The project, carried out together with SEVOTA, develops trainings and assistance activities in the agricultural, pastoral and commercial sectors of agricultural products and livestock, also through the supply of raw materials and tools for production and sales in local markets.

At the same time, it aims to rehabilitate victims of social, psychological and economic violence by strengthening the capacity and entrepreneurial spirit of women and orphans, organizing moments of training meetings and psychosocial support on gender issues, prevention and fight against violence, the spread of the culture of peace.

The intervention is financed through the Waldensian Church.

The context

Rwanda is one of the poorest countries on the planet and more than 50% of its population is under 29 years old. Although the economy grew by 5.5% in 2006 and 6.0% in 2007, food insecurity remains a serious threat for the country, which is located at 161 out of 177 countries in the human development report. UNDP of 2007. Historically, since 1959 this country has seen the emergence of ethnic tensions, culminating in 1994 in the genocide that caused the death of about 1 million people. During this tragic event, hundreds of thousands of moderate Tutsi and Hutu men were killed, and the women were victims of ethnic rapes that, in addition to the spread of HIV and the birth of unwanted children, also resulted severe psychological and psychosocial damage whose effects are still visible in Rwandan society.

For some years, ARCS has been working with Rwandan civil society. Supports the work of local associations of Sevota women for the psychological support of women in post-genocide and for the social and work reintegration of the same. Since 2007, ARCS has been developing work camps to raise awareness of the contemporary Rwandan reality, which does not forget the 1994 genocide, but rather works on the memory of the past to build a better future.