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Champions Rwanda

GENDER EQUALITY | WOMEN | CHILDREN | FAMILY

MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 FEB 2017

Celebrating Rwanda Champions of Gender Equality. Iâ€™m HeForShe. Are you? Join Now. WWW.HEFORSHE.ORG

Financing Agriculture For Sustainable Development

.. . . .

Agro-processing:

Agriculture Mechanisation: Irrigation: US$14 million into irrigation infrastructure To irrigate about 1,501 hectares

Leasing/ Tractors:

US$92 million for agro-processing/value addition. This is equivalent to 67% of BRD financing to agriculture for five years

US$ 10 million to mechanise farms

Risk Mitigation US$ 7 million for insurance cost US$ 24 million crop diversification and new echnologies

Total Budget US$185.4 million ( debt and equity) for five years with the aim to help agriculture sector achieve 8.5% annual growth rate.

Contact Info: BRD Head Office Bourvard de Revolution. Tel: +250 733 301 848 /+250 738 855 758 I E-mail: brd@brd.rw

www.brd.rw

FOREWORD

wanda has made remarkable progress in promoting Gender Equality, Empowering Women, Protecting the Rights of Children and greatly improving family welfare. Rwanda Champions, a Magazine to celebrate achievements made under these areas is therefore born. Published by Vision Media Ltd in partnership with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, Rwanda Champions showcases the achievements and remarkable success stories from the various stakeholders. It also brings to light the challenges that these stakeholders meet while carrying out their generous activities. To be published in hard copy and online, Rwanda Champions Magazine will raise public awareness about Gender Equality, Women Empowerment, Child Rights and Care and Family welfare. In its first edition, the focus was on HeForShe, the UN Women solidarity movement for gender equality, achievements made in social and economic empowerment of Rwandan women, gender equality promotion and the initiatives carried out in the promotion and protection of child rights. On behalf of the entire team of Rwanda Champions Magazine, we would like to extend our sincere appreciations for the support we received during the time when we were executing this project. We thank the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion for guidance and support, and all the stakeholders that generously supported this

initiative. Notably, we wish to appreciate the support from Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD), DUTERIMBERE ONG, Rwanda Nurses and Midwives Union, Young Women’s Christian Association of Rwanda, Hôpital La Croix du Sud, KIM University, University of Rwanda, Institute of Legal Practice and Development and others who contributed financially or provided content to ensure that this noble initiative sees the light. You’re the Champions! Going forward, we have already finalized preparations for the second edition and the website for the Magazine will be launched soon so that the online community can also have a chance to read and contribute . The second Edition will focus on the gains made during the second mandate of President Paul Kagame from 2010 to 2017 in the areas of Gender Equality, Women Empowerment, Child Rights and Family Welfare. We shall also have a special focus on Women as part of the celebrations of the International Women’s Day 2017. As we move forward, we invite all the stakeholders in the focus areas of the Magazine to continue supporting this initiative financially and proving content that will greatly inspire others. Enjoy the reading! Bosco KAGABA HITIMANA Project Manager Rwanda Champions Magazine

Champions Rwanda

GENDER EQUALITY | WOMEN | CHILDREN | FAMILY

MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 FEB 2017

CONTENTS Acknowledgements

Rwanda Champions Magazine is published by Vision Media Ltd in partnership with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion. The aim of the Magazine is to promote and Create Awareness on Gender Equality, Women Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Welfare issues.

Project Manager

Bosco KAGABA HITIMANA Tel. 0781 630 180 E.mail: bosco@visionmedia.rw

Sponsorship, Marketing & Advertising

Bosco KAGABA HITIMANA Tel. 0781 630 180 Innocent KAMARADE Tel. 0783 427 878 Email: info@visionmedia.rw

General Inquiries

VISION MEDIA LTD P.O BOX 1239 Kigali-Rwanda. Email: info@visionmedia.rw www.visionmedia.rw Tel: 0788 581 321 Disclaimer The publisher regrets that they cannot accept any liability for errors or omissions howsoever caused. The opinions in this publication are not necessarily those of the Publisher. Readers are advised to obtain specialist advice before acting on information contained herein. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of the Publisher in writing. Unsolicited manuscripts are submitted at the sender’s own risk.

Champions Rwanda

MAGAZINE ISSUE 001 FEB 2017

06. Understanding HeForShe 07. Rwanda’s Take On HeForShe 08. Bridging Gender Digital Divide 11. Advancing Women’s Employment Opportunities 13. IPRC South 15. Gender Based Voilence 16. Institute of Legal Practice and Development 17. KIM University 17. University of Rwanda 18. Development Bank of Rwanda 22. Rwanda Nurses and Midwives Union 24. YWCA Rwanda 26. Dr. Nyirinkwaya 29. Duterimbere ONG 32. Women Economic Empowerment 35. New Faces, New Voices 37. National Bank of Rwanda 38. Securing women’s land rights 40. HAGURUKA NGO 41. Capitalizing on Child Protection

We are celebrating Achievers. To celebrate the International Womenâ€™s Day 2017 and to showcase the remarkable achievements made during the Government Program 2010-2017 in the areas of Gender Equality, Women Empowerment, Child Care and Family Welfare, Rwanda Champions Magazine invites your organization to showcase its achievements in our second edition.

To participate, contact:

Tel: 0781 630 180/ 0783 427 878 Email: info@visionmedia.rw 5

HEFORSHE

U n d e r s t a n d i n g H e Fo r S h e Solidarity Movement Fo r G e n d e r E q u a l i t y a n d I M PA C T 1 0 X 1 0 X 1 0 to-five year pilot effort to advance and ultimately achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment through top-down change, engaging global leaders across three sectors: government, the private sector, and academia. These thirty leaders are at the forefront of gender equality, serving as public champions for change, and committing to concrete progress within their own institutions. By demonstrating progress in a select group of companies, countries, and universities committed to equality, the program aims to identify and scale successful approaches to institutions across the world, accelerating the pace of change to make equality a reality within our lifetime. Female students in a pratical session at IPRC South. Photo /IPRC South.

What is HeForShe?

reated by UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women, the HeForShe solidarity movement for gender equality provides a systematic approach and targeted platform on which men and boys can engage and become change agents towards the achievement of gender equality.

Achieving gender equality in our lifetimes requires an innovative, inclusive approach that both recognizes men and boys as partners for women’s rights, and acknowledges the ways in which they also benefit from this equality. HeForShe invites men and boys to build on the work of the women’s movement as equal partners, crafting and implementing a shared vision of gender equality that will benefit of all of humanity.

Since its launch on 20 September, 2014, at the United Nations, by the former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador, Emma Watson, hundreds of thousands of men from around the world including Heads of State, CEOs, and global luminaries from all walks of life have committed to gender equality. HeForShe has been the subject of more than 2 billion conversations on social media, with off-line activities reaching every corner of the globe. As of February 2017, 1,272,294 people had already made commitments through the campaign’s website.

What is IMPACT 10x10x10? Getting to a world where women and men are equal is not just a matter of bringing men to the cause. The goals of HeForShe are much bigger: systematic, structural change that will equalize the economic, social and political realities for women and men. IMPACT 10x10x10 is a three-

Who are the IMPACT Champions? IMPACT champions are dedicated supporters of gender equality, who are willing to make bold, unparalleled commitments to change. The group of IMPACT Champions are balanced across regions, industries, and sectors, representing a truly global set of leaders.

What are IMPACT Commitments? IMPACT 10x10x10 aims to catalyze change, with bold, tangible commitments that set the standard for equality in each sector. To ensure consistent progress and establish a common ground, leaders in each sector made common commitments. All University IMPACT champions commit to implement a gender sensitization curriculum for students, faculty and staff, and develop programs to address gender-based violence. Corporate champions sign the Women’s Empowerment Principles, committing to implement Principle 7: “Measure and publicly

HEFORSHE report on progress to achieve gender equality.” Heads of State commit to personally champion and launch a HeForShe campaign in their own country. In addition, each leader developed bold commitments which aim to deliver real change within and beyond their own institutions. To ensure effective implementation, provide transparency, and share best practices with other leaders, the IMPACT champions will annually publish a report.

Despite notable progress over the last fifty years, not a single country has yet achieved gender equality. Heads of States are well positioned to drive transformation within their countries and lead by example, amplifying their own efforts by inviting others to champion equality. Head of State IMPACT Champions include the Prime Ministers or Presidents of: Finland, Iceland, Republic Of Indonesia, Japan, Republic Of Malawi, Romania, Rwanda and Sweden.

How to get involved

Corporate IMPACT Champions

CThe IMPACT 10x10x10 is limited to ten leaders in each sector during this pilot phase. HeForShe works with companies, universities and Heads of State through a range of other efforts. More information on the campaign and how to take part in it are available on the website www.heforshe.org.

Research shows that gender has a positive impact on companies’ bottom-line and improves decisionmaking. Yet 95 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are men and there remains a pay gap in every country around the world. CEOs have an opportunity to lead by example through actions that demonstrably advance and empower women in the workplace. Corporate IMPACT champions include the CEOs or Chairmen of:

Head of State IMPACT Champions

Accorhotels, Barclays, Koç Holding, Mckinsey & Company, Schneider Electric, Tupperware Brands, Twitter, Pricewaterhousecoopers, Unilever and Vodafone Group.

University IMPACT Champions Today, over half the world’s population is under the age of 30, a figure that is projected to rise to 75% by 2025. By reaching young people now, HeForShe can shape stilldeveloping perspectives on gender, impacting a whole generation. Universities are uniquely positioned to influence and galvanize this group by addressing campus violence and changing mindsets around gender. University IMPACT champions include the Presidents or Vice Chancellors of: Georgetown University, University Of Hong Kong, University Of Leicester, Nagoya University, University Of Oxford, University Of São Paulo, Sciences Po, Stony Brook University, University Of Waterloo and University Of The Witwatersrand. Source: www.heforshe.org

Rwanda’s Take On HeForShe Campaign and IMPACT Commitments By Bosco K. Hitimana

resident Paul Kagame is one of the ten heads of state champions of the UN Women HeForShe Solidarity Movement for Gender Equality. Adding on the commendable job Rwanda has done to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment under the leadership of President Kagame, Rwanda made bold impact commitments to further ensure equality of men and women through HeForShe campaign. Launched in Rwanda on 18th September 2015 at the Parliament building, HeForShe Solidarity movement was met with enthusiasm among the Rwandan population. Although President Kagame was not present at the launch, he was represented by the Senate President Bernard Makuza. The launch was also graced by the former minister

of gender and family promotion Mrs. Oda Gasinzigwa, other cabinet ministers, Members of Parliament, high ranking officials from Rwanda security organs, heads of private companies, NGOs, Mayors and foreign ambassadors in Rwanda. The UN was represented by its Resident Coordinator in Rwanda Mr. Lamin M. Manneh and the representatives of UN Agencies in Rwanda. During the launch, Rwanda’s achievements in gender equality and empowerment of women and girls were emphasized while men and boys were consistently called up on to come out and continue supporting their female counterparts by supporting the HeForShe campaign.

