Project information

The team of University of Manchester students will volunteer alongside students from The University of Rwanda in sub-teams. Each team will focus on a different area of Azizi Life’s work:

• Storytelling through media
• Data gathering
• Enterprise development

Each of the teams will have an impact on Azizi Life’s aims, adding value to their core work and creating a stronger platform to build on in the future. Projects may also include a focus on environmental sustainability.

The story telling team:

This team will help to raise awareness of the organisation on major social media platforms. Azizi Life has seen a huge increase in their online presence, particularly Instagram and email, and they want to build on this and develop a YouTube channel. This is part of their efforts to increase the number of purchases from artisans in the US market by 10 times before the end of 2023! This team will work alongside the Azizi Life Rwandan Story Team to gather content and create storyboards for short video’s that get across a clear message. They will go to the field and capture the footage before editing it into a powerful message. They will teach the skills and processes that they use to the Rwandan staff and volunteers so they can continue to create content after the project.

The data gathering team:

This team will gather data on artisans and community impact projects and find ways that Azizi Life can quickly share it for maximum impact. They will use the Kobo Toolbox, an online resource that helps create surveys that instantly turn the results into usable figures (previously Azizi Life had to get this manually from paper surveys ). Volunteers will identify the areas where data is required, design the survey’s, gather the data and turn it into graph’s and graphics that can be easily shared in reports and on social media. This will not only help with Azizi Life’s monitoring and evaluation but it will also be helpful for quickly and effectively showing donors, customers and investors the difference they are making. The volunteers will again share their skills from the projects with the Rwandan staff so that the work can continue after they have left.

The enterprise development team: 

Azizi Life is continually growing and developing with new problems and opportunities arising almost continually. This means that there is always help needed in Strategic Planning, Business Development and Creative Problem Solving. This team will work on the area most needed at the time of the project and may include looking at the packaging of products and how effective they are, both in message and materials, helping with the establishment of Azizi Life’s new custom location including a café and shop, or scoping out potential new products and enterprises. This area of Azizi Life’s work is essential for the growth of impact in the rural communities. The team will work closely with the Rwandan staff and share skills to help the team to continue to think creatively for the future. 

Environmental sustainability:

Minimising the impact on the environment is at the heart of Azizi Life's values and something that is woven into each of the projects above. We are therefore also looking for students with an interest in environmental sustainability who may be able to contribute to the project.