Improving Lives through Vocational Training and Sustainable Employment

December 16, 2021

by:  Andrea Li, Christie Ghaw, Paula Boccalon, Betel Areda, Matthew Kirk, and Alexandria Whitted

Working in Implementing Health Programs in Developing Countries: Making Programs Work, our team collaborated with Our Sister’s Opportunity (OSO), founded in 2019 in Gakenke, Rwanda by CEO and founder Delphine Uwamahoro.

OSO is a community-based organization focused on helping girls and women provide for themselves and their families through vocational training and sustainable employment. OSO operates a Creative Design School, where they accept 52 students per year from the two lowest economic strata in Rwanda. To date, there have been 321 graduates, 400 new businesses created, and home incomes have increased from an average of $18 to $45 per month.

OSO is expanding its educational programs by adding manufacturing and sales programs. It’s rapid expansion requires additional support in human resources management, quality improvement, operations, supply chain, and financial management. Our team researched and designed solutions for specific problems OSO identified for its upcoming manufacturing and sales expansion. Our successive five consulting assignments created:

  • Human Resources policies, job descriptions, and screening methodologies tuned to OSO.
  • Manufacturing Quality Assurance methodologies adapted from the garment industry and appropriate to OSO’s educational environment.
  • Proposals for Enterprise Resource Planning systems covering Customer Relations, Staff Access, Order Entry, Shipping and Returns, and Inventory Management.
  • Supply Chain Management, including recommendations covering shipping, vendor screening, and payment terms guidance.
  • Payment Systems which provide worldwide means of receiving payments for OSO’s merchandise.
  • Fund raising, including options to receive grants and donations worldwide while preserving local characteristics donors expect, such as U.S. tax deductibility or UK Gift Aid.

OSO can utilize our work in its overall operations management, furthering OSO’s educational programs for girls and women. We are proud to have worked with Delphine and her organization and grateful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with OSO.

 

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