ideas i like

I wanted to talk about a couple of other interesting non-profits/concepts I have learned about while in Rwanda.

Earth Enable, https://www.earthenable.org/

This concept and company was created by a couple of ingenious students at Stanford. They came to Rwanda in 2013 with a class called "Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability". While in Rwanda they were "tasked with their partner organization – The Mass Design Group - to design a product or a service that would make homes or communities healthier. They first sought to understand how sub-optimal homes affected physical and emotional health outcomes and were shocked to discover the significant health problems that dirt floors cause. Eliminating a dirt floor from the home results in dramatic reductions in childhood asthma, diarrhea, malnutrition, and parasitic infestations. They realized that they could change lives if they found a way to floor Rwanda." (https://www.earthenable.org/about-us/) Concrete floors are very financially unfeasible for poor people in rural areas, hence the dirt floors, but these floors from Earth Enable are completely different. They not only improve health conditions like concrete floors, but they are 75% cheaper than the concrete floors and, "cement makes up 5% of total global carbon emissions and is incredibly energy intensive to produce. Earthen floors have 90% less embedded energy and are structurally strong, waterproof, and abrasion resistant. There are significantly more environmentally sustainable building materials than cement, and part of our mission is to put the developing world on a more sustainable development path." (https://www.earthenable.org/)

Mass Design Group, https://massdesigngroup.org/

Mass is a huge international design and architecture company that has projects all over the world but they have a special focus in Rwanda as their first project, a hospital, was here. Here is a link to their projects in Rwanda, https://massdesigngroup.org/design?type=All&location=47&discipline=All. Mass's motive is to create architecture that creates a positive impact as they talk about here, "Architecture is not neutral; it either helps or hurts. Architecture is a mechanism that projects its values far beyond a building’s walls and into the lives of communities and people. To acknowledge that architecture has this agency and power is to acknowledge that buildings, and the industry that erects them, are as accountable for social injustices as they are critical levers to improve the communities they serve.The stakes are too high, and the accountability too low, not to insist that architects do something to address these challenges. This is why we started MASS Design Group." (https://massdesigngroup.org/about)

World Justice Project, https://worldjusticeproject.org/

This is a large non-governmental agency that you may have heard of. I have seen their trucks driving around Kigali and I am almost enchanted by their mission. They define "the rule of law" with the four universal principales, "1. Accountability, The government as well as private actors are accountable under the law. 2. Just Laws, The laws are clear, publicized, stable, and just; are applied evenly; and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property and certain core human rights. 3. Open Government, The processes by which the laws are enacted, administered, and enforced are accessible, fair, and efficient. 4. Accessible & Impartial Dispute Resolution, Justice is delivered timely by competent, ethical, and independent representatives and neutrals who are accessible, have adequate resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve." (https://worldjusticeproject.org/about-us/overview/what-rule-law) These principles are then developed into nine factors that comprise the annual WJP rule of law index. These nine factors include, constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, criminal justice, and informal justice. How does all of this research and information come into practice? The WJP attempts to illustrate this through a chart,

Indego, https://indegoafrica.org/

Indego is a non-profit that works in Rwanda and Ghana, they partner with groups of women to sell make and sell products that are designed by their Creative Director in New York City and produced in Africa "combining traditional techniques, local materials, and genuine artisanal skill." (https://indegoafrica.org/about) They provide their women with consistent income and invest profits, grants and donations, into "education and vocational training programs for the artisans who handcraft our products and the youth in their communities." (https://indegoafrica.org/about)

More than Sparrows, http://www.thesparrowstudio.com/

More than Sparrows goal is "to create a marketplace for handmade jewelry, accessories, and home decor from a cooperative of women in Africa. The cooperative is composed of 27 women in Kigali, Rwanda.  Every single piece of jewelry is made by hand and the women are paid fair wages and get to use lots of recycled goods from their surrounding environment to craft these one of a kind pieces."

Mind Leaps, https://mindleaps.org/

Mind Leaps is a non-profit that attempts to help a fraction of the 7,000 street children in Rwanda. They talk about there work last year, "In 2017, MindLeaps’ Rwandan staff works with 65 children ages 9-18 daily in order to provide a “catch up” program for street youth and out-of-school youth who have never had the chance to go to school and become literate. The program consists of: Dance training to reform behavioral patterns and increase cognition. IT classes to introduce children to technology and the outside world. Academic Acceleration Program led by teachers from the local White Dove Girls’ School, which provides the students with English, Kinyarwanda, Math, Science, and Social Studies courses. HIV testing & treatment, sexual health and reproductive classes, and hygiene/sanitation services. A daily meal program to improve the learning capacity and deter the onset of life-threatening diseases. Boarding school sponsorship to fully re-integrate children back into civil society." (https://mindleaps.org/our-programs/rwanda/) 

Cycle Beads, https://www.cyclebeads.com/

This concept is not an non-project project but more just an ingenious idea. It is a cheap, effective, and lasting approach at contraceptive care. A 95% effective and proven way to either become pregnant or stop from getting pregnant just with a necklace.

I just think this is brilliant, especially in socieies/cultures where contraceptives like birth control or iud's are not socially acceptable. Millions of women are using this method because it is more than 95% Effective, side-effect free, easy to Use, inexpensive, educational, and empowering. 

Question Coffee, https://www.questioncoffee.com/

Question Coffee is a cafe located in Kigali but also much more than that. The people at Question source coffee from all over Rwanda, grown by women farmers. By working with these people directly in their country, they have great insight into their farming practices and livelihoods. They run a farm to cup facility, and believe in training their staff in all facets, which gives skills that would otherwise be unattainable. They briefly explain their process through this illustration:

The Women's Bakery, http://www.womensbakery.com/

The women's bakery is a kind of method that they replicate in different communities all over Rwanda. They work to open bakeries with groups of women in order to provide them with skills and opportunities that they wouldn't have with out. The 5 step method begins with,

1. Partner with local women

2. Identify local resources

3. Extensive Training

4. Bakery Launch

5. Support of Bakery Operations

Here are some different stats they offer regarding their work,

http://www.womensbakery.com/ourimpact/

Women for Women, 

Women for Women is a huge international non-profit that works in many different parts of the world. They have a large presence in Rwanda where they have opened a large training facility to do year long trainings with disenfranchised women in rural areas. Their trainings focus on the following areas, Agriculture, Basket-making, Beadwork, Bee-keeping, Bread-making, Coffee Agribusiness, Culinary Arts, Food Processing, Hairdressing, Manicure and Pedicure, Small Business, Tailoring, Tourism and Hospitality. They have seen significant benefits in these women's lives specifically in 4 key areas:

"1. Women earn and save money: Women report average personal earnings of $0.64 per day at graduation, compared to $0.22 at enrollment.
2. Women develop health and well-being: 83 percent of participants report practicing family planning at graduation, compared to 72 percent at enrollment.
3. Women influence decisions in the home and community: Nearly 98 percent of participants report participating in household financial decisions at graduation.
4. Women create and connect to networks for support and advocacy: More than 91 percent of participants report sharing information about their rights with other women at graduation, compared to 28 percent at enrollment." (https://www.womenforwomen.org/what-we-do/countries/rwanda)

You can read more about their "First-ever Women’s Opportunity Center in Rwanda" at https://www.womenforwomen.org/blog/first-ever-women%E2%80%99s-opportunity-center-rwanda