Rwanda’s HeForShe Impact Commitments Rwanda made three HeForShe

impact commitments. They include bridging gender digital divide and attaining parity in ICT access, usage and innovation by 2020; Tripling girls’ enrolment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to advance women’s employment opportunities; and to eradicate Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in all of its forms. The three impact commitments are crucial considering Rwanda’s vision. Also, the current state at which Rwanda is fairing in all the three commitments is promising and adding more emphasis will even make the impact bigger. For instance, by committing to bridging gender digital divide and attaining equality in ICT use, access and innovation by 2020, Rwanda is looking farther. Ensuring the involvement of girls in ICTs will definitely create a critical mass of

HEFORSHE women who are technologically skilled and this will therefore trigger a rise of girls highly skilled in computer based studies. This will increase the likelihood of girls becoming software engineers while others may end up becoming academics who would go on to shape the future generations with IT related skills. A critical mass of these ICT skilled women will therefore play a critical role in digitising the economy and this fits well within the government vision of building an economy that is based on knowledge. Some of these girls will go a long way in becoming entrepreneurs in technology which would have multiplier effects on other sectors of the economy since innovation will be at their disposal. By tripling the girlsâ€™ enrolment in TVET education, Rwanda is also addressing a critical gender problem but also trying to solve the emerging pressure from the rising unemployment among the university graduates who have not majored in vocational training. At the moment, the number of girls in the TVET system is still way below the number of boys yet TVET is foreseen for being a potential game changer if the girls are trained in technical education that would allow them to get the needed employability skills but also enable them to create their own jobs in case they donâ€™t get employed due to limited job offerings in the economy. Putting girls in the traditionally

male dominated education trades such as carpentry, welding, telecommunication, construction and others is a game-changer in a way that will also increase competition and innovation in these fields which may lead to the strengthening of these areas. One cannot promote gender equality when women and girls are still subjected to violence most of it in their own homes, at work places and other areas where women are mistreated because of their gender. Whereas Rwanda has made remarkable progress on eradicating GBV, cases of rape and discrimination based on gender are still emerging. By committing to eradicate GBV in all of its forms, the government of Rwanda is sending a strong signal to offenders that the days for exercising abuse on both male and female Rwandans are over.

Engaging Men and Boys To Increase HeForShe Impact Following the launch of the campaign in September 2015, a lot of activities were carried out to ensure that Rwandans from all walks of life at least understand the essence of the HeForShe campaign. Senior government officials ranging from President Kagame, Cabinet Ministers and others in the government, Private Sector and civil society community, all made a push for men to support gender equality by signing up for the campaign on its website. Rwanda had initially set a target of

100,000 signatures but President Kagame challenged this target and increased it to an ambitious 500,000 commitments. From here, events to ensure that the campaign reaches all corners of the country were launched and the numbers quickly started soaring. Rwanda soon elevated to the campaign leadership in terms of the numbers of people who joined it online and as of 9 February 2017, Rwanda continues to lead with 194,772 campaign supporters who include 150,005 men, 38,212 women and 6,505 people whom the UN Women calls others. Rwanda is indeed ahead of other HeForShe champion countries, United States of America (2nd), Mexico (3rd), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (4th) and Ecuador (5th). Comparing the populations of these countries and the population of Rwanda, it is evident that Rwandans have made the HeForShe solidarity movement theirs in terms of supporting it. Pressing issues put forward by the UN women to be addressed through HeForShe include: Education, Health, Identity, Work, Violence and Politics. Those who join the campaign are asked to rank these issues based on the ones they believe are the most pressing. In Rwanda, majority of the campaign supporters showed that Education comes at the top of the most pressing issues followed by Work, Violence, Politics, Identity and Health respectively.

Bridging Gender Digital Divide:

Rwanda Commits to Boost Womenâ€™s ICT Access, Usage and Innovation

By Peterson Tumwebaze & Bosco K. Hitimana Rwanda has committed to bridging gender digital divide and attaining parity in ICT access, usage, and innovation by 2020 as one of the three commitments made under HeForShe solidity movement for gender equality.

Once this commitment is fully met, Rwanda will have a critical mass of tech savvy women who are capable of utilizing their knowledge, talent and other resources to engineer women-led innovations that are critical for creating self-employment

to spur economic development. Encouraging more women to enroll in ICT access, usage and innovation is already happening. Although most of the initiatives in the ICT sector that target women are initiated by

HEFORSHE

A teenage girl practicing photography. Photo/ Laurent Rusanganwa

the government, the private sector, academia and other partners in the development of the ICT sector have started coming on board. What is being witnessed is a new wave of change that is driving girls right from primary to secondary and tertiary education to embracing ICT not only as a source of knowledge but also as an area that is also truly fit for women to explore and learn new skills that would be the foundation for self-empowerment. And going by the popular saying: “If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a nation” Rwanda is truly making the right steps in the right direction when it comes to educating the girl child and empowering women through ICTs. Due to the government commitment to developing the ICT sector and providing equal opportunities for both girls and boys to access education, some girls who embraced ICT are already making a huge impact by encouraging other girls to follow.

Take an example of the popular names such as Clarisse Iribagiza, the founder of HeHe Ltd, a Rwandan technology company and Lillian Uwintwali, the Chief Executive Officer of M-Ahwiii Ltd which developed an application that is helping farmers to boost productivity. These two techentrepreneurs have become icons for other girls who aspire to become entrepreneurs more especially in the ICT sector. They have literally influenced the way girls think of ICT. Lillian Uwintwali says that her mobile app helps farmers to send and receive vital agricultural information using sms and she urges more girls to embrace ICT to better their lives and contribute to the country’s economic development. She says girls and women in general are poised to become successful just like men and sometimes perform better than men if they embrace ICT. Because of Rwandan female technology influencers such as Clarisse Iribagiza and Lillian Uwintwali, we have also witnessed the birth of Ms Geek. As opposed to

the Miss Rwanda, which is literary a beauty contest, Ms. Geek seeks to make girls love the beautiful side of ICTs because it matters. It is a competition that seeks to empower girls to enroll in technology and science related education fields. In the organisers’ own words, “The MsGeek is an annual competition designed to inspire female university/ TVET students to think critically and design solutions to issues faced by Rwandans today. In this competition, young women compete based on the innovative ideas as well as their ability to develop a certain technology or develop a business idea. The purpose of MsGeek is to demonstrate that girls and young women can also excel in the technologies and build their confidence in competing in the open market.” Ms. Geek is part of a broader initiative known as Girls in ICT Rwanda. According to Girls in ICT Rwanda website www,girlsinict.rw , the Girls in ICT Rwanda initiative comprises of a group of women, young and old – professionals

HEFORSHE and students, who are passionate about STEM( Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and have come together to inspire more girls to join these exciting fields. It was founded in December 2011 when Rwanda decided to join the rest of the world in celebrating the international ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Girls in ICT day which happens every last week of April. Girls in ICT Rwanda goal and mission is to improve the current statistics regarding the numbers of women in the ICT sector as well as to alter the stereotype held by many young girls that ICT is a man’s field. With this aim, the group has organized several events to encourage girls to study ICT such as the Ms. Geek Rwanda competition, which targets girls in higher institutions of learning, and Girls in ICT day exclusively meant for High school girls. Girls in ICT as a group has grown to incorporate women in various sectors that touch ICT and these women have been at the forefront of the events and campaigns that are carried out throughout the country. Girls in ICT Rwanda besides organizing Ms Geek, the group also organizes TechKobwa BootCamp, a one week bootcamp where high schools girls especially from remote high schools where the access to technology and computer is very limited. During the week, the girls have the chance to learn basic programming, internet and other computer skills. They also have access to mentors from various sectors who help them discover the good things about technology. Techkobwa is an initiative of Peace Corps with Girls in ICT in partnership with Klab and other stakeholders. Girls in ICT Rwanda also conducts awareness campaigns throughout the country mostly in high school. These campaigns consist of our

members educating these girls about various career paths in STEM fields and sharing their own experiences. The campaigns are organized in partnership with the Ministry of ICT and Youth. Rosine Mwiseneza, the winner of Ms Geek 2016, looks at ICT as an enabler for economic development. She says ICT is a central engine to driving Rwanda’s transformation to a knowledge based economy. Mwiseneza says ICT is one of the biggest employers in Rwanda and it has the potential to boost productivity in sectors like agriculture by improving food production and households’ earnings. The minister of Youth and ICT, JeanPhilbert Nsengimana says young girls should maximize the available ICT infrastructure to unleash their potential. Nsengimana observes that there is still a significant gap between men and women in ICT, signaling that the number of girls in the sectors is still low. He notes that as a result, his ministry is focusing more on empowering girls to embrace and exploit available technologies and called up on them to maximize opportunities that the technologies offer in today’s world. “Knowledge is power and wealth,” Nsengimana noted adding that embracing ICT will fast track the country’s economic development. He also notes that by encouraging and investing in the promotion of ICT, with a specific focus on women, the country will be able to speed up its quest to becoming a knowledgebased economy and positioning it as an ICT hub in the region. “ICT gives opportunities that were not there in the past and helps create more new jobs that couldn’t be generated if the technologies

were not there,” Nsengimana argues. Jerome Gasana, the Director General of Workforce Development Authority (WDA) says having girls embracing ICT will help them become more innovative and sharpen their entrepreneurship skills. Gasana says government is ready to provide the necessary support for start-up materials in ICT to be able to create new jobs as is prescribed in the second development and poverty reduction strategy (EDPRS2). “The country wants to be an ICT hub and this requires everyone’s involvement especially women to Create companies and be the catalyst of development in ICT,” he says adding that this may as well set a firm foundation for made in Rwanda products. Rose Rwabuhihi, Rwanda’s Chief Gender Monitor at Gender Monitoring Office (GMO) says girls must use ICT as a noble tool to develop the country. “The country counts on them to tap into ICT and develop the country”, she argues, saying that this will greatly help empower women economically and increase their contribution to the national economy. Bridget Umurerwa, an information technology (IT) graduate says IT has helped her acquire additional practical skills enhancing her capacity to create jobs for the jobless youth. Eng. Pascal Gatabazi, the Principal of Tumba College of Technology, one of the ICT training institutions set up by the government says his institution plans to boost access to information using ICT. “We plan to create a forum where we can exchange news on what has been the impact of ICT among those who passed here for training.”

