Beneficiaries of the Best Performing Girls (BPG) Initiative, a program established by the Imbuto Foundation to reward best performing girl-students in the country, have vowed to take the impact onto the younger generations. On Tuesday, March 30, various alumni of the program held a virtual forum where they shared testimonies of what they benefitted from it, in addition to highlighting the efforts they have put in place to impact younger generations, “We struggle to reach out to our brothers and sisters who did not get chance to be mentored like we did. We visit them at school and share with them our success stories,” said Eduige Isimbi, the President of the Organisation. “We also educate secondary school students about reproductive health as part of the efforts to deal with the problem of early pregnancies. In addition, we participate in building vegetable gardens as a way to tackle malnutrition among children in communities,” she added. Isimbi said that one key driving factor that encourages them in what they do as an organisation is the desire to reciprocate what the Imbuto did for them while they were still students, “The First Lady (founder of Imbuto Foundation) rewarded and mentored us, so, we can also do something for the community by reaching out especially to those children that Imbuto’s mentorship programs have not reached so far,” she said. Janet Kayesu, a 2012 awardee of the BPG program currently studying Medicine at the University of Rwanda shared how the prizes not only impacted her life, but that of her elder sister too. “First it was my elder sister Tamar Uwase who was awarded by Imbuto Foundation, and she came home with the prizes. When we talked and she told me the story, I felt like I should be the next person to win these prizes. From that time, I worked hard and soon, I was awarded too: twice in 2012 and in 2015,” she said. With such encouragement, both Uwase and Kayesu carried on with their zealous pursuit of education, and both are currently students of general medicine. Many girls who have been touched by the program have such pleasant testimonies, of how being recognized and awarded by the First Lady pushed them to be enthusiastic about education, and to work hard to achieve great things in life. Denyse Umuhuza, a 2009 awardee the program says the prize made feel confident that she can achieve big dreams in life, “Being awarded under the program made me feel honoured, and on top of that, it made me bold to dream big and work towards achieving those big dreams,” she said. Currently, Umuhuza is an author of children’s books, but also works as a communications officer for Girl Effect Initiative. Sandrine Umutoni the Director General of Imbuto Foundation urged the beneficiaries of the education programs of the foundation to continue to think about what impact they can make on communities, and what legacy they want to leave for the next generations. BPG is one of the means the foundation uses to encourage young girls in their studies, and it is part of a bigger effort dubbed “Promotion of Girls’ Education Campaign” launched 15 years ago. BPG award recipients are categorised as: the best girl per sector at primary school level; the best girl per district at O-Level and; the best five girls per province at A-level. They are awarded with prizes such as school materials, and start-up funds for savings and training in ICT for those graduating from high school. To date over 5000 girls have been rewarded under the program. Girls who benefitted from the program through the years founded an organization dubbed “The Best Performing Girls (BPG) Alumni Network,” which unites as they make effort to touch lives, just like theirs were touched by the Imbuto Foundation. The network has established up to 20 mentorship clubs in various schools across the country, where mentorship is given to young students.
