Rwanda Red Cross Marks World Red Cross Day with Humanitarian Achievements

The Rwanda Red Cross joined the global community in observing World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day under the theme “Keeping Humanity Alive.”

On this annual commemoration, the organization highlighted its work over the past year and called on volunteers and staff to renew their commitment to serving the most vulnerable.

Since 1962, when it first began operations in Rwanda, the Red Cross has grown into a leading humanitarian actor.

In 2024–2025, it delivered clean water to more than 20,000 people in Gisagara, Nyamasheke, Rwamagana and Kayonza through 34 kilometers of new pipeline infrastructure valued at 550 million Rwandan francs.

Livelihood support reached 470 low-income families in Rwamagana, Kayonza and Ngoma with 900 goats and pigs worth 49 million francs.

Youth groups running income-generating projects in the same areas received 48 million francs in grants.

In Nyagatare, 300 animals valued at 19.8 million francs were distributed to selected families, while 180 vulnerable households in Nyamasheke received livestock worth 19.2 million francs.

Environmental health interventions included providing 350 families in Nyamasheke with energy-efficient cooking equipment—stoves, pressure cookers and thermal cooking bags—at a cost of 21 million francs.

Two women’s cooperatives with 120 members were supported with farmland and inputs worth 17 million francs.

When outbreaks of mpox and Marburg occurred in 2024, the Red Cross led volunteer training and hygiene awareness campaigns, distributing sanitation kits valued at 89 million francs to affected households.

In late April 2025, 800 families in Rubavu displaced by floods and landslides received emergency relief supplies and roofing materials totaling 14.35 million francs.

These are just a few among many other activities around the country between 2024 and 2025.

World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, celebrated in 192 countries, honors the birthday of founder Henry Dunant and reaffirms the movement’s seven fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality.

The Rwanda Red Cross used this occasion to urge its network to “have a heart that helps” through its ongoing Agasozi Ndatwa campaign.