How I Started Rwanda Opportunities Organization (RwandOpp).
Growing up in a rural community, I experienced firsthand the difficulties of accessing opportunities, mainly due to a lack of information, technology infrastructure, and soft skills. The concept of Rwanda Opportunities emerged while I was a student at the University of Rwanda. I initially struggled to find learning opportunities using limited online resources. After successfully securing some opportunities, I wanted to share them with my peers. This led me to create Rwanda Opportunities (RwandOpp), as an online platform (web-based platform and mobile app). This platform aimed to share a wide range of opportunities, including scholarships, events, jobs, workshops, and more.
After graduating from university and being positively impacted by various volunteering initiatives I participated in, I came up with the idea of establishing Rwanda Opportunities as a nonprofit organization. The organization has a mission of transforming the lives of rural communities in Rwanda through youth engagement. Through Rwanda Opportunities, I worked with the team to implement different projects that have brought significant impacts on the youth living in the western province of Rwanda, specifically in Nyabihu District where the organization is based.
How Rwanda Opportunities Organization (RwandOpp) makes a difference
RwandOpp focuses on several key areas to promote literacy and entrepreneurship in Nyabihu District, one of the rural districts of Rwanda.
1. Community Library: The "RwandOpp Youth Library" was established to promote a reading culture. The library serves as a hub for youth and young readers who visit daily, and it hosts various events. It is stocked with different genres of books and educational materials. The library receives over a hundred visitors every week, and reading books is becoming a favourite hobby for many of our beneficiaries.
2. Entrepreneurship and ICT programs: "Internet for Opportunities" is one of our successful projects where we provided digital literacy training to youth. The project aimed to develop their ICT and soft skills, enabling them to explore digital opportunities and become entrepreneurs. I worked with the team to conduct a series of workshops for groups of 50 young people, and the graduates were connected with organizations to further develop their skills, which has led some of them to become successful entrepreneurs or pursue higher education.
3. Children’s Reading Clubs: We encourage a love of reading among young children through storytelling sessions and reading competitions. We also conduct different series of weekly reading sessions where we invite book readers to read for our young children, broadening their imagination to think about big dreams and how to achieve them.
4. RwandOpp Mobile Library: We aim to develop a reading culture in the communities where our library is inaccessible. We provide remote reading sessions outside of our library and are expanding this initiative to reach remote areas.
Learn More and Stay Connected
To stay updated on our latest initiatives at Rwanda Opportunities Organization, please visit our website (www.rwandopp.org) and follow us on social media (@rwandopp).
What do you think about the impact of literacy in rural areas? Have you been involved in any similar projects?
About the Author
Emmanuel is the co-founder and executive director of the Rwanda Opportunities Organization (RwandOpp). He is a Royal Commonwealth Associate Fellow and a Queen’s Young Leader. Currently, he is a Chevening Scholar, pursuing a Master’s in Data Science at the University of Essex in England.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Royal Commonwealth Society.