What inspired you to work for Red Rock Initiative?
Environmental conservation and improving community livelihoods, while linking community tourism and conservation for sustainable development.
Coordinating research subjects and/or volunteers, as appropriate to specific study objectives and work scope and ensuring the smooth and efficient day-to-day operation of research, and data collection activities.
Describe a typical day at work.
Designing activities in villages, with the participation of local people, to show their cultural identities and highlight the richness of the heritage and culture of Rwanda. These activities include: the annual Harvest Festival; organizing the Red Rocks Cultural Festival Week; and Crazy Night of The Gorillas which showcases cultural celebrations, comedy, poetry, music festivals, and community members through various activities.
Organizing the celebration of local brews as part of the efforts to promote domestic tourism as a key role of community development.
Training local people in ecotourism knowledge, skills, and developing and advertising community-based ecotourism activities. This is done all while mitigating harmful impacts caused by villagers on Volcano National Park, by creating a new source of livelihood for local people.
Helping local people in developing a community based ecotourism program and providing cultural advice to inform and support all aspects of tourism operations.
Why do you do what you do?
I have vast knowledge of contemporary philosophy, ecotourism ethics, basic ecological and geomorphological principles, wildlife and vegetation dynamics, and management relating to ecotourism. I work a lot with environmental conservation and community sustainable development for protected areas.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Providing cultural advice to inform and support all aspects of tourism operations. This includes conservation activities, visitor experience and tourism strategies, and regulatory compliance activities.
Being a member of Great Virunga Transboundary collaboration technical Committee, which plays an important consultative role and provides technical advice to the GVTC Board for decision making.
How do you use your education and international background in your current role?
My education background is in Public Administration and Management. I specialize in, social structure of East African societies, NGOs and social development, projects planning and management, foundations of social policy analysis, development theory, gender and rural development.
I’ve had 20 years with valuable experience working in different institutions, such as government institutions and agencies, tour operators/tourism companies, as well as in civil society organisations.
What challenges do you often face and how do you overcome them?
The challenges I usually encounter in my day to day work, are limited financial capacities to implement planned activities, and environmental hazards. The environmental hazards are a general problem in our country, due to its landscape and community mindset regarding protecting and preserving the environment for future generations.
What are some current projects you are working on?
Programs of linking community tourism and conservation for sustainable development, planning and coordinating the initiation of research study procedures, and the establishment of organization operating policies and procedures.
Initiating and coordinating research subjects and/or volunteers, as appropriate to specific study objectives and ensuring the smooth and efficient day-to-day operation of research and data collection activities.
What advice would you tell your pre-travel self?
Respect cultural diversity, support communities, comply to national laws and regulations, and even aspire to support sustainable and economic community development for better livelihoods.
What makes Red Rock Initiative special?
Our organisation's mission is to ensure the sustainable, social, and economic development of communities in the Virunga Mountains region, by supporting community-based environmental conservation and sustainable tourism programs.
We improve community livelihood through environmental conservation, arts & culture, education, and community health & security initiatives. Our initiatives are community- and partner-driven, and we welcome a variety of collaborators and their ideas from researchers and volunteers, to artists and skilled professionals, and everyone in between.
Office in Musanze
Why should someone choose your organization over competitors?
We believe that the success of a community and its environment are inextricably linked. Our Environmental Conservation Initiative promotes environmental protection and climate change action, by raising community awareness and curiosity toward the vitality of environmental protection and management.
We also believe that the culture of the communities we serve are intricately tied to the natural world surrounding them. We’re helping (through our Arts and Culture Initiative) local communities preserve not only the Virunga Mountains environment, but also the historic cultures and traditional arts of the region, gaining access to sustainable sources of income from tourism.
We believe that education leads to opportunity. Through our Education Initiative, we promote educational opportunities, including volunteer-led English programs and computer literacy as a way to expand local youths’ resources and broaden their horizons.
We’re invested in the health and security of the communities we serve. Through the Community Health & Security Initiative we promote healthcare issues ranging from, clean water and reproductive rights, to secure nutrition and housing, and everything in between.
Are there any developments with your organization that you would like to share with us?
We strive to build long-lasting partnerships with like-minded organizations committed to environmental conservation and sustainable community development. We recognize the vitality of working together – both within the Virunga community and across oceans – to achieve our goals.
Red Rocks Initiative always seeks to join like-minded organizations, networks, forums, and initiatives, in order to better develop ourselves and enhance our collective change-making power.
What makes Red Rock Initiative easy to market to potential participants?
As mentioned before, because of its unique programs of environmental protections and community development programs and its core values:
Dignity & Respect: We uphold and preserve the dignity, respect, and rights of our initiative beneficiaries, particularly women and girls.
Professionalism & Integrity: Our work is carried out with professionalism and integrity by all of our members, volunteers, staff, and leadership team.
Transparency & Accountability: We are committed to transparency and accountability in our engagements with local communities, partners, and donors.
Self-actualization & Self-reliance: We promote self-actualization and self-reliance among our members, and encourage every youth and woman to believe in themselves and reach their full potential.
Partnership & Collaboration: We believe that working together leads to positive outcomes and progress for individuals, families, and entire communities.
Honor & Excellence: We promote a culture of honor and excellence among our own staff and with the people and communities we serve.
What is your organization's mission and how do you continue to work toward it?
To ensure the sustainable social and economic development of communities in the Virunga Mountains region, by supporting community-based environmental conservation and sustainable tourism programs. Also by improving community livelihood through: Environmental Conservation, Arts & Culture, Education, and Community Health & Security Initiatives, and we are also initiating other new programs.
What do you hope participants take away from your programs?
Knowledge and skills to implement the same programs, like promoting environmental protection and climate change action by raising community awareness toward environmental protection and management.
Promoting educational opportunities, including volunteer-led English programs and computer literacy, as a way to expand local youths’ resources and broaden their horizons etc.
How do you help support participants?
Involving them in our organization’s projects, like supporting locally-led environmental conservation and sustainable tourism initiatives and providing viable livelihoods for local communities in order to have the power to lift underserved communities out of poverty, and instill a sense of purpose and pride in them.
If you could participate in one of Red Rock Initiative’s programs, where would you go and what would you do?
Supporting locally-led environmental conservation and sustainable tourism initiatives, and providing viable livelihoods for local communities in order to have the power to lift underserved communities out of poverty and instill in them a sense of purpose and pride.
What questions do participants often ask you, and how do you typically respond?
How we manage to implement our programs, and challenges we encounter while implementing them. We usually inform them what strategies we use and how we go about the challenges we meet.
Why is it important for people to travel abroad and experience new cultures?
It's important to develop an appreciation for different cultures in order to become a well-rounded person who is sensitive to the unique qualities of others. All components of culture are connected to one another, and to gain a comprehensive understanding of a culture, one must learn about different cultural components.
Why do you think learning a new language is important?
Language learning is described as a kind of rewiring of the brain which can form new neurons and connections among the intellectual network. Adding another language, shows why language is important to culture, and you are able to look at the vocabulary that a particular culture is using. Many people don’t realize that there are plenty of words that cannot be translated from one language to another.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Experiencing different cultural norms, different environments, and meeting different people with different opinions, which all educate you in the end. You become comfortable working in multicultural environments, and totally dedicated to the universal principles of integrity and tolerance to gender equality and equity.
