Encourage. Equip. Empower.
WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP TRAINING INITIATIVE (WLTI)
Walking alongside women in rural areas like Kajiado County helps spark confidence and courage so they can lead change right where they live. Many women in this region have had limited access to education and have faced cultural practices that limit the voice and influence of women and girls.
This initiative brings together women leaders from churches and the wider community and equips them through a holistic curriculum that includes:
Biblical Theology & Practical Discipleship – grounding women in God’s story so they can live it out, and mobilizing faith communities to break down barriers and build flourishing, reconciled communities.
Servant Leadership and Mentoring – developing competent, courageous, confident leaders who invest in others and multiply impact through intentional mentoring.
Counseling Practices, Trauma Awareness & Healing – providing biblically grounded care to process pain, restore wholeness, and walk with others through trauma.
Conflict Resolution, Peacebuilding & Reconciliation – equipping women to resolve conflict, restore relationships, and build peaceful communities.
Health, Wellness & Women’s Realities – addressing cultural and gender challenges while promoting holistic health for women and girls.
Community Development & Economic Empowerment –equipping women to lead practical initiatives that strengthen families and create sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their communities.
Family Enrichment – strengthening the community by focusing on building healthy homes—including female-headed households—so women, children, and families can thrive.
As these women gain skills and confidence to use their voice in the church and community, they are better positioned to advocate for girls’ education, expand economic opportunities for women, and confront harmful practices, early marriage, and the exclusion of women in decision-making and property ownership.
We believe individual and community transformation happens in safe, supportive spaces where women can heal, learn, grow, and boldly advocate for change.
Current WLTI Cohorts
WLTI - Rwanda
In 2025, Rise Up, in partnership with African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM-Rwanda), launched the multi-year women’s leadership training program.
Rural leaders, especially women, live in hard-to-reach places, are under-resourced, and receive less access to training.
Rise Up is excited to collaborate with our Rwandan Trainers-of-Trainers (ToTs). The ToTs graduated from the WLTI in 2018 and went on to complete a 1-year training program to become Trainers-of-Trainers. Identifying key community and church leaders is underway as we build our next Rwandan WLTI cohort.
A donation of $300 will cover the cost of one leader participating in a 4-day WLTI workshop.
WLTI - Kenya
In 2024, Rise Up, in partnership with ELYON Women’s Initiatives, launched a multi-year women’s leadership training program for church and community leaders in Kajiado West.
Because literacy levels are low in this area, the training is offered four times a year in two- to three-day conferences. Already, we’re seeing growth and community impact as women gather in a safe, supportive space to heal, learn, grow, and boldly advocate for change. Even pastors and other men in the community are noticing the difference and are now requesting training, too!
Why these locations?
Walking alongside women in underresourced and often overlooked areas helps spark confidence and courage so they can lead change right where they live. Many women in these regions have had limited access to education and have faced cultural practices that limit the voice and influence of women and girls. As these women gain skills and confidence to use their voice in the church and community, they are better positioned to advocate for girls’ education, expand economic opportunities for women, and confront harmful practices (in some instances, female genital mutilation (FGM), early marriage, and the exclusion of women in decision-making and property ownership.
WLTI - Uganda
In 2024, Rise Up, in partnership with Equip and Send Ministries (EASM), launched the multi-year women’s leadership training program.
Rural leaders, especially women, live in hard-to-reach places, are under-resourced, and receive less access to training.
A donation of $200 will cover the cost of one leader participating in a 4-day WLTI workshop.
ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Economic empowerment and training are game-changers in a developing country because they move people from helped to self-sustaining. Here’s how:
Breaks the cycle of poverty.
Skills + income = choices. When people learn a trade, get business training, or improve farming methods, they can earn steadily instead of surviving day to day.Stabilizes families.
When a mom or caregiver has her own income, kids are more likely to stay in school, eat regularly, and get medical care. Economic stability shows up first in the home.Builds local economies.
Trained entrepreneurs buy from local markets, hire neighbors, and create small value chains. That keeps money circulating in the community instead of leaving it.Reduces vulnerability.
People with no income options are more easily exploited—by bad employers, traffickers, or even conflict. Economic power = more ability to say “no.”Dignity and agency.
Work and income allow people—especially women—to contribute, make decisions, and be seen as leaders. That shifts cultural norms over time.More impact than aid alone.
Relief is important in crisis, but training creates long-term change. When someone knows how to grow more food, run a small business, or manage money, the impact keeps multiplying.
That’s why programs that pair training (skills, savings groups, agriculture techniques) with opportunity (loans, livestock, markets) are so strategic—they don’t just meet needs, they unlock potential.
Current Initiatives:
Burera Farm Initiative- Rwanda
The Burera Farm Initiative is located on 5 acres of land and focuses on transforming the community by training small farmers and community members in mixed farming techniques and pig rearing. Because of your generosity and prayers, the Burera Farming and Educational Project is helping families build a more stable, hopeful future through sustainable agriculture and community empowerment. Rise Up has continued to partner with African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM-Rwanda) since 2020, supporting the salaries and infusing capital.
