Education as Access & Power

At TWB, educational programming and training is at the forefront of our model. We don’t just employ any woman in our bakeries but rather those who have completed our intensive 200+ hour (now accredited) technical and vocational educational training program.

Education is access: access to a better income, a better job, a better life but most importantly, access to choices. The women we train, support and employ have a choice, every day, to come to work at TWB. To (oftentimes) wake up before the sun and work well into the afternoon, creating unique, healthy products for their communities, pushing through the lows of business and celebrating the highs. Education is power.

And you know what else is powerful? Witnessing our women transform from students to teachers and empowering a new group of women.

Enter Liziki. This woman is the definition of a rockstar. She has been with TWB since the beginning (2015) and works as a professional baker at the Kigali Flagship. She can bust out an order of 300+ sweet potato rolls in a morning, keep everyone on track to meet production goals and is just an amazing human being, mother, and friend. When our newest bakery, Gicumbi, was struggling with workflows, I had an idea: what if Liziki spent a few days with our newest employees and taught them her tips and tricks? The team at TWB has been experimenting with sending our more experienced women to train new, less experienced groups and the results had been positive.  

Liziki spent three full days at our Gicumbi bakery leading, teaching and demonstrating. It was inspiring to see her in her element and to see how much respect the Gicumbi women had for her. From my corner office, I could overhear them asking her questions from when to rotate trays in the oven, to what the ideal rising time was, to how to work faster. Prior to Liziki’s arrival, the production team has been finishing baking around 2PM, which caused them to miss market/daylight sales opportunities. After one day of Liziki’s expertise, they were cranking out 15 kilograms of bread before noon! Not only was she empowering the women, she was empowered as, now, a trainer.

As if I wasn’t already beaming with pride, for Liziki and our Gicumbi group, on her last day, Liziki gave a powerful speech to the women. Her exact words were,

“Sometimes the Kigali group, we had to wake up early and come to work and sometimes we stayed late but it didn’t matter because we we’re so proud of what we were doing and we wanted to achieve something in our lives. We (the Kigali group) are where we are now because of TWB and our hard work. Some days will be hard but you must have confidence, work hard, never give up and be proud of what you are doing. This is how you will grow and achieve more.”

I couldn’t stop beaming (crying) with pride and joy: for Liziki, for our Kigali women, for our Gicumbi women, for ALL the women TWB has the privilege of working with and for our work-our gritty, innovative and dedicated work. It truly is impacting lives and that is #breadpower.

Knowledge Sharing at TWB

Last week, our Gicumbi Training Group came to TWB’s Kigali Flagship for a tour, so they could learn from TWB’s first graduates in Kigali.

The idea behind the visit was to see how work flows within a TWB Bakery and the baking techniques that are used. Also, our team knew it would be powerful for trainees to listen and hear stories and testimonies from current employees.

Two things that amazed me while I was leading this visit in Kigali.  

First, I was impressed to see how our Kigali women were confidently teaching the newer trainees. The second experience that was particularly inspiring was to hear testimonies that were shared.

To see trainees teaching other trainees – this is the true sign of empowerment. If women who were trained three years ago are now teaching the new trainees, that is a huge success and transformative milestone.

Kigali women were able to show to the new (Gicumbi) trainees how to make different bread products in different shapes. The Gicumbi women were also excited and inspired by the words of encouragement from women who have been with TWB for three years.

At TWB, we believe that transformation can truly happen once women can transfer the skills and knowledge they gained to their children or their neighbor.

That is now happening.  

One women from Gicumbi, Uwimana, said, “It was my first time to see the capital city of Kigali and it was amazing to see the women baking good breads and good shapes. If they started just like us and they are now making these nice products, then so shall we.”

That is #breadpower.

Gicumbi Training

When I left my Peace Corps village in Gicumbi District in August 2017, I knew I would be back. What I didn’t realize was that I would return so soon and that I would be launching TWB’s fifth Bakery in a Box training program with a group of refugee and Rwandese women.

In November 2017, I sat down with TWB’s Country Director, Noel, to discuss potential new sites to launch a bakery in Rwanda. We had both recently joined the TWB team and were eager to select a new location for TWB’s expansion. When he asked me my thoughts, I almost jumped out of my chair with excitement, “Gicumbi!”