ENDING GENDER BASED VIOLENCE IS A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY.

LET’S ACT TO DAY.

HEFORSHE

Government turns to TVET to advance

Women Employment Opportunities By Peterson Tumwebaze & Bosco K. Hitimana

ripling girls’ enrolment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to advance women’s employment opportunities is the second out of three commitments Rwanda made under the HeForShe solidarity movement for gender equality. With this commitment, the government believes that equipping girls with the right technical vocational skills will increase their ability to increase their earnings through decent employment or their ability to create their own employment based on their acquired hands-on skills. In the broader sense, this commitment will help to increase women’s livelihoods and reduce the economic inequality between men and women. This could drastically reduce family conflicts based on economic inequality as it also helps the government to meet its economic development projections. Looking at how the government continues to implement the TVET policy, it is evident that integrating girls and women into the current situation will result into an accelerated pace although the number of girls joining TVET program remains smaller than the number of boys coming on board. However, based on the available government statistics, there are some academic specializations in TVET where the number of girls is almost equal the number of boys. However, this commitment along with the first commitment of HeForShe which seeks to reduce the gender digital divide by increasing girls’ access to ICT, usage and innovation seek to ensure that girls go beyond the academic trades in which they are traditionally expected to take part and enroll into the more demanding trades that have for years been literally reserved for boys. These include TVET programs which focus on practical aspects of learning and the tough subjects such

Female students studying construction at IPRC South. as Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

Building a strong TVET Backbone The government of Rwanda has strongly prioritized the implementation of TVET policy in its second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2) for reasons that include building a critical mass of skilled personnel to increase employability of the Rwandan youth and to enable them to create their own jobs and employ others. The ripple effect of this policy is to boost productivity of the individuals and the corporate sector (both service and industrial sectors) in order to boost economic development for greater prosperity. To achieve the TVET policy objectives, the government embarked on building TVET schools and encouraging the private sector to invest in such training facilities. The government also equipped the TVET institutions with the right equipment and the private sector was requested by the policy to do the same in order to ensure the quality of the graduates from these institutions was surely high and

Courtsey Photo

reliable. According to the Workforce Development Authority (WDA), a public institution that ensures smooth implementation of the TVET policy, in 2016 TVET program was running at different qualification levels and Rwanda had more than 390 TVET schools across the country with at least 3 schools in each district. These schools were handling more than 94,373 students per year including women in 2016. Through the Workforce Development Authority, Rwanda boasts of more than 98 competent based training curriculum aligned to the country’s technical qualification framework. The number of students enrolling into TVET Programs has also been on the rise since 2010, thanks to the new curriculum. For-example, in 2010, the number of students who enrolled in TVET stood at 51,773 and increased to 83,839 in 2013. And at the center of these figures, were women enrolling in various trades taught under the TVET program.

Attracting Girls into TVET Programs According to Jerome Gasana,

HEFORSHE the Director General of WDA, empowering women through vocational training and other Gender aspects is a long-term policy of the government of Rwanda. And to boost the number of girls joining TVET, a new project code named ‘Adolescent Girls Initiative (AGI) was launched in 2011 to further help girls dealing with difficult situations and equip them with employable hands on skills. Statistics from WDA further indicate that Rwanda’s female population in vocational training centers increased by almost 35% in the last 5 years up to 2016. Fred Nkurunziza, a trainer at VCT Bumbogo in Gasabo District explains that under this arrangement private institutions are also compelled to ensure that there is gender balance. “We are aware of this initiative and we closely work with WDA. Currently we have two courses but the third is expected to start in December 2016. Right now we are doing food processing and culinary art but our focus is only on girls for now,” explains Nkurunziza. Female students in technical secondary school level are estimated at 46% while at Polytechnic level female students make up 18%. According to WDA, out of 112,952 students who have so far graduated in TVET courses since 2011, more than 56,865 students (slightly above 50%) are women. This therefore paints a clear picture on which direction the country is taking when it comes to integrating women into TVET program. The increasing number of women graduating from TVET is directly linked to the rising number of entrepreneurship and startups across the country, something that inspires more girls to join the TVET program. The number of girls enrolling for TVET classes has been increasing with figures indicating more than 32,076 girls enrolling in 2011, 33,999 in 2012, 36,149 in 2013 and 40,655 in 2014 and 39,461 in 2015. Despite the multiplier effect in terms of bridging the skills gap, Geoffrey Kamanzi, the Director of Trade Facilitation and Negotiations at the Private Sector Federation (PSF) says that the numbers of girls enrolling in TVET schools are relatively still small when compared to the need. This is true especially when you compare with more than 54,912 male students

who enrolled in 2015 alone. However, efforts to increase girls in TVET programs are generating results. For example, of the 20,937 students who undertook training in vocational centers in 2015, more than 7,913 were girls, indicating how the girls continue to pick interest in TVET program. The country also boats of more than 987 TVET female trainers who are at the heart of these training programs. Desire Nimpano, the director of project management and planning at WDA says through TVET system, female students have been exposed to real life skills thus making them more competitive and employable.

Future Plans The government wants to increase the number of students taking TVET to at least 60 per cent by 2018 and the majority of the students should be girls, according to WDA Director General Jerome Gasana. “More students especially girls have joined TVET and to have a more realistic picture we are currently trying to factor them in our data to see where we are standing currently. Also basing on the figures from in 2015, I believe we are so close to our target,” Gasana said. Gasana further explained that each year when new students join TVET adjustments in courses are made to ensure that relevance towards the labor market is maintained. He says that over the past years, government has been introducing new courses along the way to help attract more girls into the system.

Bridging the skills gap A new study on Vocational Education conducted last year indicated areas where the training is paying off and what more needs to get done to get the best out of the program. One of the issues raised was that fresh TVET graduates find it hard to get jobs for lack of experience. The study shows that only 18.1 percent of respondents reported that they think that TVET graduates were likely to get a job immediately after they complete training, against 81.9 percent who said that they were not likely to. Meanwhile, government says it is targeting to have an integrated polytechnic center in every province

and at least three technical secondary schools per district. However due to limited resources, the idea is to encourage private sector to invest in TVET programs as part of the strategy to bridge the current skills gap. The strategy according to WDA is already paying off with TVET schools across the country increasing from 63 in 2010 to 390 in 2015 of which 64 per cent or 248 are privately owned. And to increase the competence of trainers, the Training of trainers Institute was last year established in Kicukiro District. More so, in 2017 government and private sector hope to open more 3 big schools in Muhanga, Rulindo and Nyabihu Districts. All these are expected to boost the capacity but also encourage more girls to start looking at TVET as a field that can shape their future. Diogene Mulindahabi, the Principle of IPRC Kicukiro, one of the leading public TVET institutions, says that focusing on girls will uplift the standards of TVET education. “We might have been fortunate to have some development partners, but training our own people means students including girls will benefit a lot. The growth in infrastructure will also ensure that as students increase, we are able to maintain the desirable quality,” says Mulindahabi.

Incentives to Attract Girls To Join TVET IPRC Kicukiro conducts awareness campaigns in secondary schools to ensure that majority of young people who join TVET are girls. “Even when they join the school, the first thing we hold is an open day where we ensure that the similar messages are extended to all students,” explains Mulindahabi. He adds that on top of such campaigns, girls are provided incentives to ensure that many reside on campus. “Both boys and girls are accommodated at the campus but when we get requests, priority is given to the girls. We believe that this contributes towards encouraging females in TVET,” he says. However, Paul Swagga, a tutor at Akilah Institute for Women advises that the issue of gender parity in TVET needs a holistic approach from both administrators of institutions

HEFORSHE and stakeholders to address it.“Most students join at a time when they are naïve about everything. It is important that awareness campaigns are organized to warn individuals against gender stereotypes that keep communities behind. Women should not be discouraged by beliefs that some courses are meant for men,” he explains.

Female TVET graduates speak out Monique Uwizeyimana, a construction engineering

student at Groupe Scolaire Des Parents (GSP) Huye - a technical secondary school in Huye District says she chose vocational education because she wanted to boost her entrepreneurship skills and become a job creator not a job seeker. Hope Mutoni, a student in electronics department at IPRC Kigali was motivated by the success stories of women who graduated from TVET and are competing favorably in the market. Ingabire Karuranga another construction engineer and a graduate of TVET program from IPRC -South says when powered by opportunity, women have a chance to work their way out of poverty and transform their lives.

IPRC South Pursuing Girls to Adapt to TVET Education

Female and Male students of IPRC in carpentry activities at IPRC South. Photo Courtsey of IPRC South

economic development projections. Looking at how the government continues to implement the TVET policy, it is evident that integrating girls and women into the current situation will result into an accelerated pace although the number of girls joining TVET program remains smaller than the number of boys coming on board. However, based on the available government statistics, there are some academic specializations in TVET where the number of girls is almost equal the number of boys. However, this commitment along with the first commitment of HeForShe which seeks to reduce the gender digital divide by increasing girls’ access to ICT, usage and innovation seek to ensure that girls go beyond the academic trades in which they are traditionally expected to take part and enroll into the more demanding trades that have for years been literally

HEFORSHE reserved for boys. These include TVET programs which focus on practical aspects of learning and the tough subjects such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). According to the Workforce Development Authority (WDA), a public institution that ensures smooth implementation of the TVET policy, in 2016 TVET program was running at different qualification levels and Rwanda had more than 390 TVET schools across the country with at least 3 schools in each district. These schools were handling more than 94,373 students per year including women in 2016. Through the Workforce Development Authority, Rwanda boasts of more than 98 competent based training curriculum aligned to the country’s technical qualification framework. The number of students enrolling into TVET Programs has also been on the rise since 2010, thanks to the new curriculum. For-example, in 2010, the number of students who enrolled in TVET stood at 51,773 and increased to 83,839 in 2013. And at the center of these figures, were women enrolling in various trades taught under the TVET program. IPRC South is one of the TVET regional centers that have the responsibility to ensure smooth implementation of the TVET policy by enrolling both female and male students. In terms of supporting gender equality and encouraging girls to take on TVET training, IPRC South has supported the HeForShe awareness campaign with the aim of raising TVET awareness and increasing the number of girls and women enrolling into TVET schools. IPRC south sensitizes girls and boys on Gender Equality and

Women Empowerment which is helping both male and female students to enroll in different courses offered by IPRC South. The courses include Advanced diploma programs such as Civil engineering ( which Consists of Construction Technology, Land surveying, Quality surveying), Electrical Technology, Electronics Technology, Information and Communication Technology, Mechanical Engineering (Production and manufacturing), Veterinary Technology, Crop production( Agriculture) and Vocational Training programs offered within one year in Plumbing, Welding, Masonry, ICT, Carpentry, Hospitality and Tourism, Domestic electrical installation, Irrigation Technology and Agricultural Mechanization. The school says that male and female students are enrolled in IT Special courses such as CISCO Networking and Oracle Training which are also critical for raising the technological skills. Tuyishime Grace, a female student in Electronics and Telecommunication Technology level II at IPRC south says that she is able to do all electronics related activities with no difficulties due to the knowledge she is getting IPRC South. She plans to create her own employment and employ others after completing studies. Manitegeka Pascaline, a female student at IPRC South in Electronics Level II encourages girls to join TVET education without hesitation. She further advises girls: “What matters is to love of your option and work hard to accomplish your goal of being independent without relying on others,” urges Manitegeka, adding that girls and women can do what men can do. For him, Ndayamaje Celestin, a male student in civil engineering Level, ladies can do what men can do. “When we are at school

girls also take the lead to assist boys with clarifications on lessons after classes and we also help them. What we can afford to do even girls can do it,” says Ndayambaje.

