ORI seeks partners who support significant populations of vulnerable children in secondary school, have strong financial management practices and serve as leaders in their communities. It is important that our partners have strong ties to their communities because they solicit applications not only from the students they support, but also from other orphans and vulnerable children in their communities. Through its partners, ORI reaches out to a wide variety of students, including those living in child-headed households, foster families and orphanages. To enhance the geographic diversity of its applicant pool, ORI works with partners in each region of the country.

Principal Partners

Centre Memorial de Gisimba

The Gisimba orphanage, located in the Nyamirambo quarter of Kigali, is led by Damas Mutezintare Gisimba. Damas's father founded the orphanage in 1980 with 18 children living in one house. Damas took over in 1986 after the death of his father. During the genocide Damas sheltered over 400 children and adults in the small orphanage compound from the predations of the interahamwe (the Hutu paramilitary squads that carried out much of the genocide). Though the orphanage was repeatedly menaced, Damas and his colleagues held their ground and did not give in to the genocidaires. He has been honored for his heroism by the Rwandan government and many other organizations.

Gisimba currently houses over 200 children. Many of the younger ones were orphaned by AIDS, and some have been HIV-infected themselves since birth. ORI has helped to arrange testing and treatment of these innocent victims.

Joint Aid Management (JAM) Orphanage

Based in Gitarama, Rwanda, the JAM orphanage was founded in 1994 by a South African NGO to care for orphans of the genocide. Built to accommodate 600 children, the orphanage has housed up to 800 at a time due to the overwhelming need. JAM cares for orphans until they reach the age of 18. It provides health services, recreational activities and vocational training for in-house beneficiaries as well as for youth around the community. JAM also cares for mentally and physically handicapped children and young people.

FAWE Girls Scholarship Program

Founded in 1997, FAWE Rwanda is affiliated with the Forum for African Women Educationalists, a pan-African NGO headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Rwanda’s FAWE chapter provides scholarships to over 2000 girls at more than 50 different secondary schools, and operates a highly-regarded secondary school for girls in Kigali that focuses on math, physics and biochemistry. FAWE actively promotes educational equality for women, and seeks to empowers them through a series of confidence-building workshops.

SOS Children's Villages

A well-known international humanitarian organization which has its roots in Germany, SOS Children's Villages has for over thirty years provided housing, education, and a nurturing environment to Rwandan children who are no longer able to live with their biological families. Since the 1994 genocide (during which SOS helped the children in its care to escape to neighboring countries), SOS has directed its efforts toward the alleviation of the orphan crisis by holistically meeting childrens' needs including sponsoring primary and secondary education for orphans in several regions throughout Rwanda, including Byumba, Gikongoro, and Kigali. Orphans of Rwanda partners with SOS at these three sites in Rwanda.

Caritas Rwanda

Established in 1962, Caritas Rwanda is a branch of Caritas International, a confederation of Catholic relief and development organizations operating in over 200 countries. Caritas Rwanda's mission is to study the problems of humanitarian aid in order to help find solutions and to support vulnerable individuals and families. Since 2006, Caritas Rwanda has worked toward empowering communities through access to food, realizing gender equality, housing street children, and supporting secondary school tuition.  By working through local parishes and community centers, Caritas effectively reaches the entire community in which they choose to work. Orphans of Rwanda partners with Caritas Rwanda at two of their sites in northwestern and eastern Rwanda.

Uyisenga N'Manzi

Based in the Kacyiru district of Kigali, Uyisenga N’Manzi is a community-based organization that provides economic, educational and health-related support for child-headed households in Kigali. According to the International Fund for Rwanda, over 120,000 homes became child-headed households as a result of the 1994 genocide, and that number continues to grow as adults succumb to AIDS. In some cases, the head of household is as young as 10 or 12.