About us
Who we are
Association for Socio-Economic Development Services is a professional organisation based in Kigali, working on socio-economic development across the Great Lakes Region — in Rwanda and the DRC.
A.SE.D is a professional organisation working with governments, institutions, development partners and private organisations on socio-economic development across the Great Lakes Region — in both Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The work is practical: campaigns that reach households, training that leaves a skill behind, and planning that a district can act on.
The organisation was set up to strengthen grassroots communities rather than substitute for them. That means building the capacity of local non-governmental organisations and decentralised entities so they can run and sustain their own income-generating projects after a programme ends.
In the DRC, where A.SE.D works in some of the most remote and hard-to-reach areas of South Kivu, its interventions are built on an integrated approach and delivered across the following key sectors:
- Formal and Non-Formal Education
- Household Economic Empowerment
- Child Protection
- Environmental Protection
- Health
- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
Vision
To become a leading organisation in socio-economic development in Africa.
Mission
To promote the socio-economic development of grassroots communities by building the capacity of non-governmental organisations in the study, development and management of small income-generating projects.
How we work
Capacity first, delivery second
A.SE.D was set up to strengthen the organisations and local entities already doing the work, not to replace them. The measure of a good programme is what still functions a year after it closes.
Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction
Helping households build an income that lasts after a programme closes, and training people to design and run the projects that produce it.
Local Government and Institutional Capacity
Making decentralised entities and partner organisations more operational, so delivery continues without us.
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
The area with the longest record: national sanitation campaigns, rainwater harvesting, and facilities built and used in three provinces.
Public Health and Environment
Prevention work carried out face to face, on the health and safety risks communities raise most often.
See the record
6 programmes, from a national sanitation contract to district development plans.