Dear ASYV Family,

After a year and a half filled with challenges, it is my privilege to write to you today with joyful news.

I could not be more proud to announce that the Mastercard Foundation has awarded the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village a transformational grant that will allow us to impact the lives of tens of thousands of students across Rwanda.

With the financial support of the Mastercard Foundation, and the partnership of the Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology and the Rwanda Ministry of Education, we are launching the Educational Resilience Program (ERP). The ERP will train teachers from schools all across Rwanda in student-centered teaching and sexual and reproductive health education through the innovative use of technology.

Since we opened our doors in 2008, we have been lucky to serve more than 1,400 of Rwanda's most vulnerable youth. Today, we have been given the opportunity to reach vastly more young people and contribute to systemic change in Rwandan schools. By 2023, the ERP will have trained more than 435 teachers and given tens of thousands of students access to the critical thinking and life skills necessary to build self-reliant futures for themselves and their communities.

It gives me great hope to consider the impact that these young people will have on our country and our world. We could not be more grateful to the Mastercard Foundation for their vision and generosity and to the Gashora Girls Academy, the Ministry of Education, and the Rwanda Education Board for their partnership. To learn more, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at jc@asyv.org.

Our kids in the Village will continue to be our main focus as we catalyze far-reaching change that may one day be global. Thank you for continuing to have our kids and our work in your heart as we enter this next chapter.

With gratitude,

Jean-Claude Nkulikiyimfura, Executive Director