MIT Solve

Solution Overview & Team Lead Details

What is the name of your solution?

URUNGANO INITIATIVE

Provide a one-line summary of your solution.

Urungano Initiative is a youth-led innovation which provides evidence-based sexual and reproductive health services to adolescents including those living with disabilities through URUNGANO Bestfriend Book, Urungano Online Clinic and Urungano Research Hub.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) are most clearly defined in the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Cairo Consensus. Among the elements clearly outlined in the program of action are voluntary, informed and affordable family planning services, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, sexual health information, education and counseling to enhance personal relationships and quality of life. SRHR assumes that all people have the right to have a healthy, safe, consensual and enjoyable sex life, and have sufficient information to use in making decisions and seeking healthy behaviors. A big lack of youth-friendly information and services also leaves adolescents and youth in Rwanda, with a SRHR knowledge gap which consequently makes them seek SRH services only when something goes wrong. To solve the lack of friendly information and services, public and private institutions need to invest in sexual and reproductive Health, it needs a strong, creative and sustained solutions in SRHR information delivery to adolescents and youth. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) industry has been undermined for many years ago which causes many troubles to adolescents and it is causing much to cover the gap .Globally, there are nearly 1.2 billion adolescents aged 10 to 19 years old, representing about 16% of the world’s population. About 789 per 100,000 adolescents suffered adverse maternal outcomes in 2015, and nearly 3000 adolescents die each day from preventable causes related to sexual reproductive health (SRH). Adolescents from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are still being affected by sexual and reproductive health problems. This makes the industry of SRHR opens to ancestors as the market is still wide and open.

Sexual and reproductive health challenges are among the key problems affecting the wellbeing of girls and women in particular. Young people in Rwanda comprise the majority of the population, yet are still facing challenges in accessing SRH information and services, especially contraception. According to the latest Demographic and Health survey 2019-2020, there is a high unmet need for contraception amongst young unmarried sexually active women between the ages of 15 and 29(59%).Adolescents in Rwanda face significant barriers to access to SRHR information and services. This is due in part to the belief that adolescents should not engage in sexual activities and thus should not need access to SRHR information and services without parental consent.

Furthermore, parents of adolescents tend to hold to conservative beliefs that make discussion around their child’s sexual and reproductive taboo. In schools as well information about SRHR is often incomplete and teachers are not equipped to deliver comprehensive sexuality education in a non-judgmental, stigma-free way.Reserch shows that in lieu of seeking advice from parents adolescents tend to rely on their peers and social media for information on sex and sexual health. This can lead to misconceptions and risky sexual behavior. Teenage pregnancy in Rwanda is on the rise.Now, more than ever we must recognize that unrestricted access to SRHR information and services is key to preventing early and unwanted pregnancies, HIV,STIs and other SRHR issues.

What is your solution?

Urungano Initiative is a youth-led innovation founded by young talented medical doctors.We provides reliable and evidence-based sexual and reproductive health information and services to adolescents including those living with disabilities. We avail evidence and true story based sexual and reproductive health information and services through URUNGANO Bestfriend Book, Urungano Online Clinic and Urungano Research Hub. Our contents are developed by professional and qualified medical doctors.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

URUNGANO Best friend Book is a storyboard book providing reliable information on sexual and reproductive Health and Rights: Our book has two main version
URUNGANO Online clinic: Online clinic will be available on our website and android application. Adolescents will be given a chance of consulting medical Doctors in an anonymous way and every adolescent will have his/her profile on our website in order to tract consultation and their follow-up.

Podcasted storyboard book which provides SRHR information through played and podcasted stories and written articles. The book is made by small podcasted theater and covers most of the topics in sexual and reproductive Health mainly family planning methods, Safe Abortion, Sexual transmittable diseases, Human anatomy and physiology etc.
Video-reading book with a sign languages :we will created videos of our book with sign languages which will be used by people living with hearing loss.

. Those with vision loss will be listening to our audio-reader version of podcasted book

3. URUNGANO RESEARCH HUB: This is a hub which will be built in rural areas with engaging games and book where girls and Boys meet and learn about sexual and reproductive health. The hub will help for continuous education and research on sexual and reproductive health.

