Elected in February 2016, Uwiyoboye is the Coordinator of the National Youth Council (NYC) in Nyarubaka Sector of Kamonyi District. She had received no training until mid last year when Noyau de Paix opened a civic education camp meeting for 700 youth committee members from five districts.
Running from July 2017 to June 2018, the one-year project was funded by Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at a tune of Rwf25 million.
“We attended the training and learned of the importance of working closely with other authorities like local leaders in serving the country. We built up synergies to serve the country. We built 12 latrines and 12 vegetable gardens for 12 different vulnerable households in Kamonyi. We also encouraged our fellow youth to participate in the last year’s presidential elections,” said Uwiyoboye.
She said these activities have positively changed the image of the youth in their communities because adult especially elderly people are now looking at the youth as important members of the community, differently from the years back when they were considered as indifferent on the community’s activities.
“The demand for help is too high; people are asking us to do the same as we did in their neighbouring areas. We are commitment to reaching out to a bigger number of the disadvantaged,” she added.
Olivier Mahoro, the Coordinator of NYC in Bweramana Sector, Ruhango District, shared similar gains from the project, saying his peers have now understood their responsibilities towards the nation and working hard to meet them.
“We had our physical strengths for the work of construction but we needed some money to buy materials for the roof; so Noyau de Paix supported us with the skills and finances. This project has become a stimulus for us to do more; we are keeping on helping the vulnerable within our communities,” he said.
Hassan Jean-Aimé, the Coordinator of NYC in Cyanika Sector of Burera District, said “We have acquired to set targets as performance contracts (Imihigo). Youth are often indifferent about politics but we have got to know that politics affect our lives in one way or another whether we get involved or not. We have understood our role in our communities’ development. We were challenged by rainstorms during our concluded activities but we are now going to do more in this dry season. We have got courage and love for these activities.”
The youth were recounting achievements Friday during an event to close the project in Muhanga District.
According to Hyacinthe Kabalisa, the Projects’ Coordinator at Noyau de Paix, this is a platform of 25 local organisations but the concluded project saw the intervention of only three including Kabgayi Diocese of the Catholic Church for the project’s implementation in the districts of Kamonyi, Muhanga and Ruhango; Peace and Durable Development in Burera and Peace House in Bugesera District.
Kabalisa said the project intended to raise civic education among the youth and encourage them to help tackle the shortage of proper latrines and high rates of stunting among children, issues that are occurring in many communities around the country.
The project saw 700 youth members attend civic education training and went out to mobilise their peers who built 59 latrines, 58 vegetable gardens, renovated two residential houses, developed seven stoves and cemented three houses, among other activities targeting the vulnerable households in the five districts.
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