Community Connection

Poverty often isolates youth and vulnerable families, leaving them with low self-esteem and few people they can trust. ZOE Rwanda Terimbere responds by forming strong, mixed groups where participants meet regularly for learning, savings, and mutual support. These groups become safe spaces where members share challenges, celebrate progress, and build friendships that reduce loneliness and stigma.

From the very beginning, local leaders are involved in the recruitment process so that youth and their families are known and connected to existing community structures. Participants are encouraged to join community savings groups, take part in community work such as Umuganda, volunteer to support vulnerable neighbors, and engage in activities like tree planting. Step by step, participants move from feeling excluded to being recognized as active contributors in their villages.

Zoe Rwanda Terimbere also encourages young people to take up leadership roles and participate in community decision-making spaces. Youth receive simple training in communication, confidence building, conflict resolution, and inclusive leadership, with special attention to including girls, teen mothers, and other vulnerable people. In addition, they are linked to wider economic and social opportunities, such as local savings and credit cooperatives, banks, youth entrepreneurship schemes, and social protection programs. Over time, these relationships and roles build strong social capital that supports long-term change, alongside the financial gains from their businesses.