IPRC Interventions on gender equality and women empowerment IPRC South says that has intervened in promoting gender equality and women empowerment and this continues to be a constant process although it has exciting achievements. Its interventions include implementation of Gender and Inclusiveness Activities in IPRC South Action Plan, sensitizations on Gender and Inclusiveness in Vocational Training Centers (VTCs) and Technical Secondary Schools (TSS) while encouraging enrolment of girls in TVET Schools, provision of training workshops to the School Managers and appointment of Gender Focal Points of Technical Secondary Schools (TSS) and Vocational Training Centers (VTCs) in Southern Province and formation of Gender clubs in IPRC South community. Although IPRC South is one of the most active TVET training institutions, it still has a low number of female students compared to male students. Its statistics show that students pursuing diplomas courses in academic year 2015-2016 were 1,215 but female students were only 212 while male students were 1,003. In the academic year 2016-2017, diploma students were 1,200 with only 250 female students while the rest were male students. In VTCs, students in academic year 2015-2016 were 204 with 6 female students and 198 male students. Source: IPRC South

ENDING GENDER BASED VIOLENCE IS A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY.

LET’S ACT TO DAY.

HEFORSHE

Prosecution of

Sexual and Gender Based Violence Crimes By Agnes Muhongerwa

he National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) is a Government institution whose mandate is to investigate and prosecute offenses throughout the country. This is provided by Article 142 of the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 2003 and in the revised edition of 2015. The mission of NPPA is to â€œParticipate to the Security of People and their property by pursuing the authors of breaches and criminals to bring them to justice with equity of treatment according to the ambition of the Constitution and International Law ratified by Rwanda.â€? In the crimes committed include crimes of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV). Gender Based Violence (GBV) crimes include; Physical violence, Emotional violence, Economical Violence, Psychological violence and Sexual violence. To handle such crimes requires a special attention, because they leave victims with grave trauma and other side effects. That is why since 2006, NPPA took a decision of establishing a Specialized Unit for those SGBV crimes. The unit is composed of twelve prosecutors and the same number operates at the intermediate level. NPPA has deployed different measures and strategies to tackle SGBV crimes although the cases are still many and this requires concerted efforts among all the stakeholders. For instance, in the period from 2013 to 2016, NPPA worked hard to tackle SGBV and the results show are quite encouraging although we still want to do more. The tables below provide an insight in the cases received, handled and concluded under the crimes of Defilement, Rape, and Harassment of spouse.

1. Defilement (sexual violence against children) Defilement cases received and handled Year

Received

Handled

% 100%

1819

2014-15

1879

1864

2015-16

1,917

1,907

Pronounced cases 2013-14 1118 2014-15 814 2015-16 840

Cases won 876 182 193

Cases lost 242 632 647

Conviction rate 78.30% 77.64% 77.02%

Note: Conviction rate is still low (77.02% in 2016)

because getting evidence of crime remains different and in some cases, prosecutors fail to get evidence.

2. Rape (Sexual violence against adults) Rape cases received and handled

Year 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16

Received 307 331 287

Handled 307 307 286

Pending 0 24 1

% 00% 2.75 9.6

Rape cases pronounced and conviction rate

Year

Pronounced cases 2013-14 202 2014-15 129 2015-16 93

Cases won 177 102 174

Cases lost 25 27 19

Conviction rate 87.60% 77.64% 77.02%

For rape, many cases are not reported at the time of crime and this explains why prosecution loses some cases. Reporting the case at the time of crime is very important because prosecution can get evidence early and find scientific results which help to push the case into the courts of law.

3. Harassment Of Spouse

Pending

2013-14

Year

99.2 99.4

Defilement cases pronounced and conviction rate

Harassment of spouse cases received and handled

Year

Received Handled Pending

2013-14 2014-15 2015-16

711

100

608

582

95.7

607

605

99.6

HEFORSHE Harassment of spouse cases pronounced and Conviction rate

Year

Pronounced cases 2013-14 243 2014-15 253 2015-16 257

Cases won 226 227 249

Cases lost 17 26 8

Conviction rate 93% 89.72% 96.89%

Harassment of spouse is the main root cause of different crimes such as homicide, defilement and rape and it is the main cause of the big number of reported cases of street children who also commit other various crimes.

Conclusion In conclusion, society still thinks that GBV crimes are committed by men only. However, women also commit GBV crimes, however, on small scale. In 2015-2016, NPPA received 25,453 cases including 25,623 suspects of which 22,814 representing 89% were men while the remaining 2,809 representing 11% were women. If we want to build an equal and just society, this is the time to stand against Sexual and Gender Based crimes.

The Author is the Head of Gender Based Voilence Unit at National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA).

CHILD LABOUR IS INHUMAN. LET’S COMMIT TO END IT NOW. ILPD is Active in Promoting Gender Equality in Rwanda

he Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD) is located in Nyanza District, Southern Province. It is a public institution created in 2006 by the law No 22/2006 that was repealed by the law No 65 / 2013. ILPD’s motto is “Excellence in Legal Practice”. It has a mission of contributing to the development of justice in Rwanda and in the region. It offers two postgraduate programmes namely Diploma in Legal Practice (DLP) and Diploma in Legislative Drafting (DLD) to persons who hold at least bachelor’s degree

in Law. ILPD also offers Continuing Legal Education (CLE) to legal practitioners working for both public and private institutions and it also conducts research on various areas of law.

policy and has put in place a gender committee which is in charge of the performance of activities relating to gender within ILPD and the promotion of gender equality. In addition, in each ILPD annual budget there is a budget line for gender activities.

Gender Promotion ILPD started offering its services in 2008. In a period of five years since 2011, 1,036 legal practitioners have graduated from ILPD with a Diploma in Legal Practice. At least 36.5% of them were females. With regard to ILPD staff, so far 22.5% of ILPD member staff is female. In order to promote gender, ILPD has adopted a gender

Some of ILPD students during graduation. File Photo.

HEFORSHE KIM University promoting HeForShe movement

o drum up for “HeForShe” campaign, KIM has already scheduled a week of activism at the campus, an address by male staff lecturers and a guest from Gender Equality and Women Empowerment providers, a presentation from the gender club. A WhatsApp group, twitter, face book and website shall be created at the end of the week of activism. All these social media tools shall improve and enhance ICT usage. Gender equality and women empowerment has always been cherished in KIM University since its inception. It is its practice to participate in Gender Equality and Women Empowerment forums and events. KIM has worked with

National Women Council, Health Development Initiative (HDI), Gender Desk (Rwanda Defense Force) among several others in advocacy and awareness. KIM has engaged dialogues with Gender Based Violence(GBV) service providers in building up and enhancing gender issues and also teamed up with stakeholders in gender based violence prevention and response. KIM has a gender club that champions gender issues. It has both Male and Female staff that support and advocate for gender issues and a qualified counselor who provides pre- counseling, during and post counseling on gender victims. KIM also awards both its best male and female student with scholarships in each cohort. It has further extended this endeavor by employing its best female and male students. KIM

University has trained them further in lesson delivery and classroom management to become effective tutorial assistants. By recruiting its own students and having its own Male staff as advocates, is a confirmation of possibilities one may have every reason to doubt, but now, can say, ‘Yes, someone like me can do this.” To encourage unlimited usage of ICT, internet connection is distributed around the campus for students to access through desktops, laptops and all mobile devices such as mobile phones. Course work assignments, notes, results are accessed through ICT related devices. The ICT labs are accessed by students from 8:00am to 9:00pm, 7 days a week.YES! by the side of every successful man is a woman. Let’s do it together!

University of Rwanda is committed to providing academic excellence for both men and women in order to contribute to the country’s vision to build a knowledge-based economy. Through our academic programs, we are proud to empowering our female students in the field of technology in order to help bridge the gender digital divide as committed by the Government under HeForShe Solidarity Movement For Gender Equality. 17

EMPOWERMENT

Embracing Gender Equality Reaffirms BRD’s Commitment To Inclusive Development Rwanda is among the leading countries in the world that have embraced equality between men and women at a large scale. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2016 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Rwanda comes in the top 5 countries in the world that have narrowed down the gap between men and women in Health, Education, Economy and Politics. The study which covered 144 countries ranked Rwanda on the 5th position in the world and the only Sub-Saharan country to attain such a rank. The report noted that Rwanda continues to lead the world with the highest number of women parliamentarians at 64% and maintains a high score on political empowerment which mainly gives women authority to lead. Rwanda’s favorable ranking in the Global Gender Gap Report 2016 reflects the reality on the ground. For over a decade, the government has prioritized gender equality and women empowerment as one of the moves to reduce inequality and achieve sustainable development. In the same spirit, the private sector, development partners and the Civil Society have all joined the efforts to promote gender equality and women empowerment. The Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) is one of the organizations that have embraced Gender Equality and Women Empowerment. BRD Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Alex Kanyankole says that the development of women is at the heart of the bank’s activities. “When we talk about development activities, we don’t exclude women because they are stakeholders in these activities,” Kanyankole said.