This year, 771 small-scale farmers were trained in conservation farming—soil care, crop rotation, composting, and water conservation—so their harvests are stronger and more resilient.
Pig Pass-Forward: Hope That Multiplies
In 2025, 20 piglets were given to vulnerable families, including widows and single mothers. Since 2020, over 90 families have received pigs, and 30 have already been passed forward—spreading provision from neighbor to neighbor.
Growing Knowledge, Growing Impact
The agronomist, Michelle, attended an agroforestry workshop in Uganda and is now sharing climate-smart practices with farmers in Burera.
Every piglet, every seed, every woman trained is because of your faithfulness. You’re helping families move from surviving to thriving—cultivating hope one piglet, one seed, and one woman at a time.
Rebuilding Lives - Kenya
Through Rise Up’s partnership with EYLON, women who have experienced displacement, insecurity, and loss are being equipped to heal, provide for their families, and lead in their communities.
Women are gathering to grow spiritually, process trauma, and learn practical income-generating skills. The approach is slow, relational, and designed to be self-sustaining.
Key project elements:
Goat Pass-Forward Project: Women receive goats and, as they reproduce, pass on goat kids to other women—so more households gain a steady source of income over time.
Small Business Training: Women are starting kiosks, small eateries, and other microenterprises. Even when profits are small, they report increased stock, confidence, and purpose.
Trauma Healing & Peer Support: Women are learning grounding techniques, worship, and mutual encouragement to cope with stress and past trauma. Many now meet regularly for ongoing healing and capacity building.
Spiritual and Identity Formation: Each woman is reminded of her dignity and value, which fuels resilience and unity.
These projects are doing more than meeting needs—they are restoring dignity, building economic independence, and creating a network of women who are rising together.
Invest $150 to provide the capital an entrepreneur needs to start their own business and generate income, by raising pigs, goats, selling fruits and vegetables, clothing, or household goods.
SUPPORTING EDUCATION
Educating a girl in a developing country is one of the most powerful ways to change a family, a community, and even a nation. Here’s why it matters so much:
Economic lift for the whole family.
When a girl goes to school, she is more likely to get a job or start a small business as an adult. Educated women reinvest up to 90% of their income back into their families (food, schooling, housing), which breaks the cycle of poverty much faster than almost anything else.Healthier families and fewer child marriages.
Girls who stay in school tend to marry later, have fewer and healthier children, and are better equipped to make informed decisions about their bodies. Education is one of the strongest protections against early marriage and exploitation.Stronger communities.
Educated women are more likely to participate in community leadership, advocate for peace, and stand up against injustice. That means education doesn’t just help her—it improves how the whole community functions.Next-generation impact.
A mother’s educational level is one of the best predictors of whether her children will attend school. So teaching one girl today often means teaching all her children tomorrow.Voice and dignity.
Education gives girls the confidence, language, and skills to speak up—about violence, about unfair treatment, about their rights. That’s huge in places where women’s voices have been minimized.National development.
Countries where girls and boys are educated at similar rates have faster economic growth and more stability. So educating girls isn’t “charity”, it’s a smart investment.
Current Adolescent Work:
Dignify the Girl Child - Kenya
The Dignify the Girl project is a girls’ empowerment initiative in Kenya that brings vulnerable girls together during school breaks to help them discover their identity, build life skills, and stay focused on education.
Dignify the Girl Workshops, launched in 2023, each session attracts over 100 girls. Each session focuses on self-esteem, time management, coping with emotions, healthy sexuality, career guidance, and spiritual growth. The goal is to raise confident, purposeful girls who can stand up to harmful cultural pressures.
This work is supported by the Dignify the Girls Scholarship Fund, which helps vulnerable girls stay in school. The fund provides tuition, school supplies, and personal essentials for high school and university students, with each scholarship carefully vetted to ensure it reaches those most in need.
Together, the program and the scholarship fund are nurturing young women who will be equipped and empowered to initiate change in their lives and in future generations.
IWE Secondary School - Rwanda
Adolescence is a critical time that often defines a girl’s future. Girls are strong and capable. They deserve the opportunity for an education in a safe, supportive, and stimulating environment. The Institute of Women for Excellence (IWE) is a secondary boarding school for girls focusing on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). IWE has been educating young women since 2006. This school is operated by African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM-Rwanda), with incredible staff.
A girl’s economic situation should not dictate the education she receives. Join us in unleashing these young women's creativity, ingenuity, and potential.
Because of the recent renovations and God’s faithfulness, the school is becoming more sustainable. IWE has grown from about 133 students in 2023 to 350 in 2025.
$45 a month helps an IWE student stay in school by covering the cost of boarding and coursework.