EngRegional
Rwanda’s youth volunteers; little known development partners
The Rwandan youth volunteers
can be identified as the new generation aiming at voluntarily supporting their
country’s ways of development, without targeting remuneration.
They were celebrated mainly
for their enduring role in fighting against Covid-19. Their contribution stood
out when it counted the most, as they swiftly answered the call to help in
keeping their compatriots safe from a pandemic that killed millions of people
worldwide.
Though their sustained
contribution to national development programs is little known, they are behind
numerious achievements in the country.
Youth volunteers have made Rwandans
understand that volunteerism does not benefit the country only but that they
too, find themselves at the receiving end. It is their extraordinary thinking
that they are always top beneficiaries of their deeds as youth represent close
to 70 per cent of the
Rwandan population.
They believe that the
volunteerism program is a good opportunity for them to actively contribute to
national development.
The Rwandan youth
volunteers’ contribution to national development programs is estimated at Rwf 3.2 billion
annually.
What exactly do they do? How
do they do it? How sustainable is youth volunteerism in Rwanda?
The youth volunteers’ scope
has expanded to the extent that they are contributing in various sectors
including agriculture, environment protection, health, housing for the needy,
construction of sanitation infrastructures and human security projects.
For instance, in
environmental protection, youth volunteers contributed to preventing soil
erosion through a combined approach. Their activities were done on a total of 6,503 hectares across
the country.
In the housing sector, they
have saved thousands of lives from homelessness. Youth volunteers
constructed 168 houses for the needy, rehabilitated 459 houses that were in an
appalling state and also did some paving works to 649 houses.
In sanitation, these young
men and women have built a total of 1,070 latrines and 725 more are currently
under construction and will soon be handed over to their owners. This is
a great contribution that has a multiplier effect on a number of aspects that
promote the social well-being of the people.
In human security, youth
volunteers have cultivated 8,110 home based vegetable gardens across the
country that contribute to preventing malnutrition, especially in
children.
The youth volunteers are
also well up in following up the functioning of early childhood
development centers, mainly in rural areas. These centers contribute a lot in
improving early education in children hence creating the prospects for improved
lives in the future.
The famous green vests are not just Covid-19 prevention experts, they are multi-sectoral and need to be reinforced as their mission equally needs to be sustained.
