“During the Research in Shyogwe, we excluded Beneficiaries of Hope of Family Project”-Researcher clarifies

Recently TOPAFRICANEWS website has published the report on the findings of the Study that was conducted in Shyogwe Sector of Muhanga District in the Southern Province of Rwanda.

The Study which aimed to assess the Parents ‘involvement in their children education was conducted by two Rwandan University lecturers (Cyprien TABARO and Jeanne d’ Arc Uwamahoro) and later published their findings in the International Journal of Contemporary Applied Researches Vol. 7, No. 2.

The targeted population live in Shyogwe Sector where a local NGO Hope of Family has been providing sponsorship of Children Education as well as interventions in families socio-economic aspects since 2018.

Researchers noted that normally the study was conducted to check if Hope of Family Education Support has had positive impacts which can lead to the scaling up of the project’s programme to more beneficiaries and increase them from 100 families currently benefiting from the project.

According to Jeanne d’ Arc Uwamahoro, a co-researcher from the Department of Humanities and Language Education. School of Education, University of Rwanda-College of Education, the study didn’t include current beneficiaries of Hope of Family rather its targeted residents listed in the 1^st Category of Ubudehe programme.

Ms. Jeanne d’Arc explained that “While conducting the study, we excluded beneficiaries of Hope of Family to avoid research bias. The targeted families were those in the first category of Ubudehe.”

Ubudehe refers to the long-standing Rwandan practice and culture of collective action and mutual support to solve problems within a community, according to a recent academic research paper. It is not known exactly when Ubudehe was first practiced, but it is thought to date back more than a century.

Under the four categories of Ubudehe, the first category has the very poor who do not have a house or cannot pay rent; have a poor diet; cannot get basic household tools and clothes. The second category includes those who have their own houses; can afford to rent a house; mostly get food and earn a wage from working with others.

In the last two years, Hope of Family has been supporting 100 families from the 1^st Category of Ubudehe. The supported families graduate from the programme after two years. However, Children benefiting from the program continue to receive education sponsorship like also that there are some programs of the long-term effects that can not be stopped among adults’ beneficiaries.

“This study can benefit many stakeholders including the Ministry of Education, Parents and many other education stakeholders fighting for the education quality in Rwanda.” Ms. Jeanne d’Arc added

Find the previous Article here