BRD Chief Executive Officer Mr. Alex KANYANKOLE BRD has performed well in terms of promoting gender equality and empowering women as a lender, employer and a socially responsible organization. As a lender, the bank doesn’t focus on lending to corporations only; it also focuses on individual women and men. As an employer, BRD gives equal opportunities to female and male job applicants to compete regardless of their gender. Even at work, both female and male employees are treated equally. As a socially responsible organization, BRD supports causes which promote gender equality and women empowerment. It does this by giving direct support to

Employees

......................................................................................................

BRD GENDER STATISTICS Loans

...................................................................................................... 131

The total number of BRD staff as of 30th September 2016

The number of female employees

The number of male employees

FY 2015

Rwf17.6bn The loans BRD had extended to men and women by the end of the fourth quarter 2015

Rwf3.2bn

The loans BRD had extended to women by the end of the fourth quarter 2015

Rwf14.4bn

The loans BRD had extended to men by the end of the fourth quarter 2015

Source: BRD

FY 2016

Rwf16.6bn

The loans BRD had extended to men and women by the end of the third quarter 2016

Rwf3bn

Loans women had acquired from BRD by the end of the third quarter 2016

Rwf13.3bn

Loans men had acquired from BRD by the end of the third quarter 2016

EMPOWERMENT groups of needy women or through partnerships with other organizations such as Unity Club and New Faces, New Voices.

Empowering Women Through Employment BRD is an equal opportunity employer. Women and men are all given equal opportunities to compete for the available jobs at the bank and the most qualified candidates get hired. At work, both female and male employees are treated equally and this promotes harmony among staff. According to the bank’s statistics, nearly half of the bank employees are female, something unusual in the banking industry not only in Rwanda but across the world. As of 30th September 2016, BRD had 131 employees in which 64 or 48.9% were female while male employees were 67 or 51.1%. Surprisingly, BRD doesn’t have a gender policy which could be the driving force behind these numbers. The bank’s move to treat male and female employees equally has greatly opened opportunities for women and this has empowered them. In return, they have also performed well something that has improved the bank’s performance in its activities.

Female Employees Speak Out According to President Paul Kagame, embracing gender equality requires just common sense and it does not lead to casualties. In fact, the President notes that when women advance, everyone benefits and if we want to advance and improve our societies, we should embrace gender equality. In the case of BRD, it equally used common sense to adopt gender equality and the results are inspiring according to two female managers at the bank, Mrs. Irere Marie Jeanne Claire, Head of Disbursement Unit, Division of Finance and Mrs. Umurerwa Josephine, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Strategy and Development Division. Mrs. Irere Marie Jeanne Claire, 47, is among the longest serving employees at BRD. She joined the bank in March 1996—barely two years after the Genocide against the Tutsi. At that time, the bank needed an employee with a university degree preferably in statistics to help it produce annual reports (1993, 1994 and 1995) and carry out other duties that would require the use of macroeconomics statistics to inform the bank’s decision in credit management. Mrs. Irere had completed university with a degree in Applied Economics and Statistics from “Institut Africain et Mauricien de Statistiques et d’Economie Appliquée (I.A.M.S.E.A) and she was already employed at Kabuye Sugar Works. Feeling qualified, she applied for the job and she was hired. Since then she has never left the bank. For nearly 21 years at BRD, Mrs. Irere has held several job positions from entry level officer to more respected managerial positions. She started as an analyst in the

Mrs. Irere Marie Jeanne Claire department of Statistics and Development where among her tasks was writing and producing the bank’s annual reports and other documents on the bank’s strategies and policies. She was later moved to the Department of Investment as a Project Analyst and later to the Department of Finance in the Budget Unit, Treasury and Credit Lines Management Unit. She was later promoted to the Head of Unit, Branch Coordination before being elevated to head the disbursement unit. Mrs. Irere’s long stay at BRD, she says, was motivated by the fact that over time, the bank continued to put trust in her capabilities and she would be assigned new duties in order to continue serving the bank. She says that her entry into BRD as an employee was mainly based on her ability to pass the job interview rather than her gender and her respective promotions to the managerial positions was also based on her performance at work. However, she believes that her determination and self confidence also played a key role as woman to meet job demands. The mother of four says that during the past two decades working for BRD, she has also been given an opportunity to upgrade her academic qualifications from a bachelor’s degree to a master’s degree in banking from Maastricht School of Management (MSM) and she is yet to consider doing another master’s degree or a professional course. Another female Manager at BRD, Mrs. Josephine Umurerwa, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Strategy and Development Division also has an inspiring story. Like Mrs. Irere, Mrs. Umurerwa also got her job at the bank through competition. She joined the bank in 2005 after meeting the requirements for the vacant job position of agriculture project analyst the bank had advertised. For eleven years she has been serving BRD, she has held several managerial positions and at some point she was delegated by the bank management to manage and turnaround one of the agro-processing companies the bank

EMPOWERMENT had financed through equity investment and credit. Starting as an Assistant Project Analyst to full Project Analyst in Agriculture Unit, Mrs. Umurerwa was later promoted to head the same unit. In 2009, she was appointed to manage and turn-around Minimex, a Maize flour milling company in Kigali and in 2011, she returned to BRD and retained her position as the head of agriculture unit in the department of investment. At the same time, she also served as the acting director of investment for seven months. With Mrs. Umurerwa’s good performance, the bank’s management promoted her to become the Business Development Manager in the Special Projects Unit under the office of the Chief Executive Officer. Currently, besides her job, Mrs. Umurerwa is also the head of Women Forum at the bank. The forum, which started around 2000, brings together the female employees of the bank. Through this forum, they share information and ideas that would lead to the members’ development. With the support from the bank, they also organize the annual international women’s day and provide support to the needy women in the community. The forum also advises other Rwandan women to be confident and work with financial institutions in order to improve their living standards as well as their families. Before joining BRD, Mrs. Umurerwa had worked in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Cellule d’ Appui a l’Ordonnateur National du Fond Europeen de Developpement and in a government project supported by the Belgian government. She holds a master’s degree in Development, Environment and Society from Gembloux University in Belgium and a bachelor’s degree in Agronomy from University of Burundi. She is married with one child.

Financing Women’s Development Being a bank that is exclusively focused on development, BRD has ensured that both men and women have equal access to its development financing. This has been achieved although the number of women accessing BRD loans is still small compared to men. Mrs. Josephine Umurerwa, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Strategy and Development Division, says that since 2010, BRD has been recording the amount of credit the bank extended to projects submitted by individual men and women and there has been a gradual increase in the amount of money borrowed by women either for business purposes or housing loans. For instance, at the end of the third quarter of 2016, the value of loans extended to projects brought by both men and women was Rwf 16.6 billion. The value of those extended to women stood at Rwf 3 billion with the remaining going to men. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the value of loans extended to projects submitted by both men and women was Rwf 17.6 billion. The loans extended to women only were valued at Rwf 3.2 billion with the remaining going to men.

Mrs. Josephine Umurerwa Although the value of loans extended to women projects is still small, there is hope that with the current women empowerment initiatives by various stakeholders, eventually the number of women expressing interest in working with the bank will increase. BRD also supports the Women Guarantee Fund which is hosted by the Business Development Fund (BDF), a financial institution co-created by BRD and other stakeholders to provide guarantees to the special groups such as women and youth who lack collateral to get loans from commercial banks. In the case of women, BDF can provide a guarantee of up to 75% to facilitate a women entrepreneur to access a loan from a bank. The women who have received loans from BRD commend the bank for its support. Mrs. Epiphanie Mukashyaka is the owner of Bufundu Coffee in Southern Rwanda. Through the Women Guarantee Fund, she was able to access credit from BRD. She started with a credit of Rwf 58 million and it has now increased to Rwf500 million. She says working with BRD has greatly benefited her coffee business. Solange Nkurikiye is another Rwandan woman entrepreneur who has invested in passenger transport vehicles. Currently she owns a fleet of 5 passenger transport vehicles valued at Rwf 120 million. She started working with BRD in 2013. She used the women guarantee fund to access a loan from BRD. The bank also financed expansion of Maryhill Girls Secondary School in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province when it was starting. According to the School’s Headmistress, Sister Annociata Mukaminega, when the school started, it lacked enough class rooms to accommodate the students. When the school management approached BRD, the bank quickly provided the needed funding which helped to build new classrooms,

EMPOWERMENT complete administration building and the building that hosts all the laboratories.

Supporting Needy Women Through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, BRD identifies activities to be supported. Supporting needy women is one of the activities that the bank sponsors. For instance, in 2013, BRD visited Cocounya Cooperative in Nyarubuye Sector, Kirehe District in Eastern Province. The cooperative mainly composed of the Genocide survivors trains its members especially girls and women in tailoring. At the time, the cooperative lacked embroidery machines and a power generator for the training workshop. After identifying the needs of the cooperative, in 2015, BRD supported the cooperative with two embroidery machines and paid health insurance to 100 members of the cooperative for three years. The bank also donated a power generator to the cooperative, according to its representative Mrs. Theopiste Mukanoheri.

Mrs. Epiphanie Mukashyaka, Woman Entreprenuer

Mrs. Solange Nkurikiye, woman Entreprenuer

The new building that accomodates laboratories at Maryhill Girls Secondary School (Left) and students in the laboratory(Right).

When we

talk about

development

actvities, we

donâ€™t exclude

women because they are

stakeholders in

these activities.

Cocounya Cooperative Tailloring Workshop

EMPOWERMENT

Respect of Gender Equality Is At the Heart of Rwanda Nurses and Midwives Union Andre GITEMBAGARA, The RNMU President

Female Nurses and Midwives during an empowering leadership training. Photo by RNMU Nursing is a profession that seems to draw people with compassion and a desire to help others. Throughout history, nurses have been on the front lines of military conflicts, and have provided their caring expertise in hospitals and clinics around the world. Nurses and midwives as the majority of the licensed health care providers (over 75%) have provided a huge contribution to the achievement of Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) 4, 5 and 6 respectively helping to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. In Rwanda, Nursing and midwifery profession is largely dominated by female practitioners, representing more than 65% of the Nurses and Midwives. If you decide to go into nursing, you will be in good company. Rwanda Nursing and Midwives Union (RNMU) is a registered Union of more than 7000 nurses and midwives. It is a non -governmental organization, non- political, nonreligious, and non -profit organization. The Union holds a vision of having an empowered nurse and midwife who is motivated to provide high quality service and uphold

professional excellence while enjoying quality life. Being a member of the Union is voluntary and benefits of membership are equal. One of the Union’s objectives is to promote gender equality in its leadership structure and functioning. The policy of the leadership appointment and election states that female should be represented at more than 50%. This is aimed at ensuring that female nurses/ midwives are empowered to participate in the leadership of the Union.

