Gemima Mukashyaka farmed coffee in Southern Rwanda after the genocide had killed eight members of her family in 1994. Like many other farmers, she struggled to produce enough on a small plot and faced the difficulty of traveling long distances to sell her crop. Her circumstances reflected the insecurity and limited resources confronting rural households after the conflict.

A group of growers formed a cooperative to negotiate with Rwanda’s national coffee company. Acting collectively, they obtained a better price than individual farmers could secure, and the cooperative attracted more than 1,500 members. For Gemima, participation represented a decisive economic opportunity in a setting where isolated smallholders had little negotiating power.

Gemima used her cooperative profits to hire additional workers, improve her family’s living conditions, build a new house, and obtain health insurance. The cooperative also brought her into sustained contact with people who had suffered from the genocide, encouraging a desire to move beyond ethnic divisions and rebuild a shared future.