Françoise Nibizi

Grâce-Françoise Nibizi is married and the mother of two sons, one of whom works with her at SaCoDé. She is the 3rd born in a family of 10 children and has been raised up by her grandmother. She is a nurse by profession, but also has a Bachelors degree in Social and Economic Administration and many years of working experience in several international humanitarian and development organizations: UNIFEM, UNDP, UNHCR, CRS and European Union. She founded SaCoDé in 2010 to empower underprivileged women and youth to take charge of their own lives and live in dignity. SaCoDé, which she started in her garage as a small project in which she taught 20 underprivileged single mothers skills for working in the hospitality industry has since grown into a countrywide organization with two dozen staff, 5 innovative projects and thousands of beneficiaries. Grace Françoise NIBIZI has worn a price in 2014 of an innovative project of educating youth on sexual and Reproductive Health via SMS in an environment where talking about sexuality is taboo. The “Agateka” project, a winner of this year’s Africa Innovation Challenge makes reusable and washable menstrual pads and provides them to school girls free of charge. SaCoDé is the only organisation in Burundi that makes reusable and washable menstrual pads, and the only organisation in Africa that makes them wearable with or without underwear. The funds to make the Agateka pads come from grants, and also from sales of the pads to other development organisations that buy them for their beneficiaries.