{"id":38503,"date":"2023-03-29T11:49:23","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T11:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/featured-inside-adeprs-rwf40bn-socio-economic-support-in-2022"},"modified":"2023-03-29T12:06:20","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T12:06:20","slug":"featured-inside-adeprs-rwf40bn-socio-economic-support-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/featured-inside-adeprs-rwf40bn-socio-economic-support-in-2022","title":{"rendered":"FEATURED: Inside ADEPR\u2019s Rwf40bn socio-economic support in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>More than 15,000 vulnerable people including patients received much needed support such as food, while 2,000 dropout children returned to school, and 641 needy students were paid school fees, as part of the Pentecostal Church of Rwanda (ADEPR)\u2019s over Rwf40 billion social-economic transformation initiatives in 2022, the Church leadership said.<\/p>\n

On March 26, in Kigali, ADEPR held its Partnership Celebration event \u2013 an opportunity for the Church to celebrate with its partners the achievements of last year and discuss the efforts made towards transforming the lives of the Rwandan community holistically.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the event, the Senior Pastor of ADEPR Church Pastor, Isaie Ndayizeye, said that the Church’s vision is to transform the lives of people in a holistic way through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that \u201cwhat is most important is that I see, on a daily basis, accomplishments that lead to the achievement of holistic impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that all the socio-economic initiatives that the Church implemented last year, amount to over Rwf40 billion in value.<\/p>\n

Overall, he said, ADEPR has 2.8 million followers currently.<\/p>\n

Senior Pastor of ADEPR Church, Isaie Ndayizeye during his presentation at the Partnership Celebration event , in Kigali, on March 26. Photo by Dan Gatsinzi<\/p>\n

Among other achievements by the Church and its partners last year, Ndayizeye said that there is 119,268 new believers, including 374 who were under character reformation at Iwawa Rehabilitation and Vocational Skills Development Centre located in Western Province, and Nyamagabe Rehabilitation Centre in the Southern Province.<\/p>\n

Also, he said that over 12,000 street children were taken from the streets and got rid of drugs to which they were addicted, as a result of the evangelisation intended to tackle those issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis country needs intelligent and wise people so that we reach where we want to be,\u201d he said, underscoring the need to tackle drugs.<\/p>\n

Economic empowerment<\/p>\n

In line with economic empowerment, Ndayizeye said the Church encourages people to make savings and run income-generating businesses.<\/p>\n

To that end, he indicated that there are more than 6,000 savings and credit groups which are well-established, and started engaging in income-generating projects through their savings. They have over 128,000 members.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey meet every week for prayer, but also save money and discuss how they can develop economically. They started small projects, some are doing small trade. They so far have over 1.272 billion in savings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For the last year alone, he said that over 1,297 groups were created, with more than 28,000 members who saved over Rwf360 million in one year.<\/p>\n

Welfare improvement<\/p>\n

Regarding improving people\u2019s welfare, and taking care of vulnerable Rwandans, Ndayizeye said that last year, the Church in collaboration with its partners paid contribution to the community-based health insurance \u2014 Mutuelle de Sante\u0301 \u2014 for over 73,000 people (equivalent to Rwf219 million), so that they are able to get health services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thank God for that because when we support those people, we are taking care of their health,\u201d Ndayizeye said.<\/p>\n

ADEPR, and its partners, he added, continued to help the vulnerable to meet their basic necessities, whereby last year, they provided support worth over Rwf1.5 billion to the vulnerable people including patients at hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis helped over 15,000 people countrywide,\u201d he said, indicating that the interventions included providing food to patients admitted to hospitals but cannot afford it, and that the Church will continue to offer such support.<\/p>\n

Again, he said that the Church backed Rwanda\u2019s Girinka one cow per poor family programme with 743 cows given to needy families, Ndayizeye said, adding that it also provided 32,519 small livestock animals to needy people.<\/p>\n

Moreover, he said, the Church built houses for 370 people, and renovated houses for 796 others, as well as contributed more than Rwf121 million to Rwanda\u2019s school feeding programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe commend this good decision that the leadership of the country took because we also know that when children study while hungry, their learning performance gets low,\u201d he observed.<\/p>\n

The Chief Executive Officer of Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), Usta Kaitesi, said the abovementioned event served to ensure transparency and accountability, to show that the Church was putting to good use the resources it got from its members and partners.<\/p>\n

Talking about the major achievements that ADEPR realised that are impactful to Rwandans, she said \u201cthe first is over 2,000 dropout children who were helped to go back to school implies taking care of the future of our country\u2019s workforce. Second, it is the 76 new schools that were constructed, because we chose to build a competent Rwandan able to be competitive at international level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThird, it is the economic activities, including instilling the savings culture into people, and expanding Gospel preaching to farmers on the farm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chief Executive Officer of Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), Usta Kaitesi delivers remarks during the event.<\/p>\n

The Country Director at Compassion International, John Nkubana, who spoke on behalf of ADEPR partners, said the Church accounts for a quarter \u2013 about 25 per cent \u2013 of the 438 projects under implementation by various faith-based organisations countrywide, suggesting that its good performance is critical for them to achieve the intended results.<\/p>\n

\u201cADEPR\u2019s current team is, first, intelligent; second it is development-oriented and understands the development concept. They are very good partners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we want is family development, and getting children rid of the poverty trap. If we continue to partner with ADEPR and we do the necessary, we hope that we will achieve that,\u201d he observed.<\/p>\n

Going forward, Ndayizeye said that \u201cfighting stunting and malnutrition among children is among the issues to which we attach top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Pastor Ndayizeye, all the socio-economic initiatives that the Church implemented last year, amount to over Rwf40 billion in value.<\/p>\n

On March 26, in Kigali, ADEPR held its Partnership Celebration event.<\/p>\n

The event was an opportunity for the Church to celebrate with its partners the achievements of last year and discuss the efforts made towards transforming the lives of the Rwandan community holistically.<\/p>\n\r\n