SaCoDé: Grace Francoise Nibizi on Understanding Local Context

Sanne Breimer: Please introduce yourself and tell us the story of your venture. 

Grace Francoise Nibizi: My name is Grace Francoise Nibizi, I’m the founder and executive director of Sacodé, meaning Santé Communautés Développement, a local NGO, a grassroots organization, based in Burundi. Our main focus are women and adolescent girls, and the main projects we do are menstrual hygiene and health, sexual reproductive health, and, because we work in a very poor community, entrepreneurship. 

We target underprivileged, poor women and young people, and we can’t just go in front of them and start talking about subjects related to menstrual hygiene and health, while we know for sure that they haven’t eaten for two days. Before we start telling them anything, we teach them how to make money, how to start an income-generating activity, and how to be autonomous. 

I started Sacodé in our family garage 13 years ago, and we are now active in 10 out of the 16 provinces in Burundi with 250 employees and different donors supporting our ventures. I was very grateful to be connected to two Rippleworks consultants who helped us reorganize our Agateka project. 

Sanne Breimer: How do you measure and track the impact of your work and the success?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: Before we do any activity, we do what we call a baseline study, through which we set up indicators that help us to collect data throughout the project. We have a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system in place, somebody in charge of following and collecting data, and mentors among communities who help us collect data throughout the project. Otherwise, we won’t be able to talk to our donors about how we have been using their money. 

Sanne Breimer: When did you realize the importance of collecting data?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: When I started Sacodé, I didn’t have all that in place. I came across one donor who empowered my organization and staff to establish important systems in place, such as the M&E. A consultant trained us on what is an indicator, how to set them up, and which systems can help us do the job. It opens more doors to funding because everybody loves to know how the money is used, how many people are reached, and how to measure the impact. 

Sanne Breimer: Can you share a specific story about an actual individual who has been positively impacted?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: Before we started the Agateka project, we did a baseline study targeting three main components. The first component is access to knowledge, what do they know about their menstrual hygiene and health? Do they even know their menstrual cycle? How do they get the information? Who gives them the information? What do they do with that information?

The second component is about what they use when they’re having their menstruation, and how they get what they are using. Who buys the pads for them? 

The third component is access to infrastructures. We want to know if they have a safe place to change their pads. Do they have access to soap? Do they have access to clean water? Can they wash their hands when they finish changing their pads? We start the project after collecting this data. 

Most of our projects are around access to information. We now know the level of understanding, what is known around menstrual hygiene and health, the rumors and all the taboos. There is a lot of harmful collective construction in our country around menstruation. We’ll set up all the indicators to help us destroy those. 

Education is the key. We do a lot of education for a long time, with many approaches. We use videos because some of our girls and women can’t read and write. We use leaflets and we organize competitions to tell if our participants have the level of knowledge we wanted them to have.

Education is the key.

– Grace Francoise Nibizi

We know they have been having repetitive infections and they have been missing schools because they don’t have pads. We know all the consequences they have been going through because they didn’t have any pads. 

We keep collecting data to measure if the pad we have given them has had the wanted impact. We want them to no longer have infection. We want them to keep attending schools even when they’re having their menstruations. We want them to be free, to be participants in sport activities, because they told us during the interview, the focus group, that they can’t do sports when they’re having their menstrual cycle.

We want them to be confident, to no longer fear that the thing they’re using is going to fall. We want all those barriers removed.

We want all those barriers removed.

– Grace Francoise Nibizi

Up to now we haven’t got a lot of donors who give us money to build a toilet for the girls, but when we do get money to build a toilet – a menstrual hygiene toilet where the girls can enter and change her pad, have access to water, to soap – it’s easy to monitor because they don’t have to ask for permission to leave the school to change their pads. The access to infrastructure is really good and helpful. 

Once we study the baseline study data and set up a report, we set up indicators to collect data and monitor and evaluate the impact. Not just for schoolgirls, but also for women who participate in economic activity which they didn’t do before because they didn’t have pads. They had to stay at home for three or four days. 

