Youth Rehabilitation

After the 1994 genocide in , thousands of youth were left homeless, with no education and with no means of livelihood. It was in this situation that a group of young IT savvy professionals, under the banner of Cyber Host, initiated a project to rehabilitate the unfortunate youth of . With the assistance of NU-Vision Ministry, Cyber Host provided these youth with basic ICT skills thus meeting part of the requirement of for Information Centres and ICT experts.

Training centres have been set up at cybercafés across , using networked computers installed with software donated by Nu-Vision Ministry. Here youth are taught basic computer skills, applications and database management, after which they learn how to maintain an information database. As a result of this young Rwandans are able to get employment in both the public and private sectors. Some graduates are self-employed, setting up their own information centres which are used by various database customers.

Initially the project was started with 40 youth and two daily training sessions. In time this number grew significantly. More than 240 youths have been trained in the past three years and all of them have found employment. In addition to creating training and employment opportunities for Rwandese youth, the project helps to promote peace and reconciliation among participating youth through information sharing. Youths from both the previously warring Tutsi and Hutu factions, have come together to fight ignorance through the use of ICTs. The project is also creating partnerships between Rwandese and Kenyan youth in knowledge sharing, experiences and technology transfer.