Around two weeks later, Noel, Julie and I took our first of many trips up to the true north of Rwanda- just 1.5 hours outside of Kigali but world’s different. We visited with local leaders I had built relationships with during my two years there, cruised around the extremely mountainous and beautiful sector and started imagining #breadpower making an impact in Gicumbi.

As we curved around the large hills, I pointed out the refugee camp that was near Gicumbi Town. It’s one of the oldest camps in the north and consists almost entirely of Congolese refugees who fled in the early to mid-90s. Although during my Peace Corps service I never entered the camp, I was well aware of its presence, the prevalence of unemployment and malnutrition. Not to mention Gicumbi was seriously lacking fresh, nutritious bread. Most of the bread is high in oil, sugar and other preservatives and shipped in from Uganda, Kigali and other edges of the country. What an opportunity to provide TWB’s fresh, nutritious bread to the Gicumbi community and vocational training and employ Rwandans AND refugees in one of the most lush, beautiful districts in Rwanda? The ball was rolling.

After a few more trips, connecting with District and Camp leaders and some phone calls with our U.S. team, we decided Gicumbi would be the next location for our new bakery. And this time we were doing things differently. Among independently vetting candidates, securing a multi-functional house for training and a bakery and revamping our curriculum, Gicumbi is TWB’s first training with refugees, and it’s a population the team has dreamed of including for a while.

On Tuesday, April 24th, 2018, we officially launched our new bakery training with a mix of 16 incredible Rwandese and refugee women. Local leaders informed us that Rwandans and refugees already had a positive relationship, and that the Government of Rwanda’s priority is to develop programs to foster even stronger connections the two populations.  

In the first week of training, Aime, the Training Manager and I, both witnessed the positive relations between Rwandese and refugees. We witnessed constant support, encouragement and communication as they learned about what TWB is and does, Business Math, Nutrition and Personal Growth and Development. They took a pre-test and baseline survey so we can measure the impact of our training program and get to know them on a deeper level. A bakery is never just a bakery. We want these women, like all our current women employees, to feel safe, empowered and healthy.

It was inspiring to see women from different backgrounds, different hardships, different cultures, all sit together in the same room and all want the same thing: opportunity. An opportunity to gain knowledge, skills, confidence, and income. An opportunity to change the social and economic factors of their lives. In the past, many of these women, especially the refugees, have lacked choice and opportunity for a better life.

Now, over the course of two months, they will have access to TWB’s comprehensive vocational business training program and the opportunity for immediate employment following.

These women are the next group of Strong Women Baking Bread, and I’m so excited to watch them rise.

Zoomed in on Gicumbi

For the last 3 years, TWB has made tremendous strides toward achieving our milestones. Bakeries have launched throughout the country of Rwanda and the TWB staff has almost tripled. These are signs of success.

In 2018, TWB is focusing on Gicumbi as our next training and bakery launch site. Our preparations are on a good track, including developing the training schedule, partner relationships, and interview process for the participants. We will be launching the training for this group on April 23rd.

Gicumbi is in the northern part of Rwanda. Within this community, TWB will be working with Rwandans, as well as a diverse group of refugees living in the Gihembe Refugee Camp. The location offers a good business opportunity because of the local demans for food products. Additionally, those living within the refugee camp do not have farms to cultivate, so they only rely on the crops that are produced by the local Rwandans.

In terms of bread demand, our market testing has been positive. TWB has found a need for the breads in this district because most of the breads are brought from Kigali.

TWB breads use locally sourced ingredients and are highly nutritious, delicious and affordable. Among children under the age of 5 years, stunting levels were 36.6% in Gicumbi district according to the Demographic Health Survey in 2015. Thus, our breads can be a mechanism to fight against malnutrition and improve families’ nutrition as well as nutrition for the entire community.

Moreover, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, in coordination with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), recently changed their subsidy program for refugees in Rwanda. They are piloting a cash-subsidy system – meaning that each refugee, rather than being given her allotted rice or corn subsidy, is given the cash equivalent. The hope is that the cash system will spawn micro-economies.

