Project aims to strengthen gender equality in education and agriculture business

(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Muhazi Technical-Vocational School, in the Gasabo district in the Kigali province of Rwanda, is offering a new agricultural course for young single mothers living with their parents. The goal is to empower women and help provide support for the most vulnerable. The project also aims to strengthen gender equality in education and in the agriculture business.

There are 25 students enrolled in the initial phase of the course, which will last an estimated six months. Most are from the Gasabo and Gicumbi districts. Students will receive a kit to attend the course, which contains overalls, shoes, hoes, rakes, spades, sprayers, soaps and seeds for cultivation.

The students will learn how to prepare the fields for planting bananas, tomatoes, peppers and onions. They will also learn about animal husbandry.

“Salesian missionaries in Rwanda and around the globe provide educational programs for women so they can find employment and become self-sufficient, which aids their families and communities,” said Father Timothy Ploch, interim director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “This farming course not only helps women gain an education but it will also help ensure that their families are fed.”

Salesian missionaries provide a range of educational and social development services in Rwanda. Poor youth are able to access programs including health services, nutrition, education and general support services that help them to lead healthy productive lives.

After bravely overcoming the trauma of the 1994 genocide, Rwandans looking to transform their country have made remarkable progress. Still, much remains to be done. Close to 39% of Rwandans live in poverty, according to the World Bank. Rwanda is a rural, agrarian country with about 35% of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture with some mineral and agro-processing. Many of the country’s orphaned children are the tragic result of a violent civil war. Half of all children drop out of primary school and 2.2 million people — 22% of the population — face critical food shortages.

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Sources:

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ANS – Rwanda – An agricultural course for single mothers at Don Bosco Muhazi

Salesians of Don Bosco AGL Province

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Salesian Missions – Rwanda

UNICEF – Rwanda