Rungano-Ndota

1 Youth learn through a holistic approach that builds on their experiences.

To grow in lasting ways, youth welcome us to their homes at least once a year.

We do home visits to all our youth annually, so we understand their personal situation and local context. We can better guide youth if we meet family members and get a sense of youth's challenges and strengths at home.

When our whole community gathers to learn, youth blend expert insights with life lessons.

We hold Rungano Days every month, with 300 youth in the core program gathered for a full day of leadership development and community building. Graduates and local volunteers provide extra guidance and operational support for these big gatherings that catalyze growth!

As youth build businesses, they know staff will guide them as people first.

We act as business coaches to help youth develop their plans, then operate and grow their businesses. But we know that strong profits come from safe and strong lives! So, we coach the person, not only the business.

2 Youth are given the patience and time they need to grow. Success looks different for everyone.

Each youth has a staff coach who knows them and walks alongside them.

We understand that youth emerging from deep poverty face different challenges. Each youth is connected with a staff person who coaches them individually, supporting and guiding them as they navigate their circumstances.

Youth learn and grow through our two-year program—and continue growing through the Alumni Network.

We recognize that lasting change does not happen overnight. Our two-year program gives youth time to build trust, develop new skills, gain confidence, and put what they learn into practice.

Youth have proven that we can be trust them with flexible loans to grow their businesses.

We trust youth to grow their businesses before asking them to repay on a rigid schedule. Our Loan Fund provides interest-free loans with no traditional collateral, and repayment is structured around the realities of each youth's business.

A youth selling goats, for example, may repay differently from someone running a salon or a photography business. This flexibility gives youth room to build sustainable businesses while learning the responsibility of repaying a loan so another young person can have the same opportunity. Youth have so far used 590 loans and the repayment rate is 100%-no defaults.

3 Learning is stronger in a community of role models who share similar life journeys.

By uniting around shared challenges we turn them into strengths.

Our Kundwa Groups unite youth who face similar experiences: a group for youth who are single parents, another for those who are returning to the community after being sent to rehabilitation centers, and a group of youth with physical disabilities. They go on to achieve like other Rungano youth. For example, 45 youth from rehab centers have participated and only one has returned to rehab.

The name says it all: Kundwa means "beloved."

Youth learn possibility from those who have walked the path before them.

Rungano youth learn from peers and recent graduates who have faced similar challenges and are now building businesses, creating jobs, and taking on leadership roles in their communities.

Through quarterly Business Networking Forums, youth meet Rungano graduates and other entrepreneurs from their communities who share practical lessons from their own experiences. These relationships show youth what is possible and give them people they can turn to for business advice and opportunities from their own communities.

Youth build relationships with people from Rwanda and beyond.

We welcome visitors from around Rwanda and the world, building the spirit of Twese for Rungano! ("All of us for Rungano!"). Youth build business connections with Rwandans in various ways an example is through Business Bootcamp and in Business Idea Generation Days. They create learning connections with visitors from the USA and other countries who join us for two weeks at our annual Leadership Exchange.

4 Youth sit in the driver's seat of their lives.

They have the freedom to choose their career path.

We help youth learn skills to build livelihoods through Rwanda's strong TVET system of trade schools. Youth apply for a course based on their interests and opportunities. Able to set their own goals, 100% of Rungano youth have successfully leveraged trade school education to start businesses or find employment. With that track record, Ruhango District local government now fully funds TVET scholarships for Rungano youth.

In building businesses, they take responsibility for employing others.

We encourage youth to not only improve their own livelihoods, but also to grow businesses so they can hire others. As of 2025, Rungano youth and graduates have hired 143 full time and 218 part-time employees. In 2025 alone they also hired neighbors for almost 12,000 days of seasonal work. They expand opportunity. Others can depend on them.

When youth graduate, their communities have confidence in them as leaders.

Our graduates are widely respected and trusted to play leadership roles. Before joining Rungano-Ndota, 9% of our youth had been chosen for any leadership positions. After graduating, 82% have been elected to leadership roles in their communities, in local government, in churches and mosques, in schools, and more.

5 Youth co-create Rungano-Ndota with the staff and other leaders.

Saving groups transform into businesses.

From the beginning, staff and youth grasped the potential of pooling their funds, especially when individual savings are very small. In the early years, staff and youth developed the cassava and corn cooperatives out of saving groups. Many more businesses have followed!

For our first cohort's graduation, youth created a huge new community event.

Inkera Y'Urungano Youth Graduation and Business Expo debuted in November 2022. This wonderful community event now anchors our year, as the rising class graduates, and hundreds of youth businesses sell to the wider community. Youth and staff collaborate to organize, construct, market, exhibit and perform the whole event. Together the Rungano community makes it all happen!

Youth envisioned and built a dynamic alumni network that works collaboratively across the community.

The first cohort to graduate established the Inyenyeri z'Urugano ("Stars of Rungano) Alumni Network. Over 250 graduates strong, the Network has elected leaders across the District and in Kigali. The Inyenyeri drive positive change in their communities, return to mentor current Rungano youth, and continue to grow their businesses. As graduates, they contribute financially with annual dues and they pay fees for business coaching and loans. This collaboration has built a catalytic platform for community development across the District.

Young Rwandans are building

their paths out of poverty

Rungano-Ndota means “a dream generation.” We are an inclusive community built on trust and self-reliance where youth break out of deep poverty.

These Numbers Come From Changed Mindsets

13

427

0

143

0

218

9%

82%

Our Model Integrates These Foundations

Personal Wellness

Leadership

Entrepreneurship

Ecosystem Connection

"During Kundwa group gathering for young single moms, one of the other moms noticed that my daughter was malnourished. I had no idea. She immediately gave me advice on how to better feed her. I followed her advice, and now I can see a great improvement in my daughter's health and growth."

Yvette Umutoni

Pascal Uwizeye

Jeanette Uzamukunda

“Before Rungano-Ndota I thought I would always have to rely on other people. Then I learned about the importance of creating value for others, for the community, and for the world.”

Egidia Akimanizanye

“The testimonies I heard at the Rungano Days helped me understand how I should think about my future. Before I joined Rungano-Ndota, It was difficult to think about how a small thing could transform into a big thing.”

Elie Nshimyumukiza

“I was surprised by how the staff included everyone and respected me despite my problems and history. I had never been treated that way before. Rungano-Ndota didn’t lift me up, they taught me to lift myself up.”

Josiane Mukamasabo

Progress Starts with Trust

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