Stay tuned and will be updated for more progress on this new opportunity arising…

This is #breadpower. 

Julie and Aime on a recent site visit to TWB’s upcoming bakery site in Gicumbi, Rwanda. 

Kagina & AsOne Ministries

Tucked into Rwanda’s rolling hills, Kagina is a small town that feels worlds away from the bustling city of Kigali. However, the city is only a forty-five minute drive away. Kagina is also home to The Women’s Bakery newest project, a partnership with AsOne, a ministry that now supports a bakery training in the small town center. The church organization has partnered with TWB to train five women to run and work in the local bakery, baking and selling bread for their local area.

It’s a diverse group of women; they range in age, and some can read, write and speak English, while others are illiterate. They have worked with the church in the past and are excited and committed to this new opportunity. Training is a family affair; two of the women bring their children, one a newborn and the other an active toddler, and another is expecting.

As an intern with TWB, experiencing the AsOne Bakery training was one of the most valuable experiences I had while in Rwanda. I was able to see the very beginnings of the project and training, and when I returned a week later, it was so exciting to see the progress! While seeing the newly installed sink was exciting, I was so impressed to see how engaged and more confident the women were with the lessons, taking turns drawing on the whiteboard what they believe is the most nutritious meal. They discussed food pyramids, portion sizes and balanced meals.

These five ladies will spend the next month with Aime and Denyse, our intrepid trainers, learning about nutrition, baking, and business before officially opening their doors. In a few weeks, they will begin to sell bread locally and deliver to customers and small businesses in nearby towns.

They join three other active TWB projects in Remera, Ndera and Bumba.

Although my internship with TWB is ending, I’m excited to come back and visit the AsOne Bakery in the future for some bread and tea.

#bakebreadtogether #breadpower

#bakebreadtogether #breadpower

Sharing Knowledge

With two groups in Rwanda having graduated from our training program in 2016, and another group coming up on graduation in early February 2017, we are steadily expanding The Women’s Bakery network and community across Rwanda.

While some of our goals at TWB are focused on training more women, employing more women, and launching more sustainable bakeries, our growth in Rwanda also accomplishes other significant goals. One these is engaging graduates and current bakery employees in sharing their knowledge with current trainees, as well as with TWB bakers and bakeries across the country.

We don’t want to just build bakeries in Rwanda, we want to build an ecosystem of community and support across our bakeries, allowing TWB bakers to share ideas with each other, collaborate, trouble shoot challenges, and encourage each other with successes. TWB graduates are able to share their knowledge and experiences with each other, and with current trainees.

Since concluding our training program in Bumba in the Western Province of Rwanda, we have facilitated knowledge sharing with the bakery located in Kigali, the capital city. The two groups have been able to share recipe tricks, adjustments, record keeping tips, and even marketing strategies. Managers from each bakery have traveled 3.5 hours one way to visit each other, share insight and challenges, and gather ideas from each other’s bakeries. 

Currently, the training group located east of Kigali is conducting their baking practical. For the last two weeks, one of our skilled bakers from the Kigali bakery has traveled daily to the training site to lead the baking sessions and to impart her expertise. Over the next two weeks, another employee from the Kigali bakery will lead training sessions on sales and marketing, providing the trainee group with her firsthand knowledge and advice on jump-starting sales and finding customers during the crucial first months of business operations.

As TWB expands in Rwanda and throughout the region, we aim to create more opportunities for shared learning amongst our bakery and trainee groups. By empowering women to circulate their knowledge and skills with one another, we hope to not only strengthen the TWB community but to also create new avenues for women to utilize their skills and expand their own networks. 

Piloting TWB in the Refugee Community

Since I was young, I have been both passionate and curious about the process of adapting cultural experiences into new environments. This doesn’t always necessitate transcontinental travel – sometimes our most profound cross-cultural experiences happen in the migration between neighborhoods, schools, churches and from varying social, familial, food, educational, and work experiences.

TWB’s organization in Rwanda incorporates cross-cultural engagement daily as our team partners with Rwandans to ensure sound production, sales, and growth.

Since October, TWB has worked closely with the African Community Center in Denver as we have begun to expand our programming to the U.S. We are currently piloting a training program with seven refugee women to better understand how our work is both relevant and needed in the context of the U.S.