Sanne Breimer: Regarding your funding journey, what funding did you start off with and how has it diversified over the years? 

Grace Francoise Nibizi: The first funding I got was through competition, from the Segal Family Foundation. After 10 years of partnership, I graduated and I’m grateful because they are the ones who empowered me to set up financial, M&E, and human resources systems.

They helped me build the organization, and introduced me to other donors. We work with UNICEF for our school projects, but that’s not permanent, it depends on when they have money. 

I’ve been working with Imago Dei Funds, also a family foundation, and African Collaborative. I haven’t got any funds from the Burundian government, although I can tell that Sacodé is a pioneer in menstrual hygiene and health and we influence policies when it comes to infrastructures and to always think about adolescent girls. Even though they haven’t given me money, I’m glad that they accept what we tell them. 

It’s been challenging to get grants because too many European or American donors don’t really understand the context, they feel like making pads for the girls is a waste of their money. We managed to get funds from the American Embassy and World Vision, and all organizations who work in schools, like the Right To Play, ZOA International, and AMADE Mondiale, an organization from Monaco. 

It’s unfortunate to see a girl missing school for many months because she can’t access something funny like a pad, and then ends up quitting because it has been unbearable for her. We want them to have access to education, to know what’s going on in their body, and not get pregnant. We have to educate them, but the donors don’t really understand. It’s hard to explain to a man, and the majority of the donors are men.

Sanne Breimer: So you get funding from many different donors at the moment. 

Grace Francoise Nibizi: Exactly. We get money through the angle of education, the angle of women and girls empowerment, and to support menstrual hygiene and health directly. We have two donors who gave us multi-year funding, but it’s for one area. 

With the Segal Family Foundation it wasn’t restricted. That’s the reason why we were able to grow and to buy so many machines and equipment to help us produce more pads. I love when it’s not restricted because we can really buy equipment. That’s where you can build the organization the way you want.

Sanne Breimer: What is something that surprised you in the support that you received that was helpful for you to scale? 

Grace Francoise Nibizi: Money only cannot help you scale, you have to have systems in place. Once you have good systems in place, once you have staff who are well trained, you are able to go in retreats and review your strategic plan.

Sanne Breimer: What would now be the support that you need to scale?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: Money. 

Sanne Breimer: What does scaling look like for you? Would that be within Burundi to more areas or would it also be across borders?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: Across borders. I have already done my research because I know what Burundian girls and women are going through and it’s similar in Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. It’s similar all over the place in Africa. That is the reason why a lot of countries are poor because women, who are the majority, are not educated and their needs are not being taken care of. 

We have done many studies that showed that menstrual hygiene is an important component. Once it’s not taken seriously, it disorganizes the whole life of a school girl, of a woman. 

Sanne Breimer: You have the studies that show that direct connection, which you say is hard to explain to funders. Don’t they read these studies?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: In our culture, we have the saying that you can’t tell somebody who has given birth that giving birth is so painful. Everything I say about menstrual hygiene and health when I’m meeting a man or a boy, is just like I’m singing. I can tell that he doesn’t really understand anything I’m saying. It’s unfortunate because I’ve been meeting many of them.

Sanne Breimer: Regarding the funding, have you been impacted by recent cuts to foreign aid?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: Of course. Even though we’re not partners directly, one of our partners, CARE International, still hasn’t signed the contract for this year. We’ve been with them for eight years and I can tell there is something not going well. 

Sanne Breimer: What is the percentage of your projects that are affected by these recent cuts of this year?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: Let’s say 35%, 40%.

Sanne Breimer: Could you tell me more about the support you received from Rippleworks and what difference it made?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: I’m so grateful for the capacity building they gave us. As I mentioned, the production of sanitary pads happens in all the nine Sacodé centers, except the 10th, which is the headquarters. We had issues around measuring the material to make the pads. We knew, out of one meter, we’re going to have six packets of pads. The next time it wasn’t six, it was seven or suddenly five, it was confusing and disorganized.

