At SFR we have observed that, very poor women need a more intensive package of services than do less poor women to break out of subsistence production and grow their businesses like fish farming, bricklaying plus some small income generating activities.

More to that, strive Foundation Rwanda based on experience, we have realized that what works for young women does not necessarily work for adult women. Skills training, job search assistance, internships, and wage subsidies increase the employment levels of adult women but do not raise wages. However, similar interventions increase young women’s employ ability and earnings if social restrictions are not binding. Women who run subsistence-level firms face additional social constraints when compared to similar men, thus explaining the differences in the outcomes of some loans, grants, and training interventions that favor men.

Social constraints may also play a role in explaining women’s outcome gains that are short-lasting or emerge with a delay. The good news is that many of the additional constraints that women face have been solved by Strive Foundation Rwanda’s Women Economic Empowerment program; these include providing capital and other support to rural women in Huye District