Rwanda Rise

Vocational schools: Rwanda Rise has vocational training programs in 2 locations in Rwanda. Hope vocational training center (hvtc) was established in 2008 in the community of kabuga, a town on the edge of the kigali metro area, the capital city of Rwanda, and later in the village of rugendabari. Hvtc continues to increase in programs and student population since its beginning. The 2022-2023 graduation class for all vocational training programs graduated a total of 151 students. Hvtc offers 3 government certified and accredited training levels: 3 month training courses, 6 month training courses, and 1 year training courses. Level 1 training will graduate 106 students. The breakdown of the number of students enrolled in each school is as follows: 28 students in culinary arts, 53 students in hairdressing, 6 students in masonry, 49 students in sewing, and 15 students in welding. The approximate percentage of students in all programs break down to the following: 19% in culinary arts, 35% in hairdressing, 4% in masonry, 32% in sewing, 10% in welding. The gender breakdown of our student body is 81% women and 19% men. 18 of our students were living in on-campus boarding.

Orphan sponsorship program: Rwanda Rise began in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide to help the disproportionate number of widows and orphans who were left displaced and in poverty. The sponsorship program was designed to give monthly support for food and supplies for widows and school fees for orphans. While the organization has expanded greatly into vocational training programs for young adults, Rwanda Rise continues to provide direct financial support to younger orphans for their public schooling fees. In addition, we partner with other nonprofit organization to provide weekend programs for children in the community on the campus of hope vocational training center.

Campus and program expansion: in 2022, we started two major construction projects: a large auditorium and a 3-story shop/classroom building. We completed our new multipurpose, 600 seat auditorium in 2023, with graduation held in this new campus auditorium. This building is used daily for our student gatherings. Our second construction project started in 2022 was our 3-story shop and classroom building. The first-floor shop and classroom space are completed, occupying our new auto mechanics program, as well as our welding program. The second and third story of this building is scheduled to be completed by late spring of 2024. These building projects are part of our master planning initiative to help us reach our goal of graduating 500 students per year.