RNMU Leadership Structure The structure of RNMU encourages the female nurses to contest for all positions and this is achieved through elections.The Union is headed by the President and if a male is voted in this position, the second position is left for females to occupy. In the RNMU structure, there is also a position of “commissioner in charge of gender and social welfare.” This person is in charge of maintaining the gender balance in the organization and influencing the social wellbeing of the nurses/midwives. RNMU ensures gender balance to empower its members regardless of their sex.

EMPOWERMENT RNMU Women Social Group Besides its functional structure, RNMU has a social group of women attached to it. The Union supports the female nurses in terms of finance and other necessities for them to be able to discuss and solve the problems they meet in their daily profession as women. Usually, nurses console patients going through a difficult diagnosis, keep the ones in critical conditions comfortable, and save lives of many others in a short period of time. Yet nurses do all of these life-saving tasks masterfully without fail yet majority of them do not care for themselves or their wellbeing. The social group therefore gives them an opportunity to discuss strategies that promote their professionalism and ensure their healthy living such conducting walking meetings, and stretching to increase blood flow to the muscles. They also get opportunity to laugh, play and relax for just five to ten minutes which prompts better immunity and overall health and well-being. They also meditate, rest and sleep. Stilling the mind and relaxing the body helps with decision-making, clarity of thinking and response to stressful stimuli. With this, the nurses provide quality services and the patients eventually receive satisfying care.

Leadership training Nurses constitute the backbone of the healthcare system in developing countries (Wirth, 2008). Rwanda, as a developing country, is not exceptional to this fact. Continuous professional development has proven to be a critical tool to enhance practicing nursesâ€™ competencies, hence improving patient outcomes. One area for which nurses need continuously updated knowledge is leadership. It is crucial for practicing nurses to develop and maintain leadership competencies for enhanced quality patient care. In this regard, the Union conducted

a rapid needsâ€™ assessment survey to investigate nursesâ€™ gaps in competencies pertaining to leadership. The survey conducted in March 2015, revealed numerous gaps that nurses possessed in various leadership areas including human and women rights, organizational and organizing skills, public speaking, entrepreneurship, ICT, advocacy, negotiation, and conflict management. The discovery of these gaps initiated the desire of the Union to empower nurses, especially young female nurses and midwives, providing them with the needed knowledge and skills to become effective leaders. Among the course units given to the nurse are nursing Informatics, Conflict Management, negotiation, Professional and personal organizing skills, entrepreneurship in nursing and midwifery profession, human and women rights, advocacy and Public Speaking.

Mama Nathalie training Mama Natalie is a birthing simulator that makes it easy to create very compelling simulations of complex or normal birthing scenarios. It is strapped onto the operator, who takes the role of the mother, and manually controls the training scenario and features such as Bleeding, Positioning and delivery of the baby, Delivery of placenta, Fetal heart sounds, Cervix landmark, Urine bladder catheterization, Uterine massage and Uterine compression. The Union as a continuous professional development provider in collaboration with the Norwegian Nurses Organization (NNO) provides continuous professional development training for nurses/midwives who work in Gyneco-obstetrics in order to build their capacity in labor management for better life of mothers and babies. When midwives undergo such quality trainings, it does not only benefit them but also the mothers giving birth.

Participants during the Mama Nathalie Training. Photo by RNMU

GENDER EQUALITY

YWCA Rwanda, Plan International Rwanda Empowering Girls And Boys In Schools As True Agents Of Change For Gender Equity And Equality By YWCA Rwanda When we talk about women empowerment, we talk about family development, we talk about national development and we talk about giving both women and men equal opportunities to develop not only at a personal level but also contribute to national development. Equally, we also talk about the need to stop gender stereotypes and practices that discourage women empowerment whether are anchored on culture, policies and laws. Despite the fact that in Rwanda, women empowerment and gender equality have taken firm standing, there is still room for further improvement in order to uproot some of the remaining gender stereotypes and practices directed at women and girls that have been deeply imbedded in our culture and taken by society as a reality. To achieve total women empowerment, there is always the need for the right laws and policies and the right environment to implement them. Young Womenâ€™s Christian Association of Rwanda (YWCA Rwanda) is one

of the local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that have joined hands with international NGOs and the government to actively support women and girlsâ€™ empowerment programs in Rwanda. And we are seeing great and encouraging results, something that encourages us to do more. YWCA Rwanda believes that women empowerment should start in schools where gender equity and equality should be taught both girls and boys at a young age. This gives room and opportunity for the children to practice the best practices in order to grow up knowing what is good for the society and what should not be allowed in the society. YWCA Rwanda and Plan International Rwanda have already taken the lead to ensure that the girl child is empowered at a young age. In our joint project, we have developed an approach that develops a Girl Safe Schools model that is holistic in nature and builds on girlsâ€™ personal, social and material assets in order to mitigate barriers to accessing quality education for girls such as Gender

Based Violence (GBV) in schools, school environments that are not girl friendly and teaching and learning that is not student/girl child centered. This approach is destined to make school environment gender sensitive and friendly. To apply this approach, we use a package of teachings and practices through leadership and savings clubs in schools. Through leadership clubs, we teach students, both boys and girls leadership skills, sensitize them on GBV, its prevention and response, gender equality and equity, and we educate them on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and their consequences on the victim. Most importantly, we also engage young men to act and support empowerment of girls. Through savings clubs, we deliver financial education and skills; educate students on saving culture, resource management and forming financial enterprises. Students not only learn theories but they are also provided with learning and saving materials. With the savings clubs, our objective is to instill a culture

GENDER EQUALITY

of saving into students both girls and boys and to show them that they are both capable irrespective of their gender. This also helps in alleviating poverty that is the major contributor of inequality among boys and girls when parents are choosing who should be sent to school. Our approach also addresses special needs for adolescent girls by providing them with hygiene kits that help them during menstruation periods thus reducing class absences. Having noticed that financial constraints are a great obstacle to women empowerment, this approach also provides livestock to students from poor families, which helps

in improving financial statuses of families as well as strengthens social relationships in communities by passing the offspring of the livestock to their neighbors. This approach is being implemented in secondary schools in Bugesera and Nyaruguru Districts, through three projects, namely Gender Responsive Schools and Supporting Girlsâ€™ Future in Bugesera and Girlsâ€™ Safe Schools in Nyaruguru District. The experience from these projects have proven the approach to be effective and yielded positive results towards gender equality and girls and women empowerment both socially and economically. Young

boys have shown exceptional understanding and actively support the cause. The impact is not only felt in schools of intervention but it also spreads to surrounding communities. Parents have changed mindsets towards women empowerment and boys and men have pledged their full support. This is a true HeForShe practice. This experience informs us that, if we are striving for a durable and longterm change and if we want to fully achieve women empowerment and gender equity and equality, we must start with the adults of tomorrow. We must recognize our young boys and girls as the main agents of the change we want to see.

Some of the students who participated in the program. Photo by YWCA Rwanda

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DR NYIRINKWAYA: A Solid Champion In Safeguarding Lives Of Mothers And Babies

Dr. Nyirinkwaya Jean Chrysostome. Photo by Bosco H. Kagaba/Vision Media Ltd

r. Nyirinkwaya Jean Chrysostome is one of the most respected senior medical practitioners in Rwanda having built himself a name in women healthcare niche. A renowned Obstetrician/ gynaecologist in Rwanda and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of HĂ´pital Croix du Sud, Dr Nyirinkwaya is a professional who has contributed much to the

transformation of the Rwandan health sector from its sorry state right away after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi to the level where it is currently hailed at the global level. Dr Nyirinkwaya particularly takes credit for devoting his medical career to safeguarding the lives of mothers and babies at the time when Rwanda needed medical practitioners to assist the transitional government to provide emergency healthcare

services to the population that was still grappling with the effects of the genocide which had claimed over 1 million lives. At the time, women especially mothers needed a place where they could get specialised healthcare in order to safeguard their lives and the lives of their babies. Joining the Medical Profession

EMPOWERMENT Born in 1954 in Burundi, Dr Nyirinkwaya’s journey into the medical profession began in Burundi where he studied two years at University of Burundi and continued medical studies at University of Dakar in Senegal where he completed general medicine and later specialised in gynaecology and Obstetrics. After completing medical studies, Dr. Nyirinkwaya returned to Burundi and started practicing in a government hospital in Bujumbura for two years before joining his late father−also a medical practitioner−to practice together in the family’s private clinic until his father passed away. Following Rwanda’s liberation in 1994, like most of the Rwandans who had taken refuge in the neighbouring countries, Dr Nyirinkwaya didn’t wait for the country to regain full stability. He came to Rwanda on 15th July 1994 and served the government as a Director responsible for the development of the health organs in urban and rural Kigali Province up to mid October 1995. Opening a Private Clinic Dr Nyirinkwaya didn’t serve longer in the public sector and as he says, as a gynaecologist, it was not moral for him to serve in the administration of the public health sector during the time when there was a huge need for gynaecologists to provide specialised healthcare to women in order to reduce the number of mothers and babies dying due to limited professional healthcare services. He says that due to lack of confidence in the Rwandan healthcare system, some women who had returned to Rwanda from the neighbouring countries where they had stayed would go back to give birth in their hospitals because they had more confidence in them and their medical practitioners than in Rwanda. Being aware of the plight of mothers and babies, Dr Nyirinkwaya decided to leave the public sector and open a private clinic that would exclusively provide healthcare services to women and their babies. He reached out to the Catholic Nuns in Nyamirambo, Nyarugenge District in Kigali City and

