Who founded SaCodé
Mrs. Grâce Françoise Nibizi was born on the 30th of January 1965 in Burundi, Africa, to a family of ten children. She is her mother’s third child. Before she turned one, she was sent to be raised by her grandmother as her mother had given birth to another child. Her grandmother, being very religious and having connections with nuns and priests, was able to find a place for Grâce Françoise in a Catholic boarding school for girls in a place called Mugera, in the province of Gitega. She was four years old when she was sent to boarding school.
A quiet child, Grâce Françoise was also very clever that she was allowed to join primary one at the
age of four. Mugera is where she completed her primary education, as well as the first four years of her secondary school. She later decided to study nursing, after being inspired by the numerous times she nursed her sick grandmother when she was hospitalized. Grâce Françoise started nursing
studies in 1980, at the Medical Institute of Gitega. Two years later her grandmother died, and she
moved in with her single mother who was now raising eight children (one had died).
Grâce Françoise finished her nursing studies in 1984 and immediately started work in order to
help her struggling mother. She worked as a nurse in a public hospital for two years, and then
as the principal nurse in a Commercial bank’s private clinic.
During that period, she met Jean-Berchmans Nsabiyumva to whom she got married on the 30th of August 1986. The couple has two sons, Karl-Chris born on the 25th of June 1987, and Lewis Anthony born on the 14th of May 1990. In 1993 the family moved to Mombasa, Kenya where Grâce Françoise’s husband had got a new job. While in Kenya, Grâce Françoise enrolled in the Mombasa Campus of Bournemouth’s (England) Institute of Commercial Management where she studied the English language, followed by two diplomas, one in International Business Management & Administration, and the other in International Business Communication. She completed her studies in 1996 and worked as a volunteer for UNHCR in Kenyan refugee camps for a year.
In 1997, her family returned to Burundi where she occupied different positions in several International Organizations such as CRS, UNIFEM, UNDP, UNHCR, and the European Union, between then and 2009. Between 2002 and 2006, while she worked, Grâce Françoise enrolled in an evening degree program at the University of Lake Tanganyika, in the Department of Social and Economic Administration.
Why was SaCodé Founded
In 2010, Grâce Françoise received training in “HIV/AIDS & Sexual and Reproductive Health” from the Camden Service Providers, as well as in “Education for Strengthening families, Strengthening Communities”, from the Race and Equality Foundation, in London, United Kingdom. It was in that very year that Grâce Françoise decided to start her own organization, to contribute in the strengthening of Burundian communities.
SaCoDé was founded with two main objectives: to help disadvantaged women raise their children in dignity, and to help the youth grow up in dignity. Her focus on youth and women springs from her personal experience in her own family.
Grâce Françoise started SaCoDé from her garage which she had transformed into a training room, using personal funds and contributions from family and friends, especially her eldest son Karl- Chris. It was through him that she came to learn
about the Segal Family Foundation’s Social Impact Incubator. SaCoDé has five founding members who all adhere to Grâce Françoise’s vision for the
organization.