Empowering Futures: Impact Hope’s Vocational Training Program
In August 2024, Impact Hope, with support from ASI Project funding, hosted its summer vocational training program with 248 at-risk Congolese refugee teens attending. The program’s mission was to equip these young people with marketable skills that pave the way for self-sufficiency and a hopeful future away from the vulnerabilities of refugee camp life.
Liz Thompson, executive director of Impact Hope, describes the significance of this initiative: “Impact Hope takes these kids out of the camps where they have no higher education, where they have no hope for their future. We send them to Adventist boarding schools, and we give them a Christ-centered education that helps them to be able to change their futures. It is very important for us to go to the next step, and the next step is teaching them vocational trades.” Thompson says that more than 1,000 young people have benefitted from the program so far.
Held at Rwankeri Adventist Academy in Northern Rwanda, the four-week summer training session gathered the students during their break. Trainees received practical instruction in various trades, including tailoring, culinary arts, hairdressing, electricity/plumbing, and agriculture/permaculture. By introducing these trades, Impact Hope empowered the students with tools to earn an income and ultimately build a sustainable future. Beyond technical training, the program emphasized life skills, self-reliance, entrepreneurship, psychosocial support, and spiritual formation. According to Thompson, “Trades here in Rwanda are really important in order to earn an income. To have an income means being able to feed your family, who otherwise live in deplorable conditions with about one meal a day.”
The multi-year ASI funding has also strengthened the operations of Impact Hope’s Center for Hope Vocational Training Center. This program extends training beyond the summer, offering year-round vocational and technical education. In the third quarter alone, 184 students—drawn from five refugee camps and the community across Nyabihu and Karongi districts—received focused instruction in the trades. The training program spanned six months, concluding its session in December 2024.
The benefits of vocational training extend beyond the classroom. Students have not only gained vital trade skills but have also become ambassadors of change within their communities. Many are now sharing their newfound knowledge with family members and peers back in the refugee camps. According to Thompson, Impact Hope now extended its work by launching a garment industry in Kigali, providing employment and ongoing support to graduates as they transition into sustainable livelihoods.
“These funds that we received from ASI are life-changing,” says Thompson. “They give these students hope. They give them a Christ-centered education. They help them have power for the future so they can feel like they can actually serve and help others. Thank you so much, ASI, for providing Impact Hope with the funds to be able to offer these wonderful skills.”
Impact Hope has captured the journey and success of these initiatives through the development of a 13-part docuseries. Episode 6, titled “The Trades,” provides a look into the summer training program.