The women of the Nyakazenga village in Rwanda are working together to drive their own success. After just two months of training on collective action and financial management through Spark’s Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP), a group of women in the Nyakazenga village of Rwanda launched a sewing business specializing in handmade table decorations for living rooms..

At the end of 2024, Spark hosted a memorable gathering to mark the successful conclusion of Phase I of the Advancing Citizen Engagement (ACE) project—our first national pilot initiative launched in partnership with the Government of Rwanda and the World Bank. This event celebrated the remarkable progress achieved through the pilot and brought together key stakeholders, including representatives from the Government of Rwanda, district mayors, and participants from the Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP)

In 2024, Spark celebrated reaching over one million people since our founding. Now, we’re setting our aims higher with a new strategy to reach an additional one million lives over the next three years. We envision the decentralization of aid to the village level so that every community can determine their own development.

On November 27th, heavy rains triggered devastating mudslides and floods in the upper region of Bulambuli, resulting in significant loss of life, displacement of families, and destruction of homes. 27 communities that Spark works with were affected. In these communities, dozens of lives were lost, and more were hospitalized. Families lost homes, livestock, and vital infrastructure, and many are being relocated to resettlement camps outside of the flood zone.