At this hub, we will train teachers in primary schools and equip them with evidence-based sexual and reproductive health information

4. URUNGANO TAILORED MENTORSHIP PROGRAM: We are currently providing mentorship to 22 adolescent girls and boys who accidently go unintended pregnancies. We mentor them for personal development, entrepreneurship and job creation. We have a team which helps these adolescents to re-integrate in the society and their schools.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Urungano initiative is an diverse innovation which targets a diverse group of adolescents with priority of marginalised adolescents.

The following are our targeted group of adolescents:

1.Adolescent girls and boys who experienced consequences of unprotected sexual intercourse

2.Adolescent girls and boys in Rwanda and East Africa

3.Students in primary and High schools

4. Primary and High schools will use our URUNGANO Book to educate adolescent about sexual and reproductive health and mental health.

5.Private and public organizations

6. Parents will use our books to teach their kids about sexual and reproductive health

7.Adolescents with disabilities mainly deaths and blinds

Our Impact:

Urungano Initiative is a youth-lead initiative founded by talented ,innovative and creative changemakers.Our services and products are designed to fill the gap in SRHR area .
We have a target of impacting 100000 adolescents in Rwanda by giving them evidence-based and research based SRHR information by December 2024.The above change will be achieved in the following sequence:
75000 adolescents will get eveidence-based and research based SRHR information through our website(www.urungano.rw), Youtube Chanel(Urungano Initiative) and Urungano application
5000 copies of Urungano Bestfriend Book will be sold to 5000 adolescents
6000 adolescents will consulted in our online clinic
4000 adolescents will get access to our online pharmacy
We are building a long term SRHR conduicive environment where they will have full rights on SRHR services and products.Our Project will empower adolescents across the Africa in increasing awareness on SRHR .Our online services helps to eliminate descrimination ,self stigma and it helps adolescents in preventing all consequences related with inadequate information on sexual and reproductive health and rights and poor access to SRHR services and products.Our project will open discusions in families which will allow us to change people's beliefs that affect accessibility of adolescents to SRHR services and products.

How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?

We are experienced staff of medical doctors and we have been implementing the projects related with SRHR. We get a chance to deal with people with SRHR problems during our daily practices and we know where those kinds of people can find help. As many adolescents do not consult because of social stigma, we bring an online clinic which provides secret and effective consultation. We are educating using true cases from our generation with real outcomes and possible available services

Our product is unique, accessible and affordable to all people. We are medical doctors and we have been exposed to adolescents with SRHR problems. Our team is made by the community activist and we work for the interest of the community.

Before designing our innovation,we have done a design challenge and design thinking of our innovation where we have conduted a community based survey.Through the survey,we have interviewed 120 adolescents from 6 different schools and basing on their responses,we created a blueprint and storyboard of our innovation.

We went back to the beneficiaries,we presented our innovation storyboard and basing on their feedback we produced a prototype

A prototype were presented to our targeted group which helped us in tasting it.

After tasting our prototype,we started developing final products and services.

As our innovation is based on true-stories from adolescents,we have also designed it for people.

The voice of our beneficiaries is the priority.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Prioritize infrastructure centered around young people to enhance young people’s access to SRH information, commodities and services.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Kigali, Gasabo, Rwanda

In what country is your solution team headquartered?

Rwanda

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model that is rolled out in one or more communities

How many people does your solution currently serve?

Our mentorship Hub is mentoring 22 adolescents

We have trained 16500 adolescents through physicla campaigns

53 people have bought our story board book

10000 people use our Website

155000 people uses our Youtube Channel

In Total,our innovation has impacted the life of 181575 adolescents

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Dr NIYOYITA Bonaventure

More About Your Solution

What makes your solution innovative?

Our storyboard and podcasted book avail SRHR information to all categories of adolescents. We brought a confidential online clinic which helps adolescents especially victims of inadequate SRHR to Overcome its consequences. From our book and Clinic, we educate, and provide advices on family planning methods, Safe abortion, Sexually transmitted diseases, etc.