Per a state-issued report on foreign born residents, 2,199 refugees were resettled in Colorado in 2013, mostly from East Asian countries.[1] Currently, Over 1/6 of Denver’s population is considered either refugee or immigrant. In response to a growing need, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) launched operations in Denver to help provide resettlement and integration services for new individuals to the United States – especially those coming from crisis.

Currently, with ACC, our training has been tailored for refugee-specific participants. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a refugee is a person, “who has left her country of origin and is unable to or unwilling to return” for a fear of persecution. ACC has focused on this population as international conflict has grown across the world in the past decade and as more refugees have fled to safety in the U.S.

While ACC can aid in the services necessary for community establishment (housing, cultural orientation, school enrollment, etc.), the resettlement agency also looks to partner with other non-governmental organizations to assist with additional employment, education, and resource-based support for new community members.

TWB is enthusiastic and ready to fill this demand for partnership; our hope is that new TWB programming can help in this process, providing additional educational, training and work-readiness opportunities for refugees in Colorado, especially women.

In our pilot program, TWB trains a small women’s group for two hours each week. Recipe reading, budgeting, practical baking skills, nutrition education, and tips for grocery shopping in the U.S. are some topics we included in this pilot program. One of our participants recently noted that her class with TWB has been her “favorite” since taking part in ACC programming. Additionally, we have had the opportunity to introduce participants to our dry bread mix products as a potential future market opportunity for income generation.

Our class has included women from Burma, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Our pilot will end this month, but TWB & ACC will be continuing discussions about an on-going partnership with a larger, broader, and bolder vision of empowering women from an array of cultural backgrounds. If you are interested in learning more about our work in Denver, follow our social media networks. You can contribute to our work by visiting our donation page at www.womensbakery.com/donate.

[1]https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/643/documents/CommunitySupport/ImmRef_Assessment.pdf

The Power of Two

TWB is the idea of two. The two founders, Markey and Julie, started the company and conducted the very first trainings in both Tanzania and Rwanda, beginning in 2015. As the company grew and more organizations got interested in our services, there was a need to hire another training facilitator to help me execute our training package.

I have been the first facilitator to join and run TWB trainings in Kigali and outside of Kigali. In September 2016, Denyse was hired as a training facilitator to work closely with me. We trained together in Bumba for the months of September and October. This November, we started a new training in the outskirts of Kigali, in a neighborhood called Ndera.

It was a very smooth training in Bumba when Denyse and I were training together.  We would plan together, review the lessons together, and agree on who was teaching what, how and when.  During the actual training, one would be teaching while the other was circulating the classroom making sure the students were following the trainer’s instructions. Also, when the trainer forgot something, the other would remind them of it.

This is what I call the power of two.  When two people come together and work together great things can happen.

TWB is built on the spirit of working together as a team. Our team works together really well, and women beneficiaries work together in our respective bakeries because we believe in the power of two.

“Stronger together” -- Hillary Clinton, 2016

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!

Bread, Hands & Flying Money!

This week, TWB is launching a new training to the East of our Kigali headquarters in an area called Ndera. As our team prepares for a new group of trainees, classroom sessions, and baking practice, we've reflected on the recent successes of our previous training group, in Western Rwanda. 

One of the trainees in the rural west noted, "Even here, we eat breads," and it couldn't be more true. 

Rutsiro District, the location of the training group, held a 3-day Expo in September and our team of TWB trainers and Mama Dunia co-op members (who had been in training for several weeks) rose to the challenge. Baking as many banana-peanut, carrot, and beet muffins as we could, we sold over 900 breads!

No matter how much we baked, we simply couldn't keep up with the demand! 

At the expo, people crowded around our stand by the dozens - bread and hands and money went flying! The response was overwhelmingly positive, despite these nutritious muffins being completely new and unfamiliar to the rural customers. 

At the end of the day, TWB & Mama Dunia came in an astounding 3rd place for the entire event. People's choice? Beet bread! 

Our model for providing urban and rural women with education, jobs, and community-wide access to affordable, nutritious breads is working, and we couldn't be more excited. As we continue to expand throughout Rwanda, the success of each previous bakery group will also enhance the success of those that follow. Our training program gets better with each delivery, our recipe collection expands, and our brand gains greater visibility and recognition. 

