MACPELLA – Soap and juice production

Location:                       Kicukiro – Kigali - Rwanda

Project leadtime:         24 months

Requestor:                    Christophe Uwitije for Education for All

Description of the project:

"Education for All " plans activities for unemployed youngsters, pupils and students (during vacations) to combat drug abuse and other harmful behaviour in the society. The coaching of the young people, in particular with revenue-generating activities, can create a change in behaviour. Macpella soap and juice production is one of the activities initiated by the youngsters of Kicukiro themselves to help their own development and those of their communities.

Objectives:

• Combat drug abuse and harmful behaviour in the society
• Establishing a rotating microcredit system (the first project finances the following one etc….)
• Development of the community in education (the first group of youngsters will educate the next group about general accepted best practices in management)

Beneficiaries:

The project plans the creation of jobs in different parts of the country in a rotating approach. A financed project will pay back the full funding to allow the start of a new project. This will create connections, a network, between different projects and groups of youngsters.

Budget:

4.375.000 RwFr (4.375 €)

Risks:

Daily price fluctuations

Attached documents:

Detailed budget

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Follow-up of the project

Date:                Oct 14th 2018
 
Name project:  Project 90 – Education for all - Macpella soap & juice production
                        

General status:

The project is going on well; the market is growing at an unexpected rate. There some challenges regarding packaging, but solutions are being found.

Progress since last status report:

We decided to implement the project in 3 phases to better track the progress and at the same time learn and correct where necessary. We have completed phase 1 and are in the 2nd phase. After the 1st phase we learned that some of the budget items exceeded the budgeted cost, some matched and some were lower to the plan  but the overall performance as planned.
The second phase is planned to cost Rwf 450,000, it’s sheet will be shared on the second phase reporting date.

Financial status:
 
The first phase has so far cost Rwf 946,600 and funds are managed for the benefit of the beneficiaries.

Problems/concerns:

After a slow start of the product selling marketing was improved and market share is growing satisfactorily.
Another concern was the packaging because of high packaging materials costs, reducing the profit margin. We’re constantly working on solutions to tackle this.

Attached documents (pictures, reçu’s,…):

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Date:                November 29th 2018
 
Name project:  Project 90 – Education for all - Macpella soap & juice production

General status:

The second phase of this project was more operational compared to the first phase which was the start up.

Progress since last status report:

The project was planned to have three phases. However, due to the fact that standardisation in the production process was found to be of capital importance, the phases have been extended to be four. In the second phase, it has been decided to undergo the training on standards requirements during the production process. The training took place from Monday November 19th through Friday November 23rd, 2018. The training was given by Rwanda Standards Board.

Financial status:
 
The first phase was having a very small overrun. The budget for the second phase was reviewed to cost Rwf 1.096.000, but actually costed Rwf 1.162.480. Much of this amount was spent on standardisation training, which cost itself Rwf 646.000, and it was of capital importance.

The 2 next phases are going to focus on only production and market penetration.

Problems/concerns:

1. The reluctance of the market: The products were not known by the Standard Board and hence clients feared any side effects. This has been resolved by the training of the required standards.
2. High cost of Packaging materials: This has been resolved by collecting the used container at low price, clean them thoroughly and reuse them.
3. Transport: Members of the project move around with products to get them known, but they cannot move with more quantity in longer distance. We still are searching a cost effective means of transporting the products.
4. Living conditions: The project does not yet provide any salary so the profit margin has to be increased.

Attached documents (pictures, reçu’s,…): 

Invoices of phase 1 and 2, pictures of the training

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Visit of the board Vleugels van Hoop november 2019

Date:                     November 10th 2019
 
Name project:       Education for all – Macpella – Soap and juice production

N° project:            90

General status:

Caused by distrust the production of soap was started but never continued. The production of juice never started. The MacPellla project was stopped.

The remaining funds will be invested in a sewing workshop (another project of Education for All) and will be used to purchase sewing machines. After a training of 3 months the students het a machine to take home and to start an independent business.

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Images

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Extension november 2019

Name project        Project 90 – Extension sewing machines - Youth Future (YF)        

Location:               Bugesera district (Mareba & Ruhuha sectors)

Project lead-time: 6 Months (From 4th November 2019 to 4th May 2020)

Requestor:            Education for all

Description of the project:

To give the youth more empowerment, to allow them to stand on their own feet, a course in tailoring is the purpose of this project. During 6 months the youngsters will be educated in tailoring and at the end of the course they get their own equipment, including a sewing machine, to start their own professional life.

Objectives:

- Equip the youth with necessary skills to lift them out of poverty
- Prevent the youth to engage in activities which are prone to drive them into illegal activities
(drug abuse, youth delinquency, unwanted and unplanned pregnancies)

Beneficiaries:

Young men and women who have not had chance to go to school due to poverty, chosen by local authorities

Budget:

The total budget of the project is Rwf 6,552,000 which equals to about 6.552 €.
This budget has a contribution split as follows:

• Donation of 2.325 € (Rwf 2.325.000) from Jewish Helping Hands
• Donation of 1.485 € (Rwf1,484,676 ) from Vleugels van Hoop; these are the remaining funds from Macpella Soap and Juice production project

The project has a budget shortfall of 2.742 € (Rwf 2,742,324) of which we would be so grateful if granted by Vleugels van Hoop

Risks:

In general this project has minimal risk of failure. This is due to the fact that no money will be handed over to the beneficiaries: the tuition fees are paid directly to the training centers and training materials are bought and handed out.
The fear was that students may not attend classes but a scheduled fortnight visits to the centers has mitigated this risk.

Attached documents:

Pictures and detailed budget

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Follow-up may 2020

Date:                     May 19th 2020
 
Name project:       Tailoring Vocational Training – The youth future

General status:

The six months training started on November 3rd 2019 and was planned to end on May 3rd 2020.  Due to the global COVID-19 outbreak, in Rwanda everything was shut down on March 23rd, one month and a half before the training would end.
We prepared anyway for the graduation and have bought the sewing machines and scissors.

Progress since last status report:

The Government decided yesterday that from June 1st, the interregional travels will be allowed again and I will go to Bugesera and meet with the trainers to agree on how they can speed up the teachings of the remaining two months and graduation date, which we shall communicate to you.

Financial status:

The funds received have been used on a scale of 82%:  72% on the purchase of the sewing machines and 10% for the scissors.

Problems/concerns:

Besides the delay in finalising the trainings on time and as planned, we have no other concerns.

Attached documents (pictures, reçu’s,…):

Invoices

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Images extension

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