Our solution is being implemented by experienced medical doctors and we have been implementing other projects related to SRHR. We deal with people with SRHR problems during our daily practices and we know where those people can find help. As many adolescents do not consult because of social stigma, we bring an online clinic which provides secret confidential consultation. We have collected 30 different true stories, first book is at the stage of publication. From our website, we have published different articles on SRHR and we are currently working on online clinic.

Our product is unique, inclusive, accessible and affordable to all people. We are medical doctors and we have been exposed to adolescents with SRHR problems. We are community activist and we work for the interest of the community.

We provide inclusive SRHR products and services where we also serve adolescents living with disabilities specifically those living in GATAGARA rehabilitation centers.

What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and how will you achieve them?

classesSub Activity Description Person Responsible Organisation Responsible Year 1 Year 2 Risks (see instructions) Period 1 6 months Period 2 12 months Period 3 18 months Period 4 24 months Risks / Assumptions Risk Mitigation Activity 1: Design challenge and design thinking of the project 1.1:Getting storyboards of the book and finishing prototyping MUTIMUKEYE Clarisse URUNGANO INITIATIVE x X Getting the consent of the adolescents developing a clear consent in our local language detailing the purpose of our project 1.2Finishing true stories from the adolescents MUTIMUKEYE Clarisse URUNGANO INITIATIVE x X 1.3Getting the views, concerns and interest of our beneficiaries MUTIMUKEYE Clarisse URUNGANO INITIATIVE x X Activity 2: Assessing collected stories and write scripts for the book 2.1: write the scripts and tutorials MUTIMUKEYE Clarisse URUNGANO INITIATIVE x X 2.2:Editing the scripts MUTIMUKEYE Clarisse URUNGANO INITIATIVE x X 2.3:Sampling the scripts and tutorials MUTIMUKEYE Clarisse URUNGANO INITIATIVE x X Add sub-activities as required Activity 3: Storyboarding the stories of the book and meeting them with the key players 3.1:A storyboarded stories according to the main topics MUTIMUKEYE Clarisse URUNGANO INITIATIVE x X 3.2:Drafting Urungano Bestfriend Book NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE x X 3.3:Illustration of the book NIYONZIMA Isabelle URUNGANO INITIATIVE x X Add sub-activities as required Activity 4: Gathering all storyboarded stories and topics into Urungano Bestfriend Book 4.1:Urungano Bestfriend book NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE X X 4.2:Publication of the Book NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE X X 4.3:Launch in high schools and refugee camps NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE X X Add sub-activities as required Activity 5: Podcasting the book for blinders 5.1:Podcasted Urungano Bestfriend Book NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE X X 5.2:Publishing the Book NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE X X 5.3:Launching in high schools and refugee camps NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE X X Activity 6: Visual version of the book with sign language for deaf 6.1:Video version of the book IRADUKUNDA jean de Dieu URUNGANO INITIATIVE x X 6.2:Sign Language interpretation of the Book IRADUKUNDA jean de Dieu URUNGANO INITIATIVE x x Bias from sign language interpreter recruitment of an experienced sign language interpreter 6.3: Publication of the book NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE x x 6.4Launching in high schools and refugee camps NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE x x 7.1:Storyboarding Urungano Online clinic NGARUYINTWARI Severin URUNGANO INITIATIVE x Activity7:Development of Urungano Online clinic and Pharmacy 7.2:Designing of Urungano Online Clinic NGARUYINTWARI Severin URUNGANO INITIATIVE x x 7.3:Development of Urungano Online Clinic NGARUYINTWARI Severin URUNGANO INITIATIVE x x 7.4:Launch of Urungano Online Clinic NGARUYINTWARI Severin URUNGANO INITIATIVE x x Gaining the trust of the adolescents building and recruitment of experienced doctors and friendly team 7.5:Storybaording Online Pharmacy NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE x x 7.6:Development of Online Pharmacy NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE x x

7.8:Launch of online pharmacy NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE x x Community not familiar with e-commerce development of a strong markteing plan Activity 8:Research ,collection and storing data on main problems o SRHR 8.1:Getting SRHR data NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE 8.2:Evidence-based data NIYOYITA Bonaventure URUNGANO INITIATIVE

Describe in simple terms how and why you expect your solution to have an impact on the problem.

