PICO RWANDA
Mission
Providing Rwandans with the tools to build grassroot community leadership that enables them to act on opportunities that improve local health, economic, and social conditions in Rwanda.
Challenge
Providing Rwandans with the tools to build grassroot community leadership that enables them to act on opportunities that improve local health, economic, and social conditions in Rwanda.
Research Activities
Twelve visits to rural communities were conducted by Fellows and Social Enterprise Interns. We interviewed and video recorded 24 beneficiaries who shared stories of what their lives were like before and after PICO’s outreach, and gathered information on their experience of working with PICO. We held workshops that developed design thinking and skills and enterprise proposals with 50 participants from these communities. Six group interviews were conducted to evaluate the workshops and support follow up. In addition, we held 3 half-day workshops for 100 urban women developing their own micro-enterprises in Kigali.
Key Findings:
1. PICO-Rwanda workshops transform lives. The workshops fostered agency among those who attended, prompting entrepreneurial passion.
2. A creative mindset leads to solutions. With Human Centered Design Thinking, participants developed fresh approaches to address the challenges they face.
3. PICO through the eyes of a camera. Through our photography and videography work, we were able to gather information and qualitative data regarding how cooperatives and PICO involvement have benefitted the lives of Rwandans in both rural and urban settings.
Team
2018
Social Enterprise:
Fellows:
Neil Bronsen
Political Science
Elizabeth Kamya
Psychology & Sociology
Jenny Walsh
Communications & Theater Arts
Faculty Research Mentors:
Deliverables
Video stories. The films will contain narratives of communities that partner with PICO. We will create five short videos for online social media content, and a longer documentary to tell the story of PICO-Rwanda.
Analytical report on the workshops. A key innovation of the workshops was the use of Rwandans as co-presenters. This cultural exchange was crucial to the success of the training. Post-workshop evaluations with the communities will inform the analysis.
Recommendations for PICO’s sustainable impact. This will suggest next steps for PICO-Rwanda to sustain its impact on communities over time, including the development of a PICO-Rwanda line of coffee.