UNIVERSITY LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

In many communities in Africa, brilliant young students are thriving in high school and excited about their future. Unfortunately, without a pathway to university and larger opportunities, their hard work and achievement is often squandered.

Our work focuses on three aspects: educate, equip, and empower. These Numbers Have Faces walks alongside young students and provides access to a university education. We identify promising students from poor, rural, or post-conflict communities and provide them the opportunity to attend university. Through our University Leadership Program we cover the cost of tuition, registration fees, room & board, and books. Our students go on to become empowered leaders and cultivate thriving communities.

Meet Our Students

the need

EMPOWERING LEADERS, BUILDING COMMUNITIES

Students need to graduate ready for the job market with the skills, insights, and abilities to succeed. Our monthly Leadership Development Workshops and Community Impact Projects equip our students for top job positions by focusing on critical career and leadership skills.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS

We equip our students with the professional skills necessary to be successful, empowered leaders by providing monthly Leadership Development Workshops for all our students on such topics as financial literacy, entrepreneurship, time management, resume writing, interview skills, leadership skills, self-care, and more.

Over the past five years, 97% of students graduating from our program, both women and men, were able to get paying jobs within two years — 77% get jobs within six months. This is a direct result of our monthly Leadership Development Workshops and our quarterly Women’s Empowerment and Bro Chat Workshops, which are designed specifically to develop the vocational and professional skills necessary to be effective leaders.

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE

Only 3% of young women in sub-Saharan Africa are able to attend university. Research has shown the best way to overcome poverty is by educating and empowering women. For this reason, These Numbers Have Faces makes sure at least 50% of our students are female.

Our quarterly Women’s Empowerment Workshops (Girls’ Night Out) are specifically designed to enhance the university education experience of the young women in our program. These workshops provide a safe place for our female scholars to talk about the specific challenges and issues they face as young women. We invite successful, empowered female leaders from government, business, and nonprofit sectors in Rwanda to provide leadership and mentorship support.

BRO CHAT WORKSHOPS

In a culture where gender roles are very traditional, we have learned that if we are going to equip and empower young women, we must also raise up young men to value and respect gifted and empowered women, who are able to build empowered relationships at work, at home, and in the community. For this reason, we offer quarterly Bro Chat Workshops for the young men in our program.

Community Impact Projects

As part of our program, our students contribute at least 50 hours each academic year to a Community Impact Project. Students identify a real need within their communities, then plan and implement a project to address that need. This is where our students take what they are learning in their classrooms, as well as what they are learning about leadership in our Leadership Development Workshops, and apply it to a real life need in their communities. Our students become empowered to be leaders in their communities and country.