Giharo commune: young teenagers turn community challenges into opportunities.
Funded by the French and Belgian National Committees, Skills4Girls empowers Giharo youth to create eco-friendly fertilizers
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It's 9am on Wednesday, 17 January 2024. We're meeting the solidarity group "Umuco w'ubuzima" (Light of Life) on the hill of Giharo, in the commune of Giharo, in the province of Rutana. Made up of 20 young people, including 12 girls and 8 boys, this group is successfully transforming the challenges of their community into opportunities, thanks to the "21st Century Life Skills" programme based on Upshift and the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) methodology, funded by the French and Belgian National Committees through UNICEF Burundi.
The group, committed to implementing the Upshift methodology, a human-centred approach to identifying community challenges and transforming them into opportunities, have developed an effective phytosanitary and fertiliser product to address the challenges of soil fertility and crop pests. Many testimonials are pouring in, highlighting their extraordinary achievements in promoting the socio-economic empowerment of youth and their communities.
This project, which focuses on the production of natural phytosanitary products and fertilisers, responds to the challenges of agricultural productivity while preserving the environment. These young people from Giharo Hill, who have benefited from training based on the Upshift methodology, have acquired skills that enable them to identify challenges related to their well-being and that of the community, while developing the ability to transform them into entrepreneurial and lucrative opportunities through STEM skills. "In our community, a major problem was hunger caused by insects eating our crops. This had a negative impact on crop yields," says Eugénie Niyimbona, 20, the group's leader.
According to her, this situation led to serious consequences, particularly malnutrition among children, caused by an insufficient and unbalanced diet. In addition, many young girls, driven by hunger, were forced into prostitution to meet their food needs.
"After benefiting from 21st Century Skills training and Upshift, we began researching the benefits of dried eucalyptus leaves on digital platforms, motivated by a childhood belief that they could cure stomach worms due to their potential toxicity," Eugénie testifies. Through their research, they discovered that these leaves also had beneficial insecticidal properties for plant preservation. "So we took an innovative approach by mixing leftover rice with dried eucalyptus leaves, earthworms, cow urine, and water, and then using our smartphones to search the internet to understand the components of each ingredient," she adds.
After seeing the effectiveness of their product, they began distributing it to farmers. Initially, a litre was sold for 500 FBu. This created a lot of enthusiasm among the farmers, as harvests increased rapidly. "Encouraged by these positive results, the farmers urged us to continue our efforts. Today, the value of a litre has risen from 500 FBu to 1000 FBu in three months. Our production capacity is around 100 litres," says Jean Bertrand Niyogushima.
Isaac and Joselyne, farmers who live on the hill in question, are delighted with the results of their harvests. "Since we've been using the phytosanitary product, insects that damage our crops have been eliminated, and the product also enriches the soil. We are grateful for this innovative initiative," they say.
Evariste Ntuyahaga, the head of this hill, shares the same opinion: "After using it on just one field, I noticed an abundant harvest compared to the other fields. The people I manage really appreciate this product and have seen a significant increase in their harvests thanks to the innovation of our young people".
Within the solidarity group, this project has given rise to other income-generating initiatives for its members. Thanks to the profits generated by the project, these young people have leased land. They have three fields where they have planted maize. They have also invested in livestock. The group currently has 4 goats and 3 pigs. But that's not all. They have also bought a sewing machine. This gave a job opportunity to Dévote, a member of the group, who was trained in sewing but lacked the capital to buy the machine.
"The project has helped me personally. I make clothes with the group's sewing machine, and donate the money while receiving a salary in return," says Dévote Iradukunda.
At the UNICEF Innovation Challenge, the group led by Eugénie won first place at the community level, demonstrating their success. Eugénie overcame her gender challenges and asserted her ability to express her opinion in public.
The members of the group want to start the certification, industrial production, and scale-up phase of this multipurpose solution. However, the certification process by the Burundian Bureau for Standardisation and Quality Control (BBN) remains the most difficult and time-consuming stage, requiring substantial technical support. Their motivation is to make it available to a wider audience and contribute to the development of their community and the country.
