The Story Behind the Curriculum

TWB was founded on the idea – and belief – that education is irrevocable and can never be taken away. As TWB bakeries have grown, the TWB Curriculum Package has, too.

When our founding team was preparing for our first training, back in 2015 with the Remera group, I asked myself two important questions when compiling, writing, re-organizing, and synthesizing our lessons: who was the training program for? And, what was the goal of the training?

Using these questions as a launch pad, I have edited the package each year with a methodology known as “backward design.” If our goal is to empower women to be excellent employees at a TWB bakery, then all of our lessons, activities, and objectives need to be in alignment and working towards that goal.

And my, what a labor of love it has been to re-work our content and optimize our resources as much as possible. Curriculum design and writing is a honed skill, one that I have had with me for most of my life, particularly with my father’s experience as an educator for 30+ years. Additionally, I have relied upon skills I learned while in the Peace Corps and from creating curriculum packages for other ventures in the educational world: from school start-ups in Ghana to tutoring programs in Arkansas. Piecing together lessons written by Markey, Meg, and Julie, we developed the first version of our package, culminating in around 150 hours of lessons.

Now, TWB's curriculum follows outlined standards along four primary competencies: life skills, nutrition knowledge, business acumen, and technical baking capacity. These modules are integrated into each Phase of the Curriculum: Phase I (Basic Pedagogy), Phase II (Specialization Training), and Phase III (Bakery Soft Launch), complete with lessons that are both theoretical and practical so that trainees learn the content and practice it, too. We've added many new lessons that we learned are essential (basic math skills, for example) when operating a bakery on a daily basis.

Lessons are tailored specifically for learners who have not had an extensive history within the classroom and include activities that are culturally-relevant and culturally-informed.

Taken together, TWB’s curriculum holds nearly 200 hours’ worth of content to prepare a woman to work inside the bakery. Most importantly, our curriculum package is experiential, human-centric, and accessible.

Better yet, we are pleased to announce that TWB’s vocational training program has been approved by the Workforce Development Authority in Rwanda as a nationally accredited Technical and Vocational Education and Training program. Because of this, every woman who completes our program will not only receive a certificate of completion, but also a transferable vocational education certificate that will enhance her opportunities for gainful employment.

With accreditation, TWB is a viable option for women who cannot attend University and may not fit the mold elsewhere. We bring together vocational skill development with knowledge, exploration, and community.

This is the beauty of education and we look forward to the journey as we continue to innovate, discover, and grow with our bakeries. #breadpower

Permagardens & Peanut Butter

Written by Britni Stupin, TWB Intern

For the past three months, I’ve been living and learning in Kenya as part of a study abroad program at St. Lawrence University. The last month of this program is spent completing an Independent Study anywhere of our choosing, and that’s how I ended up in Rwanda. I heard about The Women’s Bakery from a few past interns, and they always lit up when they shared about their experiences. TWB, I decided, was the right placement for my internship. 

Food insecurity and malnutrition are significant issues within Rwanda, and I spent internship working on two main projects that intertwined with these issues.

First, I researched and created an implementation plan for a permagarden that TWB would create at the Kagina and Ndera bakeries.

What is a permagarden?

In short, it is a sustainable approach to increasing food security by giving control over water use and nutrition within an individuals' own home. I spent a good deal of time researching the specifics of what a permagarden is, how to create one, and its benefits for women at TWB. Part of this research was meeting with women at both bakery sites to discuss the best way to complete this project. Each bakery now plans to plant carrots, beets, and cabbage next planting season.

The second, and tastiest, project, was aptly named “The Peanut Butter Project.” I worked with another intern, Martha, to create a nutritional lesson about the health benefits of peanut butter and how to make it in their homes.

The women at the Ndera and Kagina bakeries were engaged during the lesson and everyone pitched in to help. I’d say it was a success! All the peanut butter was gone almost as soon as we had made it, and the women told me they would be making this nutritious snack to eat for breakfast.

I walked away with a huge smile on my face that day.

If there is anything I have learned about my experience working at TWB it is that women’s empowerment and education can be used to combat food insecurity and malnutrition in the home. By helping women understand the impact food has on their body, TWB is giving women the knowledge they need to feed their families and nurture their health. That's bread power. 

