SaCoDé is an organization dedicated to unlocking opportunities for women and youth in Burundi. Their organization is focused on providing reproductive health products and services alongside economic empowerment programs that help women and youth enjoy healthy and financially independent lives. SaCoDé is the only local organization in Burundi using technology to reach out and engage youth in Burundi on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) through their SMS-based Health Education and Financial Inclusion content.
- Burundi
- Health and Livelihoods
- 1,395 Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) groups graduated having saved over $170,000 total in 2020 with 39,060 members impacted
- 220 Community Health workers were trained in 2020
- SaCoDé partnered with the Burundi Ministry of Education to incorporate education about menstrual health hygiene in schools. SaCoDé prepared the educational material which was then adopted by the MOE
- 3,280 of SaCoDé’s community health workers deliver health services across the 54 communes of Burundi
- In 2019, SaCoDé worked with 657 schools compared to 346 schools in 2018
- 32,000 girls living in 18 provinces reached through SaCoDé's menstrual hygiene management program
- 1,112 new businesses started by Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) members
- SaCoDé submitted a chapter on menstural health management that helped shape the development of the Manual of Norms and Standards of School Infrastructure established by the Ministry of National Education
- In collaboration with UNICEF, SaCoDé organized a conference on the importance of general & menstural hygiene management, and sexual & reproductive health education in schools. SaCoDé presented its 3-star school project that is now gaining momentum at the national level
Leadership
Grace Françoise founded SaCoDé in 2010 with a vision to empower disadvantaged women and youth. Before founding SaCoDé, Françoise served as a nurse, volunteered in refugee camps in Kenya, and held multiple administrative roles at International organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, UNIFEM, UNHCR, UNDP, and the European Union. Grace now oversees an SMS platform that connects women and youth to vital health and economic empowerment information, counselling, community, and health centers. She has also played a major part in the life-changing initiative to distribute the Agateka sanitary pad to underprivileged school girls in Burundi. Françoise holds a degree in Economics and Social Administration from the University of Lake Tanganyika. She also has diplomas in International Business Management & Administration from the Institute of Commercial Management (ICM) of Bournemouth, England.
At SaCoDé we do what we do because we want Burundians to live in environments where complete physical, mental, financial and social wellbeing prevail, and where individuals and groups can fulfill their needs, identify and achieve their aspirations, influence their environments or adapt to them.
