1. Hands of hope Rwanda..
Hands of hope is designed to preserve cultural heritage, with the full participation of communities, who receive
training and design plans to conserve their cultural goods,and works with tourism. Hands of hope engages in global
advocacy,urging the tourism industry towards increased environmental, social and cultural responsibility, and
sustainability, and to leave positive footprints in people’s minds.
Needs addressed
The heritage of rural communities has gradually disappeared due to a lack of conservation resources,
which has affected the identity of community inhabitants. These communities have low levels of
education, face difficulties in agricultural production as well as an uncertain future. However, they also
have an important source of heritage that could be used as a resource if properly managed. These are
located in communities, and are for the most part living heritage, as they continue to be used.
Objectives
The objective is to enable community groups to become co-stewards in the preservation of their heritage,
in such a way that they may become familiar with this heritage, while valuing and preserving it. In
addition, this program will allow communities to reassert their identities and achieve greater possibilities
of development.
Start date, coverage and target population
The program was initiated in 2014 among a community in the Musanze, Rwanda. The project targets
mainly at rural populations with low levels of education. There has been greater participation among
children, youth, women and seniors, depending on the community.
Description
Hands of hope is a community development and conservation projects, establishing collaborative
agreements with various institutions such as The district, Ministry of Culture and sports of Rwanda,
Rwanda development Board.
The program is constituted of reflective workshops and the appreciation and preventative conservation of
cultural goods, which seek to promote the revaluation of cultural heritage and its incorporation in
society's everyday life, that is to say, strengthen the links between the community's identity and belonging
with respect to cultural heritage.
Through reflective workshops, communities receive training on the preventative conservation of cultural
goods and design a work-plan for the preservation of cultural heritage.
Sources of Finance
Hands of hope has a budget to initiate projects, but it is hoped that the target communities will obtain
resources to then continue preserving their cultural heritage.
Strengths of the Program
 Communities gain a greater appreciation of themselves as generators of culture and development
based on their cultural wealth, through the processes that foster conservation projects.

2.  Communities become responsible for the conservation of their past and for a commitment to their
future.
Achievements
 Important cultural heritage has been preserved in various communities, with the participation of
community inhabitants.
 Reflective workshops have been undertaken and many institutions have expressed interest in
supporting these development programs.
 Community participation in conservation processes has facilitated greater understanding of the
problematic of heritage restoration, which allows for greater appreciation of the value of these
processes and a greater commitment to conservation.
 Started to support the poorest in the community, mostly women(widows) , children and youth that are
orphans.
Challenges
 The program must grow and be implemented in more communities, which will require greater
support. Currently, the program has exhibited great success, but the challenge ahead is significant,
due to the time-lag in this field.
 These projects are one option for community development, which foster solidarity, but which require
greater follow-up and strengthening, in such a way that the experiences may be shared with other
communities who will continue these processes of reflection and commitment to the future.
What is done by Hands of hope in the community.
1.Hands of Hope Housing,
Scheme, this is a project where our guests get involve, like helping Single Parents, orphans, in a Housing
project. We believe, it would be a great interaction between tourist and the community, we get the land or ask
it from the Town council then a group or some people can come in and construct the house for them with the
help of the other locals, in this case we want to promote unity and togetherness in the community and also in
our. This way one doesn’t only visit the gorillas but also makes a difference in the community. Their names are
remembered because they are actually signed on the house, for example Hands of hope Housing project/
Supported by Luke, or any other name one would like to use. The community asks for that.
2. Public Health initiative,
Responding to local needs, We construct Pit Latrines for some families that don’t have one with in the area, as
a part of Health and Sanitation within the village nearby, as we grow we can extend to other parts of the
country. This way any of the guests in the thousand hills that want to be part of this they are welcome, to join
us keep our society clean, and the people healthy.
3- Conservation through tree planting,
Our main achievements are closely connected to tree growing and reforestation, the introduction of use of
renewable and energy saving programs. We encourage planting of trees around the area in order to the
community about conservation this way the community can set up some seed bed, when your groups come ,
would be able to support them by buying those trees and get to plant them along the road, or near by the
school, clinic compounds.
4-Capacity building,
We Involve our guests in different things that lead to community development like, fedder road construction,
is a part of helping the community to have a road that they can use for their Bicycles, or walk in, this has to be

3. in the village, or construct a small bridge with in the village.
5-School project ,
We involve our clients; here those that want buy paint, and paint class rooms in a schoolfrom the village, Buy
stationery for the students, uniforms and shoes. Or even spend a day with them and teach them something,
even construct a building to extend the school. Our main objective is for each one of us to leave positive
footprints. The entire experience was a healthy,community-building outpouring of love that taught students that
they have the power to repair the world."
6. While in Harvesting we do this under our initiative of Agro tourism, and get clients to go and work in the
farm with each family, we can allocate 2 people in each family per day to go and work with them in their
farms, and get to know one other.
We welcome everyone and anything that everyone can offer. Global citizenship is our goal, we do this by
combining development by Hands of Hope ,and commercially supported through Red rocks , we showcase the
positive effects of responsible tourism, and best practices at our destinations..