Community-Led Value Chain Development For Gender Justice and Pro-poor wealth Creation: A case from Rwanda

This case study covers the work of Bureau d’Appui aux Initiatives Rurales (BAIR) in Rwanda. Behaviour change for improved livelihood: Vestine now a champion in the Iris potatoes value chain had given up hope of living a life free from poverty and suffering. Today, 39 year old, and mother of 4 children, is proud of her achievements from the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) methodology which all begun with her husband’s change in behaviours. The project aims to contribute to sustainable pro-poor wealth creation, and value chain upgrading through empowerment of women and men from the poorest and most vulnerable households and the establishment of equitable participatory processes for economic decision-making at various levels. This is achieved through adapting and up-scaling the innovative pictorial GALS methodology for community-led action research in a range of value chains, contexts and organisations. The local experiences of integrating GALS in particular value chains or types of interventions are documented as “integration models”.