In November 2008, EFA International officially expanded operations into Rwanda by formally partnering with the Rebero Orphan Center (ROC) in Kigali. EFA is now working with ROC to establish an Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Center of Excellence aimed at providing local OVC with educational assistance, vocational training, income generation assistance and psychosocial support.

ROC was founded in 2003 by two dynamic individuals, Emmanuel Ngabire and Leonce Mupenzi, both orphans and survivors of the Rwandan Genocide. Their original goal was to create an orphan center that would support other genocide orphans like themselves. However, as the HIV epidemic in Rwanda continues to claim numerous lives and leaves more and more children orphaned or vulnerable to poverty and despair, the majority of ROC’s beneficiaries are now orphans due to HIV and AIDS.

In May 2008, ROC asked EFA to conduct a thorough organizational capacity assessment and baseline evaluation of the orphans and vulnerable children enrolled in their program. Based on the results of these activities, ROC and EFA International started to work together to improve ROC’s programming and services.

EFA and ROC are now supporting over 80 OVC in the Rebero sector of Kigali, Rwanda. Included in this total number of children are thirteen child-headed households and nearly twenty HIV+ widows of the genocide. EFA is providing organizational capacity building and training to ROC staff to improve the quality of the services they provide to their beneficiaries. Currently, the primary services include:

• payment of school fees;
• provision of school uniforms;
• enrollment in health insurance;
• educational programming, including after school homework help, a weekend English language program and computer training;
• trainings with both children and foster families about nutrition, health and proper hygiene; and,
• recreational activities, such as sports and music.

Tags: Child Support Center, educational assistance, evaluation, genocide, News from Rwanda, organzational capacity, pyschosocial support, vocational training