Project Launch: 12-14-23

This project seeks a $4,879 co-investment from World Connect to provide skills, tools, and startup costs in manual soap making to 30 vulnerable teen mothers in Gakenke district, Northern province of Rwanda, aimed at creating sustainable jobs for them. The beneficiaries are rural girls and women who are school dropouts and teenage mothers living in the lowest economic strata. The project includes a 6-month training program that combines theory and hands-on practice in bar washing soap making. This will also be coupled with training in ICT, entrepreneurship, leadership, health education, and life skills so that they can build an entrepreneurial mindset in their work.  The soap produced during the training will be sold in Gakenke and Kigali.  After graduation, the teen mothers will use the profits from selling the soap to start their own businesses. The project also plans to support the graduates to obtain authorization and certification from the Rwanda Bureau of Standards for meeting the required standards in soap making so that they can access more markets in local shops, schools, and health facilities. Production of soap will improve health and hygiene in the community through availability of soap for regular washing as well as increase incomes for the vulnerable young women to be able to sustain their families.