Poverty is a much as a state of mind as it is a state of being.

RWMT's challenges communities to look at what they have, not at what they do not have. We help communities develop an awareness of what is within their reach. We integrate enterprise development and entrepreneurship into existing activities and build on local knowledge and skills.

What We Do

We empower adolescents, youth and women’s groups to take charge of their economic growth by exposing them to simple and practical business concepts that help them use existing resources and their daily activities to generate an income and lift themselves out of poverty. We integrate enterprise development concepts and entrepreneurial approaches into our youth polytechnic and agroforestry activities. The result is a more stable community based on individuals who have been educated not just in skills but in application of those skills so that they can sustain themselves and become active participants in their economic well being.

Entrepreneurship Training

Adolescents & Youth: We train young people in dressmaking, tailoring, carpentry, weaving and crafts to give them an understanding of how those skills can be used to generate an income.

Students generally spend two years in the Rafiki Polytechnic program. During this time, we give them the chance to earn a small income from the skills they are acquiring, since this has been shown to be valuable in demonstrating the value of the program to students’ families. Without this, many students would be under considerable pressure to meet immediate needs by attending to family affairs rather than to their education. This small income helps families see that education and training is of greater long term benefit to the entire family unit.

Women's Groups: Women are the backbone of Rarieda’s rural economy and the main care providers for children. The vegetables and crops they grow form the basis of their families’ livelihoods. At the same time, women constitute the majority of the poor and the illiterate, with some being pushed into sex work to generate income to feed their families.

Rafiki works with women’s groups to encourage expansion of their economic and social initiatives to strengthen both their capacity to provide the basics for their children and families, and their participation and leadership in the development of their communities. These values have an impact on children – and particularly girls - who look to their mothers, grandmothers and aunts as role models for the adults they will become.