Emmanuel Gasana

Education - Rwanda (Central and East Africa)

In Emmanuel’s community, young people make up eighty per cent of the population. Sadly, fifty per cent of these youths are illiterate. He is concerned that a lack of education is creating a cycle of poverty and a loss of activism. Emmanuel formed Rwandan Youth Entrepreneurship Promotion Organisation (RYEPO) with other youth on returning to Ligala to combat poverty and employment, particularly amongst youth in the city, primarily through promoting IT skills and entrepreneurship as integral components in this fight.

RYEPO has been working with government agencies and has come up with a five-year plan built on the key themes of education, advocacy, resource mobilisation, and networking. Currently, RYEPO is researching the needs at hand, providing the necessary literature for this fight, organizing groups of young people into affective advocacy groups, organizing trade shows within Rwanda and also helping out in securing markets for the products of young people.

Emmanuel plans to help RYEPO set up a specialised youth entrepreneurship centre as well as support entrepreneurial initiatives, both technically and financially. He also plans is to expand the programme from Kigali and into rural areas.

He is also involved with the United African Youth Association (UAYA), which has a vision of uniting African youths to fight illiteracy, discrimination, and HIV / AIDS. UAYA is currently developing a new program “Education that Works for the Poor”, which aims to provide adult education, vocational training and basic skills education.

Emmanuel hopes that being an OIYP action partner will help him to realise his goal of providing education for illiterate adults and orphans. He also hopes to hold a youth parliament in Rwanda to encourage youths to become active on social issues such as discrimination and HIV/AIDS.