Urungano Initiative is a youth-lead initiative founded by talented ,innovative and creative changemakers.Our services and products are designed to fill the gap in SRHR area .
We have a target of impacting 100000 adolescents in Rwanda by giving them evidence-based and research based SRHR information by December 2024.The above change will be achieved in the following sequence:
75000 adolescents will get eveidence-based and research based SRHR information through our website(www.urungano.rw), Youtube Chanel(Urungano Initiative) and Urungano application
5000 copies of Urungano Bestfriend Book will be sold to 5000 adolescents
6000 adolescents will consulted in our online clinic
4000 adolescents will get access to our online pharmacy
We are building a long term SRHR conduicive environment where they will have full rights on SRHR services and products.Our Project will empower adolescents across the Africa in increasing awareness on SRHR .Our online services helps to eliminate descrimination ,self stigma and it helps adolescents in preventing all consequences related with inadequate information on sexual and reproductive health and rights and poor access to SRHR services and products.Our project will open discusions in families which will allow us to change people's beliefs that affect accessibility of adolescents to SRHR services and products.

If your solution has a website or an app, provide the links here:

https://urungano.rw/

In which countries do you currently operate?

Rwanda

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

Burundi
Rwanda
Uganda

Your Team

Your Business Model & Funding

What is your business model?

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

URUNGANO Best friend Book is a storyboard book providing reliable information on sexual and reproductive Health and Rights: Our book has two main version
URUNGANO Online clinic: Online clinic will be available on our website and android application. Adolescents will be given a chance of consulting medical Doctors in an anonymous way and every adolescent will have his/her profile on our website in order to tract consultation and their follow-up.

Podcasted storyboard book which provides SRHR information through played and podcasted stories and written articles. The book is made by small podcasted theater and covers most of the topics in sexual and reproductive Health mainly family planning methods, Safe Abortion, Sexual transmittable diseases, Human anatomy and physiology etc.
Video-reading book with a sign languages :we will created videos of our book with sign languages which will be used by people living with hearing loss.

. Those with vision loss will be listening to our audio-reader version of podcasted book

3. URUNGANO RESEARCH HUB: This is a hub which will be built in rural areas with engaging games and book where girls and Boys meet and learn about sexual and reproductive health. The hub will help for continuous education and research on sexual and reproductive health.

At this hub, we will train teachers in primary schools and equip them with evidence-based sexual and reproductive health information

4. URUNGANO TAILORED MENTORSHIP PROGRAM: We are currently providing mentorship to 22 adolescent girls and boys who accidently go unintended pregnancies. We mentor them for personal development, entrepreneurship and job creation. We have a team which helps these adolescents to re-integrate in the society and their schools.

The following chart represent our revenue Model:

Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?

Individual consumers or stakeholders (B2C)

What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable?

Urungano Initiative is a long-term registered youth-led innovation with a strong and experienced team of medical Doctors.

We are currently working in partnership with Imbuto Foundation through its iAccelerator program, RISEUP-Youth Champion Initiative , and Kamonyi District through Kamonyi Youth Center,Wells Mountain Initiative,KOICA and UNDP.

Apart from the grants that we get from our partners, our project also makes profit by selling URUNGANO best friend book, Online Consultation fees, Subscription fees on our website and YouTube Channel, and Subscription fees on our Podcasts.

We have a working website and Youtube Channel where we publish our teaching articles and video .We have already designed and wrote our first book and it is now at the stage of publication. Our online clinic will be soon launched to the adolescent with two weekly days of consultation

With our experienced team, good communication and commitment, we always work hard to grow and expand our solution because we want it to be the first SRHR solution in East Africa.

We are currently approaching SAVE the Children and REB for Memorandum of Understanding about our URUNGANO best friend Book because we want to integrate it in primary and secondary schools.