requested to rent one of their buildings which had been partly destroyed and they accepted. The building was rehabilitated and on 15 October 2015, Dr Nyirinkwaya launched the private clinic “Polyclinic la Croix du Sud”. The opening of Polyclinic la Croix du Sud was a turning point in the career of Dr Nyirinkwaya but also a beam of hope to women who needed specialised healthcare before, during and after birth. As the clinic opened doors, it gradually built conference and trust among Rwandan women who were crossing borders to give birth in the neighbouring countries in which they had stayed. The clinic started small with few departments which included Obstetrics-gynaecology, general medicine, physiotherapy, paediatrics, laboratory and offered admissions to patients on its 10 beds. According to Dr Nyirinkwaya, the number of people seeking medical care from the clinic increased and this required the clinic to increase its capacity to provide efficient healthcare services. In 1998, the number of beds increased to 23 and a theatre was introduced. Dr Nyirinkwaya also moved the clinic from the smaller premises to the bigger premises in a storied building in order to accommodate more patients and all the departments together. The expansion saw the clinic introduce surgery and built a theatre in the new premises. He says that introduction of the theatre was crucial for mothers who would have to be operated to facilitate birth. Before introducing the theatre, Dr Nyirinkwaya says that he would transport the expectant mothers in ambulance to operate them from the government hospitals Kigali Central Hospital and King Faisal Hospital which was tiresome and risky to the lives of mothers and babies. Expanding from a clinic to a referral Hospital Dr Nyirinkwaya says that after moving into the bigger premises to accommodate more patients, space shortage persisted. As the number of women giving birth at the clinic increased, also the need for more beds to accommodate the mothers

and their babies was also high. Also, some babies would be born with complications which would require them and their mothers to stay longer in the clinic which increased pressure on the clinic to expand. To address the space shortage problem, Dr Nyirinkwaya decided to expand the clinic into a referral hospital and in 2005, construction of the “Hôpital Croix du Sud” began in around 400 meters behind Chez Lando Hotel in Remera, Gasabo District. The hospital, one of the largest private healthcare facilities in Rwanda, was officially inaugurated on 21 September 2009. The hospital in the storied building has 18 departments and it has the capacity to admit 106 patients and to receive 350 outpatients daily. Women and Babies Hospital With expansion of the clinic into a referral hospital, Dr Nyirinkwaya didn’t change his initial focus. He continued to treat women and babies. To ensure that women and babies get enough space, he devoted the first and third floors of the hospital building to women and babies. He says that currently, over 80% of the patients treated at the hospital are women and babies and most of the departments at the hospital provide medical services related to the cases of women and babies. According to the hospital records, each month from January, February and March 2016 respectively, an average of 62.4% of the patients who sought medical services at Hopital Croix du Sud were female (women and girls) compared to an average of 37.6% for male patients( men and boys). Promoting Gender Equality in the Health Sector According to the hospital records available at the time when Dr Nyirinkwaya was interviewed in September 2016, Hôpital Croix du Sud had more female employees than male employees. In total, female employees represented 69% of the total number of the hospital employees. The number of female employees

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Hôpital La Croix du Sud. Photo by Bosco H. Kagaba/Vision Media Ltd was higher among the patient caretakers who were all female and among nurses and midwives who stood at 80%. In the hospital administration, 75% of the senior employees were female compared to 25% of the male employees. Among the laboratory employees, 40% were female while 60% were male. Among the medical doctors, 80% were male while only 20% were female. However, Dr Nyirinkwaya explains that the small number of female medical doctors was a result of the academic context where most of the students studying medicine are boys compared to girls thus contributing to the existing gender gap among practicing medical doctors in Rwanda. Great Strides in Women Empowerment and Changing Gender Stereotypes Dr Nyirinkwaya says that there has been an impressive progress in women empowerment in Rwanda compared to when he started treating women in 1995. He says that in the recent years, women empowerment in Rwanda can be seen in the way that women have been allowed to serve in senior management positions both in the

government and in the private sector. He gives an example where most of the female patients he treated when he started his clinic were still students at university and at the moment some of them are government officials while others are senior managers in the private sector. He says that another example which proves that Rwanda has greatly empowered women is that it was very common for the female patients to be identified by the titles or professions of their husbands such as the wife of a minister, wife of a Member of Parliament, wife of a certain Director or wife of a certain business man. However, in the recent years, this particular female gender stereotype has died and now the female patients themselves are the Ministers, Engineers, Businesswomen, Members of Parliament, and Female Directors and so on. According to Dr. Nyirinkwaya this positive change in women empowerment has been the result of the visionary leadership of President Paul Kagame and the first Lady whose commitment to improve the welfare of all Rwandans is exemplary. Equal Opportunities for boys and

girls Dr Nyirinkwaya says that in their family, they were six boys and two girls but they all had equal opportunities on everything regardless of their gender. “We were never subjected to discrimination based on gender at home,” says Dr. Nyirinkwaya, adding, “Whether you were a boy or girl, you had equal chances to go to school and perform other duties at home. Those who would perform well in school would be appreciated and those who would underperform would be scorned so that they improve and this was regardless of their gender. Based on his upbringing, Dr Nyirinkwaya advises parents to give equal opportunities especially access to education to both boys and girls. He also says that medical practitioners have a crucial role to play in educating parents. He says that some male parents wish to have baby boys instead of baby girls thinking that boys are more useful and bring joy to the family compare to girls. Dr Nyirinkwaya says that if the medical practitioners help parents to understand that all children are equal and bring same joy to the family, the male parents will change their attitude and this will greatly promote gender equality for both boys and girls.

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The proposed modern building of Duterimbere ONG in Future. Photo Courtsey of Duterimbere ONG.

DUTERIMBERE ONG Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship and Access to Finance

UTERIMBERE ONG is a national non-governmental organization created on 31st May 1987 with the aim to contribute to the eradication of poverty of the Rwandan population in general and women with low income in particular. Since its founding, DUTERIMBERE ONG has been focusing on women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship and access to finance. The organization is currently owned by 850 members drawn across 4 provinces of Rwanda and the city of Kigali. Its mission is promoting women Entrepreneurship to help improve

living conditions of economically active women with low incomes. Duterimbere ONG implements its activities within 3 programs which are Strengthening Organizational and institutional Capacity; Economic capacity building to beneficiaries and Research advocacy. Over 29 years in development work, DUTERIMBERE ONG has been engaged in partnership with the Government of Rwanda and other local and international NGOs like OXFAM, Winrock International, PAIX pour le Monde via Association Modeste et Innocent, International Alert Province de la Flandre Orientale

for technical and financial support. It is also affiliated to different networks like Umbrella Organisations for NGOs in development (CCOAIB), PROFEMMES TWESE HAMWE, Forum of Organizations against HIV and AIDS and East African Civil Society Organisation’s Forum (EACSOF).

Achievements • •

Creation and support of COOPEDU from 1997 until it became autonomous; Creating DUTERIMBERE-IMF Ltd in 2004 which is complementing the non-financial services

EMPOWERMENT provided to facilitate the projects beneficiaries access to finance which has now 17 branches all over the country with 59,872 clients where 70% are women; •

In 2015, DUTERIMBERE ONG through the trainings directly reached out to 907 people out of whom 687 are women and 220 men and 50% have managed to create income generating activities. Through awareness campaigns on the role of Entrepreneurship, VSLG methodology, unity and reconciliation in rural development and other programs, 2,954 people were reached of which 1,565 are women and 1,389 are men through creation of 158 VSL groups;

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Also, 297 people (193 females and 104 males) participated in different study tours both as exchange visits to model sites for learning purposes;

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Equally, 461 working age girls were trained on vocational skills in order to reduce child labour in 12 tea growing areas in districts.

create

VSL

groups

for

economic

development.

Success stories from Beneficiaries

The testimonies below are from the beneficiaries of the project related to women economic leadership through horticulture planting material project.

Mukazera Veneranda Mukazera Veneranda from Nyamagabe District, Cyanika Sector, Kiyumba Cell is 42 years old, married with 3 biological children and 4 adopted children. She was doing farming activity but on a small scale and together with her husband they would save the very little earnings so as to manage sending their children to school with difficult though. In 2011, she was identified and selected as a facilitator (Imboni) and consequently got the skills in various modules including entrepreneurship, credit behavior, business

These programs have positively impacted the rural women especially with the skills, innovations and best practices and exposure resulting from working together in groups and visits beyond their locality. They have also helped to increase revenues and reduce gender inequalities and conflicts among family members and the community in general. In 2015, many women and young girls opened new accounts in microfinance institutions and have started income generating activities as a result of awareness campaigns and linkage to microfinance institutions.

In 2016, DUTERIMBERE ONG was implementing the following projects: •

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Strengthening climate resilient and food security of small holders in Nyagatare, Muhanga and Nyamagabe districts.This project will benefit 720 beneficiaries (70% women) composed by 300 households and 420 members of 6 cooperatives where water ponds and water tanks will be provided for households in addition to different training opportunities on entrepreneurship, voluntary saving and loan methodology, nutrition, gender action learning system and supporting farmers in getting seeds and manure. Integrating household methodology into agricultural extension, value chain and rural finance in Rulindo, Nyamagabe and Muhanga districts. This project will benefit 4800 people of which 70% are women and 30% are youth. This will help farmers to identify gender inequalities and economic development issues as well as relationship in households and in the community which could finally lead to strategies to handle them and to achieve sustainable development. Strengthening achievement of peace, reconciliation and promoting the psychosocial economic welfare of disadvantaged people for sustainable peace in Huye and Nyaruguru districts where genocide survivors, former prisoners and people who had any implication in genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda 1994 to promote social cohesion cohesion and

management, record keeping, conflict management and as well technical skills in grafting of passion fruit seedlings. Following her engagement in production and selling of the passion fruit seedlings, she added on the little savings she had made from the small scale trading activities and bought a cow that has produced four times and she has been able to pass on the calves to 3 other households in her village. She has also been able to build 2 houses of 6,000,000rwf one for rent and she lives in the remaining. With her husband, Mukazera brought solar energy equivalent of 700,000 rwf to their home. She has managed to contribute with her husband to buy health insurance for the entire family and paying school fees to their children. In her testimony, Mukazera said: “This project taught me a lot. In the beginning, I could not believe that only seedlings could bring me some income but today, I can’t

EMPOWERMENT think of another quick business than this because of the small land it takes and few inputs. I thank Duterimbere ONG and Oxfam for this supportive project which mainly focuses on women. I have greatly benefited from the project especially learning the innovation of grafting.” As a result of the benefits, Mukazera strongly asserted, “I’m determined to share with other women in my community and beyond for engagement in passion fruit seedling production for our livelihood improvement.”

Alodie Muhundwangeyo

teaching others how to do planning and way of achieving it. DUTERIMBERE ONG as mentioned above supported 460 working age girls who dropped out of school because of various factors. These girls have been equipped with technical and vocational skills such as tailoring, knitting, hair dressing as well as welding. The ultimate objective of equipping them with technical skills was to enable them compete favorably on the job market but also be able to create their own jobs just after completion of the program.

