funded by NORAD through CARE Norway and implemented by a consortium of three Local NGOs and CARE International in Rwanda. GEWEP aims to empower women and girls facing poverty, inequality, violence, and social exclusion to claim and realize their human rights.  GEWEP has four crosscutting thematic focus areas: (i) Strengthening of civil society, (ii) women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship, (iii) women’s participation in decision-making processes, and (iv) men’s engagement in transforming gender norms. 

The Promoting Financial Inclusion of Smallholder Farmers (PROFIFA) is a 3-year project funded by Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) as part of its agricultural finance development agenda and Implemented by CARE International in partnership with DUHAMIC ADRI. The project aims to promote financial inclusion for 120,000 Small Holder Farmers (Women and Youth) organized into 4,000 farmer groups and involved in maize, livestock, and horticulture value chains.

Coffee Export Capabilities is a two-year (2016-2018) project funded by Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) and implemented by TWIN. The main aim of the ECP was to strengthen the export capability of coffee cooperatives in Rwanda and Burundi, with a focus on attaining certification, increasing access to Specialty Coffee markets, and improving the quality and marketing of coffee grown by women. The project focus is to build market systems that create better livelihoods for farming groups growing coffee through linkages along the coffee value chain actors.

The Private Sector Driven Agricultural Growth (PSDAG) project is a five-year (2014–2019) USAID-funded initiative implemented by RTI International. The goal of PSDAG is to increase the income of smallholder farmers by promoting private sector investment through two complementary objectives: (1) to assist the Government of Rwanda (GOR) in increasing private sector investment, and (2) to facilitate increased private sector investment by upgrading agricultural value chains.

The USAID Integrated Improved Livelihoods Program (IILP), was a five-year 2011-2016, Feed the Future program that improved the livelihoods of more than 140,000 Rwandans in the country’s Southern and Western Provinces. IILP worked primarily with subsistence farmers in Rutsiro, Ngororero, Karongi, Nyanza, Nyamagabe, Huye, Nyaruguru, and Gisagara Districts, and provided beneficiaries with the skills and tools necessary to increase agricultural production, improve household financial stability, improve health and nutrition, and become functionally literate. Implementation of the USAID Ejo Heza program was a collaborative effort between Global Communities, Save the Children, Rwanda Partner Organizations (RPOs), Rwandan Civil Society Organizations, and numerous Government of Rwanda (GoR) Ministries and local government agencies.

Enhancing milk quality and consumption for improved income and nutrition in Rwanda was a three years project funded by the Feed the Future LSIL for research and capacity building. The proposed project had an overall objective of contributing to efforts to enhance the quality and consumption of milk for improved income and nutrition in Rwanda. Increasing the quality, marketing, and consumption of animal-source foods (ASF), including milk, is an important research development priority for Rwanda that was identified by Rwanda’s multi-stakeholder Innovation Platform convened by the LSIL. The project had two overall objectives (i) The impact of nutrition education on ASF consumption and nutritional status of young children and pregnant and lactating women in poor households that have received a dairy cow, and (ii) The impact of selected capacity development interventions on the marketing performance of dairy cooperatives, and c) the viability of supplying quality milk.

The USAID/ Improved Services for Vulnerable People (ISVP) Program was a five-year program funded by USAID PEPFAR.  The program was implemented by a consortium led by Global Communities. The program had the aim of improving the protection of vulnerable populations against adverse circumstances through three integrated goals: (i) Increased capacity of families and communities to provide care for vulnerable individuals; (ii) Improved household and community care and support practices for vulnerable populations, especially children; (iii) Increased access to education and social services for vulnerable populations.

FSNWATSAN is a five years 2010-2015 project of World Vision Rwanda Financed by World Vision International with the aim of increasing household food production and utilization and improve water and sanitation in KAGEYO, KINIHIRA, NYANKENKE and RUTARE communities by 2015. Some Project Models used include Positive deviance, Community Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (C-IMCI), Timed Targeted Counselling (TTC), CLTS, PHAST, and Citizen Voice for Action. The project aimed to promote knowledge and skills on modern farming techniques and use of appropriate soil conservation investments through tree planting, terraces, promoting growing of cover crops and digging of water channels to ensure land fertility and productivity. It also aimed at Increasing household access to quality food intake and reduced malnutrition for children under 5, pregnant and lactating mothers, Increase livelihood income through diversified economic development opportunities, Increase household knowledge and practices in hygiene and sanitation as well as promote the use of ORT among the children that are affected by diarrhoea.

The PAIRB project was an initiative of the Government of Rwanda (GoR) funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).  The PAIRB Project was set to assist vulnerable smallholder farmers in the seven sectors; Gashora, Juru, Mwogo, Nyamata, Rweru, Rilima, And Mayange Sectors Of Bugesera District to overcome food and income insecurity through a primary strategy of transfer of assets and skills and the promotion of market-oriented agriculture based on sustainable environmental practices. The  PAIRB interventions included the assistance of poor households with cows and goats,  training in improved agricultural/livestock productivity and management and capacity building for farmers and institutions that would support sustainable extension services to farmers and marketing of farm produce

The Inclusive Smallholder Coffee Supply Chain Development in Burundi was a five year project (2014 – 2019) financed by Christian Aid Burundi with the aim of sustainably raising the income of smallholder farmers through increased volumes and quality of production, improved marketing, and effective producers organizations in four provinces of Burundi (Kirundo, Ngozi, Muyinga and Kayanza). The project intended to address the obstacles and blockages standing in the way of farmers accessing high value market sectors (Specialty, Fairtrade certified) in a rewarding, inclusive and sustainable manner.

Apibusiness Development: up-scaling best practices in beekeeping for improved production and income at household is a two-year project (2013-2015) financed by SNV Rwanda to increase the market-based production and incomes towards nutrition and food security of households in three districts of Rwanda (Rubavu, Bugesera, and Gicumbi). SNV intended to achieve this goal by raising the household income of apiculture activities from US$ 150 per household to US$1,362 per household.

GISHWATI Milk Basin Development Project was a three-year (2013-2016) pilot phase project financed by SNV to support the GISHWATI Milk Basin located in Rwanda’s Northern and western parts. The main purpose of GMDP was to support a dairy sub-sector in GISHWATI that would sustainably contribute to more milk and dairy products moved safely and affordably to both urban and rural consumers; improve the household food security and nutrition; reduce the incidence of rural poverty and sustainably increased farming family incomes; enhance the development opportunities for women and youth; national and local capacity built through the introduction of modern technologies and knowhow; the environment safeguarded by promoting integrated farming, nutrient recycling and the use of renewable energy.