Rippleworks helped me to think deeply about all our production channels from buying the material, through the stock, up to the cutting department, to the production, the sewing carts, and up to the finished product stocks.

We spent two months going deeper through that, and the conclusion was to have an application to help us monitor. We got that application and we are going through the training, and I hope it’s bringing me peace of mind. 

The second component was about transport. All the raw materials are bought in the capital Bujumbura, and you have to dispatch the raw material and the finished product all over Burundi. We spent a lot of time discussing it, the only solution is to have lorries or vehicles to transport the material. 

I know what has to be done to get the pad to the last mile, to the women who live in villages, but the only solution is money to buy big cars, motorbikes, and bicycles. 

Sanne Breimer: Is there anything you know now that you wish you knew at the start of your Rippleworks partnership?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: I wish I knew that applications to help me track the production channel exist. Rippleworks opened my eyes. And I wish I knew about the transport.

Sanne Breimer: What advice would you give to funders who want to help social ventures be successful? 

Grace Francoise Nibizi: I would advise, if it’s possible, to calm down and know the context because sometimes, through words, it’s really hard to make somebody understand. Field visits are important to understand that there are people in this world who can’t access pads.

It’s not easy to explain and even somehow shameful, but because you really want to help, you have to talk about it. And trust is important. Once a partnership is not based on trust, there is no dignity, and no respect. Any partnership has to be based on trust.

Any partnership has to be based on trust.

– Grace Francoise Nibizi

Sanne Breimer: What was your biggest lesson that you learned from your funding experiences?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: Even though funders have been disrespectful because they think you have mismanaged their money and when they did their auditing, they find out everything is okay, you have to forgive and then continue. Otherwise, you won’t get any other funder because those guys talk among each other. The only lesson is to humble yourself, even though you know you never did anything wrong.

Sanne Breimer: From what you’re saying, I understand that there was not an apology?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: No apology at all. They have their ways of apologizing and invite you to participate in a conference in the US. Sometimes you don’t want that, but you have to humble yourself, put yourself together, accept it, and clear the situation.

Sanne Breimer: What would you say are the top 3 things that you need to unlock your ability to scale and sustain? 

Grace Francoise Nibizi: First of all, our products, our pads have been accepted in and outside Burundi. The Congolese get their pads in Burundi and we get orders from Kenya. I wish I could get money to open a big factory and have the production in one place and buy small vehicles to transport the finished products. The reason I’m telling you is because I have seen that transporting raw materials has been a huge issue.

Besides that, I’m always happy to come across somebody doing similar work and learn from them, especially in terms of women and girls empowerment, for my community, especially women, to rise up and fight violence against women. I’m always happy to attend meetings and keep on learning strategies to do things better. It’s good to discuss with other people who speak your language, understand what you’re saying and are compassionate, because, in our work, it can be lonely to see that nobody is concerned about what keeps you awake at night. 

Sanne Breimer: Is there anything you feel should be mentioned in this conversation before we end it?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: I wish men knew more about menstrual hygiene and health. 

Sanne Breimer: Could that be also part of your business model? Do you educate men in Burundi, for example?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: Of course, we educate men because all over the world, a lot of money is in the pockets of men. I talk on the radio and television about this. 

Sanne Breimer: What is the percentage of men in your company?

Grace Francoise Nibizi: There are very few. In the beginning, Sacodé was meant to be mostly women, more than 90% are women. But we have men, we have doctors among them and they understand the issue. 

Sanne Breimer: Thank you so much.

Sanne Breimer (she/her) is a freelance journalism trainer, project manager and adviser for international media organizations including SembraMedia, Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF), European Journalism Centre, Thibi, and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU). She founded Inclusive Journalism, aiming to educate (primarily) Western journalists about media representation and decolonisation through a weekly newsletter, online courses and retreats. Sanne works remotely and divides her time between Europe and South East Asia. Before moving into training, Sanne worked at a managerial level in national public broadcasting in the Netherlands for almost 13 years, focusing on radio, digital media and innovation. She is Dutch with Frisian roots.

* This interview has been edited and condensed.

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