About US

Our Story

Founded in 2017, Rwanda Esther’s Initiative is a non-governmental organization with a mission to empower rural adolescent girls and women living in extreme poverty through education elevating their leadership skills. We aim to enable the poorest adolescent girls in rural areas to enter and stay in school and receive an education which will transform their future. REI exists to support girls to learn, thrive and lead change. Catalysing the power of the most vulnerable girls and young women to create a better future for them, their families and communities, Rwanda, Africa and the World as a whole, is what we live for.
Though we value diversity and inclusion, REI’s key beneficiaries are adolescent girls; from poor & vulnerable social backgrounds, located in hard-to-reach rural areas. We seek to contribute to changing their lives, while engaging the community to champion their rights and fight all forms of violence and discrimination.

Jaqueline’s Story

Jaqueline dropped out of school at only 9 years to support her mother who had just given birth. The burden of domestic chores, lack of scholastic materials, family poverty and supporting the mother to take care of siblings are among the factors that lead girl’s dropping out of school. REI found Jacqueline in the community, with no hope of going back to school. Today, we celebrate Jacqueline’s progress ever since she went back to school.
Help us support more girls like Jacqueline to ensure they stay in school, complete and transition to other levels of education and grow into brilliant women.

Our Current Activities

Weekly girls’ convening’s in a Safe Space

Rwanda Esther’s Initiative (REI) is working with rural adolescent girls and women to become agents of change in their own communities. We have created a safe space in Shami Village for 35 adolescent girls aged 10 – 19 years old, where they meet on a weekly basis to interact, discuss and connect while reading different books. With the support from community Mentors, these young girls are also taken through various trainings or sessions on sexual reproductive health, Menstruation management, health & hygiene, nutrition, wellness, self-esteem & confidence building. The weekly convening’s have created a space for girls to take the lead in their own space and create their own activities including a Kinyarwanda traditional dancing group and a Savings group which in return built friendship amongst themselves and mitigated various risks with immediate effect such as violence, missing class and drop out of school among others.

Girls’ Sponsorship & Mentorship programme

REI runs a scholarship programme that currently supports 50 girls in upper primary and lower secondary education. On an annual basis, the organization provides scholastic materials, school uniforms, tuition, Family Health Insurance and other school needs to all the sponsored girls. The Scholarship program is currently supported by the Girls’ Education Organization (GEO) at Westlake High School. So far 20 mentors are actively engaged in supporting at least 2 girls at community level. We couple each girl with a young woman mentor who helps her experience personal growth and development, encouraging being a better version of her, and having a great time along the way.

Community Engagement

Through our community engagement sessions, we engage with girls, their families, community leaders and local government authorities so as to reduce barriers affecting girls and women’s lives. We invite National Women leaders for community dialogues including girls, their parents and local leaders to discuss a number of themes such as the role of parents in supporting girls’ education, domestic & gender-based violence, family conflicts, teenage pregnancy, to mention but a few.

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