Gakenke: VUP lifts Residents out of poverty

DFID officials visited VUP beneficiaries and were amazed at how livelihoods have improved

Cyabingo sector in Gakenke district is one of the poorest areas in the district; residents are celebrating the achievements of Umurenge Vision Program in uplifting their standards of living.

Consolate Nzamwitakuze, a mother of two and resident of Mutanda cell, explained that before she was employed in VUP programme, she worked for less than Rwf500 daily to buy food.

“I buy school uniform and other materials for my children because VUP employed me. I have purchased a cow, a plot of land and livestock all because making terraces is paying well,” she said.

Nzamwitakuze currently employs other people to work on her agricultural fields and pay them after getting VUP.

Emmanuel Ubarakira, a resident of Rukore cell Cyabingo sector testified that he has achieved a lot by working with VUP compared to how vulnerable he was before he got the job.

“After I started working in VUP programme, I have purchased a cow and my residential house is almost complete. I have no problem at all, life is better now,” he revealed.

This was revealed when DFID UK Government’s Department for International Development in Rwanda that visited VUP beneficiaries in Cyabingo sector in Gakenke district.

The VUP programme has three main components; direct support, Public works offered to the poorest household seasonally and Microcredits that are given to the poorest to start up small businesses.

Residents employed to make terraces under public works component revealed their lives have tremendously improved making it easy to provide for their families for instance paying school fees for children, scholastics and meeting other needs.

Laure Beaufils, head of The UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) talk to the journalists

Laure Beaufils, head of The UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID Rwanda) confirmed that VUP led residents out of poverty as beneficiaries testified to it.

“I didn’t expect this programme to enable people send their children to school. I am just happy about how my fellow resident’s lives have transformed by VUP,” she asserted.

DFID donated Rwf36.5 pounds for the implementation of Umurenge vision programme in next 3 years as Laure explained.

Statistics indicate that over Rwf1.6 billion has been used in making 1307 terraces, 47.6 kilometre road and 15 kilometer water pipeline.

Among the 14 sectors that VUP operates in, only nine has public works employing 1, 6250 residents.

Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP) is an Integrated Local Development Program to Accelerate Poverty Eradication, Rural Growth, and Social Protection.

Started in 2009, it is an initiative by the Government in collaboration with development partners and NGOs.

The Vision 2020 Umurenge Program (VUP) uses the existing decentralization system and leverages technical and financial assistance to accelerate the rate of poverty reduction in Rwanda with an aim to eradicate extreme poverty by 2020.