Sustainability of Red Cross interventions to reduce deprivation in rural Rwanda

This paper develops a model of sustainability for interventions to reduce deprivation, based on case experience in rural Rwanda. The case concerns two EU funded interventions by Rwanda Red Cross to reduce acute deprivation amongst female heads of households ranked as in extreme poverty, living in remote villages. The interventions address health, hygiene, socio-economic and environmental challenges in an integrated approach. Three censuses of beneficiary interviews of knowledge, attitudes, lifestyle and behaviours before and after interventions have been conducted and inferences are drawn as to how sustainable the impacts may be. These results are triangulated with the outcomes of focus groups with volunteers and other actors within each intervention. The results highlight the critical importance of maintaining local commitment to the improvements once the interventions cease to avoid regression to the traditional behaviours which are deeply ingrained in these rural areas. This commitment needs to be backed by local funds and it is important to secure access to these at the outset of planning the intervention.