As we continue with the first week of training in Ndera, Eastern Rwanda, we will be applying everything we learned from the previous groups. Here's to another group of strong, powerful women who bake delicious bread! 

"Even here, we eat breads."

“Don’t think that people in Kigali are the only ones who eat breads, even here we eat breads,” Esperance, a TWB trained woman, said.

This was a statement from a woman during a baking lesson last week, when a TWB facilitator asked her about her view on bread consumption in rural areas. She immediately replied that even though they live in a very remote area and that financial means are limited, breads are still a relevant market item for their community.

This is a belief that TWB is trying to instill. Too often in Rwanda, individuals and communities think that breads are meant for a wealthier class of society, mostly those who live in cities and have good paying jobs. We defy this belief by making sure nutritious breads are available in both rural and urban areas, for rich and low income people.

Nutritional inequity is common in rural parts of the country, as communities have less access to food, food varieties, and nutritional options for consumption. Currently, TWB is conducting a baking training in Rutsiro District, Bumba Cell. Rutsiro is one the 7 Districts of the Western Province in Rwanda. It has the highest percentages of food insecurity, 57%. In Rwanda, about 44% of children under five suffer from the effect of chronic malnutrition and statistics show that Rutsiro alone has a childhood malnutrition rate of 60% -- this makes it the area most affected by malnutrition countrywide. The consumption of foods rich in nutrients such as proteins and iron is very low.

We are very sure and confident that if women and children of the Rutsiro District can have our nutritious breads locally available, and at affordable price, this will improve their nutritional status. Bread should be available to everyone – with nutritional value – and this belief guides our everyday work for The Women’s Bakery. 

Success Comes In Different Slices

When Markey and Julie traveled to Bukoba, Tanzania in February of 2015, their goal was to train 20 women to work in a bakery just outside of the town center. What we learned, nearly a year following the initial training, is that many of the trainees have taken the skills learned to their homes. Moreover, they are training other women, and selling breads independently, too! While the co-op bakery near town still operates with 3 employees, many of the women have been able to start their own small-scale bakery enterprises.

In June 2016 seven of the 20 women trained in 2015 reported that they were baking one day per week for approximately eight hours per day. Daily sales were between 5-8,000 TSH (approximately 2-4 USD). Most of the women are making banana loaves and selling them by the slice. Two of the seven women report also making carrot bread! This is a new recipe that TWB staff taught during a site visit in February 2016. All of the women are using a jiko - a traditional stove using charcoal or wood fuel. These small bakeries have helped to supplement the women’s agricultural and other business income.

A question we often receive is “Can a woman run her own baking business using the skills she learned in training, without start-up capital, and without a fancy oven?”

The answer is a resounding Yes she can!

Bread in the Hills

As the first TWB Rwanda training group continues to learn and grow the business in Kigali, our team has been planning for our next training cohort in Rutsiro District, a cool four hour drive from Kigali. Set atop high terraced hills and overlooking all of Lake Kivu, the training site is stunning. Yet contrasted with this beauty, the district is cited as having the highest malnutrition rates in Rwanda.  Though the area, like all of Rwanda, is heavily farmed, most of the crops lack vital micro-nutrients, and meals tend to be made up primarily of foods such as potatoes and cassava.

This is exactly what inspired myself and Markey during our Peace Corps days to start making nutritious foods at home with what was available at market--  from cabbage and carrot salads to peanut flour fortified banana breads to our own peanut butter and fresh rosemary loafs. The ingredients exist locally, but the education surrounding a nutritive meal and balanced diet often does not.

Located on the western edge of Rwanda, this will be TWB’s most rural site to date, and will also be our largest collaborative training effort yet. TWB will focus particularly on delivering our nutrition curriculum along with bread baking and fortified recipe development using local crops, while area based organizations and the current Peace Corps Volunteer at site will continue to deliver life skills, business education, and financial literacy courses to the 18-woman co-op. By expanding throughout both urban and rural areas in Rwanda, we aim to tackle malnutrition and bolster economic opportunity in a very real way.