VCS Research, Rwanda
Email: vsinining@vcsresearch.co.rw
ORCID: 0000-0002-2424-1234
The People’s Ledger is a new section of The Voice Journal dedicated to tracking the microeconomics of daily life across Rwanda and East Africa. Here, we go beyond macro-level policy to uncover the textures of economic survival: the traders, savings groups, digital hustlers, and everyday innovators who keep societies afloat.
This platform is where ethnography meets economics, where real stories challenge development dogmas, and where resilience is not romanticized but understood as policy-in-the-making. The People’s Ledger is not just a chronicle; it’s an inquiry into systems that work from the bottom up.
We begin this series with three compelling articles:
1. Markets of Resilience: How Rwanda’s Informal Sector Sustains Livelihoods in Times of Crisis
An economic ethnography of Kigali and beyond, this article examines the critical role of the informal economy in job creation, shock absorption, and community cohesion. It argues that resilience is an active process of innovation, not just endurance.
Read the full article2. Beyond Survival: Women’s Savings Groups as Engines of Financial Inclusion and Social Change
Through the lens of VSLAs and Ibimina, this piece reveals how grassroots finance becomes a force for gender equity, social capital, and long-term development. Grounded in field interviews, it combines economic theory with lived insight.
Read the full article3. Hustling in the Digital Age: Youth Innovation and Platform Economies in Kigali
This article explores how Rwandan youth are leveraging digital tools to carve out new livelihoods. From Instagram sellers to mobile service providers, it maps a new terrain of work, identity, and informality in the platform era.
Read the full article