Peninah Mukashema, Togetherness Cooperative VICOBA Plus Lead Facilitator
Rwanda 🇷🇼
Meet Peninah
Peninah is the President and Administrator of the Togetherness Cooperative, and an integral part of the community. Peninah has served for years alongside the youth and women of the Cooperative, beginning in 2013 as a young volunteer offering her skills in English and bookkeeping. With support from friends of African Road, Peninah was able to attend and complete university. Now she utilizes her degree in finance and accounting to support the operations of the growing community hub. Peninah is beloved and respected for her leadership and her years of dedicated service at Togetherness.
Peninah looks for opportunities for girls and women to thrive. She is an active advocate for gender equity, setting an example for the youth of Togetherness. She uses her positions of influence to encourage others to reimagine women’s roles in settings where gender has limited them.
About VICOBA Plus at Togetherness
As the lead VICOBA Plus facilitator in Rwanda, Peninah works with Ugandan Changemaker, David Clemy, to grow a VICOBA Plus hub at Togetherness. She is expanding VICOBA Plus beyond Togetherness, providing expertise, training, and encouragement – to lead the way forward for the wider community.
With years of experience putting VICOBA Plus training to work, the Togetherness youth continue to develop strategic initiatives that provide stability, sustainability, and community connection, including the Women’s Bakery and Ebenezer Sewing Cooperative. Togetherness uses their resources to further equip themselves and improve the lives of their neighbors.
The combined leadership of Togetherness Founder Steven, joined by Peninah, continues to provide the insightful guidance necessary to develop and build the capacity of the next generation of leaders. Youth and women who once had nothing are now leading, thriving, and sharing; their hard-earned efforts are flowing out to benefit the wider community.
Opportunities to Invest in Community Development:
- Peninah brings expertise and skill in identifying, forming, encouraging, and leading new VICOBA Plus groups. She builds community groups that have the strength and cohesion to stick together over time. Peninah works with the goal of launching successful new groups and developing the skills of new facilitators in Rwanda.
- Peninah’s work to empower young women in the Togetherness community, especially those who are more vulnerable, cultivates character and teaches valuable skills for positive futures. This inspires and sets an inviting standard for other girls and women in this rural area.
- Continued expansion of the VICOBA Plus hub at Togetherness.
- Small business expansion and initiatives for growing sustainability.