Improving Community Livelihood
Find out about CARSA’s programs to improve community livelihood like our housing and livelihood initatives, agriculture and environmental protection efforts, and our work in the Mugina community.
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Agriculture and Environmental Protection
A peaceful society is one whose food security can withstand disasters. In 1994, food insecurity can be a powerful incentive to join militias that left members with lifelong regrets. Today, CARSA actively supports Rwanda’s largest workforce, farmers, in several regards.
Firstly, we support RCGs and Youth Peace Clubs that are addressing their poverty by pooling their money to rent/ buy local farmland, divide the responsibilities between group members, and selling their produce in local markets. Additionally, community farmers and individual farmers in RCGs can join CARSA’s Community Peace Farm Program, which will equip smallholder farmers with climate-smart agriculture techniques that save resources and optimize profits.
These climate-smart training help farmers or community groups cultivate financially self-sustainable small farms within a single season, grow crops that are more resilient to harsh rainy or dry seasons, and preserve soil nutrients (easing
financial recovery after any hard season) -
Mugina Community
CARSA takes a special interest in supporting financially literate
savings groups among historically marginalized Pygmie communities firmly known as Batwa. These groups were segregated from social and economic life in Rwanda for many years before the genocide and have been resistant to integrating with the larger society ever since, despite many social programs in place to help
these households acclimate to the present globalist economy. Due to this separation and poor economic education, these communities have had some of the longest-lasting financial issues following the genocide. Through regular Bible studies and entrepreneurship pieces of training, CARSA has developed personal relationships with several Pygmie communities in the Muhanga sector of Rwanda, and, by going to do life alongside them, we are bringing them into the fold of modern, empowered living. Savings groups are an essential component of that plan. -
Housing and Livelihood
At CARSA, we believe housing is a human right. Everyone deserves refuge from the elements and to raise their children in a safe and sanitary environment. However, following the devastation of livelihoods in the genocide, many surviving families struggled to rebuild or repair adequate homes. Furthermore, perpetrators returning to their families after 5, 10, 12, or even 30 years of living in prison without a paycheck are also at risk for housing insecurity. The premise of this program is that personal development and relational peace are needs that cannot be totally met when people are spending their days fighting to prevent their clay-brick houses from flooding with only a pail or a basin.
CARSA is dedicated to providing shelter to genocide survivors and perpetrators who are living in deplorable conditions due to a lack of resources. This project also runs in partnership with our RCGs. Housing insecurity is far easier to identify in that communal setting, and many hands to help build makes for very light work.
This has been incredibly helpful for healing RCG participants who lost their homes due to natural disasters. The group was able to quickly rally and gather resources to get their neighbors back on their feet. Together, CARSA and individual RCG work to keep all our beneficiaries healthy and supported so that they can keep pursuing unity and flourishing in their lives and communities.