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How Are Young People in Musanze District Helping Their Community?

In the beautiful hills of Musanze District, young people are everywhere—full of energy, ideas, and the desire to make a difference. They make up almost half of the population.
But even in 2025, we still ask: how are these young people actually helping their community solve problems and support local development?
Youth Have Potential… but Do We Know Their Impact?
Even though the government and international organizations support youth involvement, we don’t have enough information about what works.
→ Rwanda’s EICV7 (2023/24) youth report shows:
  •  24.7% of youth aged 16–30 live below the poverty line.
  • 4.9% are in extreme poverty.
In Musanze, there are about 139,508 young people, but we know very little about how they take part in local decisions, planning, or protecting the environment.
Some Initiatives Are Making a Difference
There are bright spots. For example:
  • Poultry farming programs for low-income youth have improved living conditions.
  • The Local Economic Development (LED) program (2014–2017) created around 28,000 jobs, with half going to youth.
But challenges remain: many jobs were physical work, and opportunities were mostly in urban areas, leaving rural youth behind.