GITEGA March 27th (ABP) – The Economic Empowerment and Employment Program for Youth (PAEEJ) organized on March 22, 2024, in all provinces of the country, a competition for “ladies Impulse” female projects.
In Gitega province (center of the country), this competition took place at the headquarters of this program located in Bwoga in the presence of the national coordinator of this program, Professor Désiré Manirakiza.
During this competition, the members of the jury, including three women and one man, selected three best projects among ten projects which were presented by girls and women from different municipalities in this province.
1st place was occupied by a young girl Lorène Rosy Ingabire who makes shoes. She received a refundable sum of 10 million. The 2nd was Roselyne who raises bees and received 9 million. The 3rd was Bénigne Niyomwungere which manufactures decorative objects which benefited an amount of 8 million.
The PAEEJ coordinator said that the Ladies Impulse competition was initiated with the aim of trying to balance the gender in the beneficiaries of funding, because according to him, very few young women and girls have received funding from the part of this program since its creation in April 2021. He congratulated all the girls and women who participated in this competition. He also encouraged the candidates who were not selected and asked them to carefully analyze their project taking into account the implementation environment. He explained by way of example that a welding project, which will be carried out in an environment without electricity cannot in any case be financed, because its implementation is very doubtful. He also told them that there will be other competitions in the coming months, so they could have the chance to win.
Professor Manirakiza did not forget to point out to the winning candidates that the amount they will receive is no longer funding like that of other organizations, but that this amount will be reimbursed so that others can benefit from it to self-help. -develop. He also called on young people to change their mentality, explaining that there are those who embezzle funds allocated to their cooperative or association when it is money to be reimbursed.