Piloting TWB in the United States

In January, The Women’s Bakery will celebrate our 2nd birthday in East Africa. As we say in Kinyarwanda, Isabukuru Nziza.

In this time, we have been kneading, shaping, and sharing bread with women, men, and communities, both urban and rural alike. From noisy, cramped shops in Kigali to the rolling, lush green hills of the Western Province, our team has traversed the country to leverage the simplicity and affinity of bread (“imigati” in Kinyarwanda) for autonomy and opportunity through small business creation. Bread is brilliant; it requires few ingredients and it is a product forever in demand. Plus, who doesn’t love bread?

Around the world, eating and sharing bread is a communal process, often symbolizing peace. In Rwanda, for example, it’s not uncommon to cook a traditional Rwandan dish, ubugari, or cassava bread, and have three, four, five, or six people pulling pieces from the bread at once. There is truly something soulful about eating meals like this – together.

TWB has come a long way, too. We started baking bread in Rwanda in 2012, in small villages out in the Eastern part of the country. Then, it was just an idea.

Today, it’s a reality.

And here’s the really crazy part: our bakeries are relevant not just in Rwanda. TWB bakeries can (and will) be relevant around the world. Our model – investing in education, women, and business incubation – works because skill development (with a viable product) can act as a catalyst for income generation, empowerment, and education anywhere.  

Since the beginning of our journey, it has been the goal of both Markey and Julie, our co-founders, to adapt this model as a relevant option for women outside of Rwanda. Our focus remains – and will continue to be – on Rwanda and East Africa, but we have been mindful of potential entry points elsewhere to provide opportunity – for everyone.

In November, after months of planning and discussion, we launched a pilot program, We Baked This, with African Community Center in Denver. With the goal of future partnership for testing a US-adapted training program, TWB was hired to conduct a 10-week training program for a small group of refugee women from countries including Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. This group has already learned how to make healthy food choices in American grocery stores, how to read a bread recipe, and how to bake our delicious sweet potato bread.

We will conclude this pilot program in January with the hopes of continuing a partnership with ACC. This way, our model will be available and pertinent to women’s groups in the United States. We are exploring product variation, like bread mixes, to see if there is a viable market for micro-enterprise and vocational education.

Projects like this give me hope, enthusiasm, and zest for The Women’s Bakery. They give me hope because working on behalf of women – whether in Rwanda or the United States – has been a dream of mine since I was young. And, more than just advocating for women’s opportunity, The Women’s Bakery delivers.

It’s not just us, either. It’s the women we work with, the Rwandans that help mobilize and deliver our model, and the supporters we have all over the world. Making bread relevant for all requires the investment of all, too. We’re all needed. And we’re glad you are with us.

May this holiday season (and 2017!) remind you of the possibility and potency that bread and empowerment have anywhere. May you reflect and know that you can be a part of this, believing that a simple slice of bread has the power to change the world. 

Third Time's A Charm

On Tuesday our Training Facilitators, Aime and Denyse, rolled (no pun intended) into training at the Togetherness Co-op in Ndera, Gasabo District (about 45 minutes outside Kigali). Thanks to the sponsorship of our hiring partner African Road, 12 women and 4 men will be trained over the next few months. This marks our third official training in Rwanda!

Over the last year our team has developed a thorough, practical, and fun curriculum for groups. Through our training, Aime and Denyse are inspiring students to be active participants in creating economic opportunity for themselves and their families.

TWB’s complete training package is 153 hours and includes personal development, women’s empowerment, marketing, sales, nutrition, hygiene, accounting, inventory, baking practical lessons and much more! We work with each hiring partner to choose the appropriate lessons and timeline for their group.

In Remera (1st training) we delivered the full 153 hours. In Bumba (2nd training) we delivered 78 hours. And, in Ndera (3rd training) we will deliver 123 hours. Some of the factors that help determine the training schedule include past business training, overall baking experience, levels of education, and available time.

Creating a training schedule can sometimes be a challenge as many participants are primary caretakers in their home and have many responsibilities. Depending on the group, we plan to conduct training 2-4 days per week between 4-8 hours a day. The more condensed the training program, the more cost effective it is. In the case of Ndera, will be training 4 days per week, 7 hours a day. Participants are scheduled to graduate from our program and enter into business launch by the end of January.

We look forward to the next few months!