Rwanda

Swisscontact works in Rwanda to reduce youth joblessness, increase incomes of agricultural households, and encourage entrepreneurship and innovation for a population living in rural and peri-urban surroundings. Swisscontact strengthens youth prospects of gainful employment by facilitating technical skills training, developing transition strategies for a more commercialized and climate-resilient agricultural sector, and fostering entrepreneurial thinking and action.

 Swisscontact supports youth and the Rwandan education system to improve access, relevance, and quality of vocational training. The PROMOST project (2012-2023) applied short-term technical training and apprenticeships to enhance income generation and employment opportunities in the Western Province. Swisscontact combined theoretical learning with practical skills and piloted a dual training system, laying the groundwork for ongoing vocational training initiatives.

 Swisscontact also works in Market Systems Development (MSD) by supporting enterprises and farmers to adopt new practices which finally lead to increased household incomes. This includes engagement with the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA) programme, which boosts investments in the agri-food sector and improves smallholder market access.

 Additionally, Swisscontact’s AgroInnovation project supports start-ups and agribusinesses to prototype digital and technological innovations for resilient food systems and smallholder livelihoods, with a particular emphasis on women-led farming households. By promoting scalable and climate-smart business models, AgroInnovation aims to enhance agricultural productivity, market access, and resilience to climate shocks for smallholder farmers.

 Swisscontact collaborates with local representatives within the business and entrepreneurship ecosystems, ensuring access to knowledge, project approaches, and resources that enhance economic and social significance while fostering entrepreneurship.