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Activities - The "Dancing Pots"

The Pottery Project aims to improve the lives of Rwanda’s Batwa People by helping them to develop and commercialise their traditional craft of pottery, based on principles of Fair Trade.

A wide range of products is available for purchase, including fuel-efficient stoves, simple terracotta pots, figurines, glazed and oven-proof dishes. By buying these products visitors will directly contribute to the incomes of Batwa communities, enabling them to pay for schooling of their children, buy clothes and invest in their own futures. 

The Batwa Pottery Project is training potters in improving production methods, the introduction of new designs and business skills and marketing techniques, as well as developing a retail outlet to increase sales of pottery in Kigali. During 2003, the project carried out further training in costing and pricing, new technology and kiln building.

The project is based on Fair Trade principles. It started in December 2001, training 6 potters’ groups in the principles and methods of Fair Trade and how to build a successful small business. As a result, they have set up the first Rwandan Potters’ Association and the Project is now working with 14 groups of potters located in 7 provinces which are:

- Kigali City at Kacyiru
- Kigali Rural at Shyorongi
- Gitarama at Runda, Musambira, Mbale and Gahogo
- Butare at Tumba
- Gikongoro at Gasaka
- Byumba at Gituza, Kisaro, Bugarura and Gituza
- Kibuye at Munzanga

By arranging for tourists to visit the Batwa pottery workshop, the project is also developing “sustainable fair tourism”. Visitors can see the pottery being produced and enjoy performances of the distinctive dancing and exhilarating drumming of Batwa. The Project has managed to provide four dance groups with drums, cloths and bells, and it can arrange visits to these groups:

- Kacyiru group: in Kigali, 5 minutes from the city centre
- Shyorongi group: in Kigali Rural, 16 km from Kigali on the Ruhengeri-Gisenyi road
- Runda group: 30 Km from Kigali towards Gitarama-Butare
- Tumba group: 3 Km from the National University in Butare

The project works in collaboration with CAURWA, the Batwa NGO, and is facilitated by the Forest Peoples’ Project (UK), funded by Community Fund, Onaway Trust (UK), Christian Aid, Canadian Co-operation, and Norwegian Church Aid (Kigali).

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