As part of the monthly community service dubbed ‘Umuganda’, Access Bank Rwanda staff plastered a house for a disadvantaged family of seven and donated 162 Mutuelle de Santé to 39 families on Saturday, 16th November, in Rwamagana District, Muyumbu sector, Murehe cell, Kajororo village. Access Bank Rwanda also built a garden for vegetables and fruit plants commonly known as “Akarima k’igikoni” in a bid to encourage dietary diversity to enable the family tackle malnutrition.
Mukankuranga Clotilde for whom the house was plastered says this is a life changing moment for her since she had nowhere to live with her three children and three grandchildren. “I cannot thank Access Bank Rwanda enough for providing me with a shelter. My situation was sincerely desperate because I had to seek shelter for my children and I at neighbors’ houses every day or else risk sleeping out in the cold.”
Clotilde is part of the women cooperative in Muyumbu sector, a cooperative that puts forth the wellbeing of the woman through initiatives such as crop farming where they plant a variety of crops in their farm including mushrooms, tomatoes, vegetables and green peppers, sell them at local markets and equally share the profits. The cooperative has also established a loan scheme where every woman in the cooperative deposits some money on the cooperative’s account on a monthly basis. This account comes in handy whenever one of the women in the cooperative needs a loan or has difficulties covering life’s expenses.
Simpunga Gilbert, Murehe Cell representative says Rwamagana is a community that aims at self-sufficiency and by creating community-based funds and cooperatives, they are capable of fighting poverty from its roots. “Poverty reduction initiatives initiated by the district of Rwamagana are based on a self-sustaining model where citizens don’t depend on government or external support but rather find solutions within themselves through collective funds and loan schemes.”
Nadine Rutabayiro, Head of Women Banking at Access Bank Rwanda says that the Bank strives to operate in a country where the population is healthy and enjoy their banking products, where women are empowered to face barriers that prevent them and their families from getting ahead financially .“Access Bank Rwanda is dedicated to the promotion and improvement of the socio-economic welfare of women. Through different initiatives geared towards women, we aim at building sustainable livelihoods, improve food and nutrition security and also solve the lack of medical attention that many are not able to receive.”
This initiative by Access Bank Rwanda backs up the Government of Rwanda program to build shelters for poor families especially in Rwamagana district where it was dubbed “Tujyanemo”. It is also a step towards realizing the country’s long-term development goals that include achieving lower middle-income status by the end of the decade as embodied in the Millennium Development Goals.