We are delighted to welcome HORMIS NDAGIJIMAMA to the Support team. Hormis helped launch the Rwanda Cluster and is one of its leaders. He is now coming in as Arukah’s Strategic Cluster Growth Assistant. In this blog, he chats with Brian about himself and his new role..
Where are you from and what makes you proud to be from there?
I am a proud Rwandan! I love my country because of so many reasons and I will highlight a few:
Gender Equality – Rwanda has one of the highest percentages of women in leadership setting an example for the world.
Cultural Heritage – The richness of Rwandan culture including our traditional Intore dance, music, and the beauty of the Kinyarwanda language.
Environmental Consciousness – My country is known for banning plastic bags early and promoting sustainability.
Resilience & Unity – Rwanda has shown the world how a nation can heal and rebuild after hardship.
Quite the resume! Tell us how you were introduced to the Network and how you started the Rwanda Cluster. I got to know about Arukah in 2015 through one of its partners called Education Saves Lives, which provides free health lessons to communities. I loved how Arukah empowers communities around the world to come up with their own solutions and wanted to be a part of that. I then travelled to Kenya to attend a Cluster gathering and learnt how to listen to the community and collaborate using the SALT approach. I went back to Rwanda and together with other like minded people with different skills, decided to launch the Cluster. One of our great achievements was starting a pig project that has helped teenage mothers sustain themselves and grow their agricultural and business skills.
Wonderful! And what will your new role involve?
As the Strategic Cluster Growth Assistant, my role will involve working with Robins who is the Cluster Development Lead to strengthen, expand, and sustain Arukah’s Clusters. I will provide operational, logistical, and strategic support to ensure Clusters receive mentorship, funding opportunities, and advocacy support while ensuring that they maintain strong relationships.
What do you hope to achieve? I hope that Clusters can achieve self sustainability and also forge partnerships with like minded NGOs so that the scale of their work is bigger.
What do you expect to be challenging in this role?
Limited resources in remote communities has always been a challenge. Together, we will work to handle some common resource constraints and find potential solutions like seeking grants, organising community fundraising events and encouraging members to contribute small amounts or offer in-kind donations. In some cases, Clusters have low membership engagement which hinders growth. We will work together to create clear roles and structures, and also team building activities which will help bring people together.
Thank you, Hormis. And lastly, how do you like to relax when you're not working? I enjoy riding my bicycle with my kids and I also like hiking!
Read how this community in Kenya came together to restore its water system.
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