Brigitte Ayingeneye Ayingeneye from Rubavu district, Nyamyumba sector was one of the girls who dropped out of school for many reasons. During graduation ceremony, she testified that she has managed to tailor her dress and the one for her mother because of the skills she acquired during this program. Her mother emphasized on how she was very glad to benefit from her daughter and encouraged others to continue using the knowledge and skills they had acquired to boost their living standards. Duterimbere ONG has organized a graduation ceremony for them where local authorities and parents were present in order to discuss further the way forward.

Nyiransengimana Beatrice Nyiransengimana, 42, from Muhanga District, Nyamabuye Sector, Gahogo Cell in Nyarucyamo Village was living in Cyeza Sector in unfavorable conditions and survived on painting clothes. However, after being trained on entrepreneurship, she grew her business and moved to stay in town where she built a house for rent and expanded her business of producing house paints. Muhundwangeyo, 57, from Mushishiro sector, Rwasare cell, Karucura village, a champion and a member of KOAIZIMU cooperative which produces tree tomato seedling, also gave her touching personal testimony, illustrating how she has benefited from the support of Duterimbere ONG and Oxfam. Before participating in the training on Gender Action Learning System (GALS), Muhundwangeyo was living in a high risk zone and was convinced that it was impossible to move to a safer place due to limited financial capacity. At the same time, she was making many unnecessary expenses, draining the little money she was saving in voluntary saving and loan group because of lack of financial education. She had a small plot where she would grow cabbages, carrots and other crops. She also had livestock such as goat and pigs. Following the training on GALS particularly on Vision Journey tool and gender balance tree, she now has a clear vision. Seven months after the training, Muhundwangeyo bought a plot of land worth Rwf100, 000 and a bicycle worth Rwf 80, 000 which she uses to transport her harvest. She also bought a solar lamp of Rwf25, 000 which she uses to charge her mobile phone. Going forward, in two years’ time, she plans to buy a cow worth Rwf100, 000 and to build a house worth Rwf 500,000. All these were planned in two years. She now buys what is planned because she has an objective. She is

Mukantabana Yvonne Mukantabana from Huye District, Gishamvu Sector, Nyumba Cell is a widow since 1996 and lives with her 4 children and her mother of 78 years old who survived the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. She used to brew sorghum beer once a month as her main income generating activity which she started with a capital of Rwf10, 000. However, selling sorghum beer could not earn her all the money she needed to provide for her family following the death of her husband because of sickness. With the support of Association Modeste et Innocent, she was integrated in a group of community facilitators in mental health. Since the partnership with DUTERIMBERE ONG and DUTERIMBERE IMF Ltd, she was identified as community facilitator in entrepreneurship where she would have easy access on credit for her income generating activities. She received credit from DUTERIMBERE IMF LTD equivalent of Rwf100,000 at the first time and Rwf150,000 on the second time and continued her business of selling sorghum beer where she does it 4 times a month compared to once a month before. Her capital has increased from to Rwf60, 000 from Rwf10, 000. Due to more income, she has now engaged in growing Irish potatoes and renovating her house and in keeping cows and the pigs. She pays health insurance for her 4 children, provides meals for her family twice a day twice and pays school fees of her 2 children.

Small scale women traders still struggle to access sufficient credit. Photo by Laurent Rusanganwa

To achieve women economic empowerment, access to finance remains the master key By Peterson Tumwebaze and Bosco K. Hitimana

wanda has made commendable achievements in the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment since it adopted a new constitution in 2003 which recognizes equal rights of both male and female Rwandans. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2016 published

by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Rwanda comes in the top 5 countries in the world that have narrowed down the gender gap in Health, Education, Economy and Politics. The study which covered 144 countries ranked Rwanda on the envious 5th position in the world and the only Sub-Saharan country to attain such a rank. It credits Rwanda for maintaining

a high score on political empowerment which mainly gives women authority to serve in the decision making organs of the government. For example, Rwanda takes unshared credit for being the global champion with the highest number of women members of parliament at 64%, a milestone

EMPOWERMENT that continues to raise curiosity from other countries flocking the country to learn and borrow a leaf on how this was achieved. However, despite being one of the gender equality champions in the world, Rwanda still has gender imbalance in terms of access to finance with the female population lagging behind yet the country has made remarkable progress in developing the financial sector to make it easier for the individual citizens and corporations to access money for personal or business use. Statistics show that a great number of women continue to lag behind in accessing formal financial services compared to men. The young adults also face the same challenge. According to Finscope Survey 2016, Rwanda’s adult population stood at 5,960,117 at the time of the survey. Of these, 57% or slightly above 3 million were women with men making up 43%. On age distribution, the survey shows that 60% of the Rwandan adult population was 30 years of age and above. Although the number of women and young adults accessing financial services showed an increase compared to the findings of Finscope survey 2012, the number of women and young adults who get loans from formal financial institutions is still small. The survey shows that financial inclusion in Rwanda had reached 89% implying that only 11% of Rwanda’s adult population was financially excluded. The survey showed that 87% of women were accessing financial services through formal and informal sources. This included 63% formal inclusion and 24 % information inclusion which implies that a critical mass of women in Rwanda were yet to

use formal financial services. With regard to loans, the numbers of women and men taking loans start reducing. The survey showed that 84% of women saved or invested but only 41.7% saved with formal financial institutions while 42.3% saved through informal means of saving. On loans, the women who used credit were 74% but those who used credit from formal financial institutions were only 14% which means that 60% of the women who used credit borrowed from informal financial services providers. The same fact is strongly manifested in the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Statement released by the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) on August 25, 2016. It shows that most loans still go to men and this has been the trend since 2010. To put it in numbers, loans to men represented 79% of total new loans compared to 21% for women in the first half of 2016 whereas in the period 2010 to 2015, new loans to men represented 77.5% on average against 22.5% for women. The conclusion from these numbers is that the number of women and young adults that access financial services remains low and there is need to increase it. What this means in a broader sense is that women access finance but they are still relying on informal financial services instead of utilizing the formal ones through banks and microfinance institutions. This raises the question: Why are women not utilizing formal financial services and resort to informal financial services and what can the policy makers and formal financial institutions do to bring these women into the formal financial services or tap into the informal financial

services to increase their impact on women? Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa, the Deputy Governor of National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) and Chairperson of New Faces New Voices Rwanda Chapter says that women access financial services but majority access informal ones. She says that to boost gender equality, Rwandan women need to be empowered economically and one way to have it achieved is to give them more access to finance especially credit. “If women are empowered economically, the outcome not only benefits the family but also the society at large. It also paves way for solving other economic and social challenges that impede gender equality,” says Dr Nsanzabaganwa. Jackline Kamanzi, the Executive Secretary of National Women Council (NWC) says that empowering women economically is the way to eliminating all kinds of inequalities. “The country’s level of fighting gender inequality is promising and that’s why I think by 2030 we will be on a different level. However for this to succeed, women need to be economically empowered,” she says. Kamanzi notes: “When a woman is economically empowered, other sectors will automatically follow because their stability gives them courage to face other areas like businesses, politics and others.” According to Edouard Munyamariza, the Executive Secretary of Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC), gender is not only a human rights issue but also an effective ingredient in sustainability. He says that gender equality will never be achieved unless

EMPOWERMENT women have full access to finance because it translates into economic empowerment and ultimately reduces poverty especially at household level. He says that the only way to have more women accessing finance is to require a change in norms, perceptions and attitudes towards women. Munyamariza urges that men should also be involved in ensuring women have access to finance. “There is need to work with men right from the beginning. Once we have changed these misconceptions then we can come up with a comprehensive plan that shows the role of each,” urges Munyamariza. He gives an example of the private sector where he says the number of women owning a business remains small compared to the number of men who own businesses. He says that there is a need for investment in transforming the perceptions about women doing business and how they can actually transform the economy if they can gain full access on finance. Munyamariza recommends: “changing of gender equality perceptions on trade and business because we still have men who think that women who go into business end up being immoral. This is still a problem. There is also the need to increase funds to support women to do business.” The Vice Chairperson of the Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs at the Private Sector Federation (PSF) Therese Dusabe says that there is need to put in more effort in order to achieve the desired goals and hence have all stakeholders including financial institutions to ensure more support to women in terms of access to credit.

“A lot has been done to empower women but they have not yet gained the courage to grab their opportunities when it comes to access to finance,” says Therese Dusabe. Donatille Nibagwire, the Managing Director of FLORIS says that women have a role to play in Rwanda‘s economic development and therefore should be supported financially. She urges that women should receive education and participate in various training opportunities so that they gain the necessary skills to venture into the sectors in which they are underrepresented. Nibagwire believes that women especially those in business must work together and establish strategic partnerships to grow their businesses. To some extent, women also take the blame for their reluctance to approach formal financial institutions such as banks and microfinance institutions and resort to informal financial outfits such as collective savings schemes in which they contribute and also borrow from. On the other part, the experts blame lack of limited awareness among financial institutions and government institutions that are responsible for implementation of the financial sector development strategy. They urge that the strategy should have a particular focus on women so as to interest a critical number of Rwandan girls and women to seek for finance from the formal financial institutions.

Current efforts The Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) is one of the financial institutions that have embraced Gender Equality and Women Empowerment practices to foster inclusive development.

The bank also supports women entrepreneurs by giving them credit in order to grow their businesses. BRD Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Alex Kanyankole says that the development of women is at the heart of the bank’s activities and the voice of women is now heard at various platforms thus making it a responsibility for all stakeholders to support women. “When we talk about development activities, we don’t exclude women because they are stakeholders in these activities,” Kanyankole said. “Access to credit can open up economic opportunities for women and bank accounts can be a gateway to the use of additional financial services. However, women entrepreneurs and employers face significantly greater challenges than men in gaining access to financial services”, says Mr. Kanyankole. On its part, BRD ensures that both men and women access its lending facilities equally although the projects fronted by women are still few compared to the ones brought by men. Josephine Umurerwa, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Strategy and Development Division at BRD says that since 2010, BRD has been recording the amount of credit the bank extended to projects submitted by individual men and women and there has been a gradual increase in the amount of money borrowed by women either for business purposes or housing loans. For instance, at the end of the third quarter of 2016, the value of loans extended to projects brought by both men and women was Rwf 16.6 billion. The value of those extended to women stood at Rwf 3 billion with the remaining going to men. In the

EMPOWERMENT fourth quarter of 2015, the value of loans extended to projects submitted by both men and women was Rwf 17.6 billion. The loans extended to women only were valued at Rwf 3.2 billion with the remaining going to men. Although the value of loans extended to women projects is still small, there is hope that with the current women empowerment initiatives by various stakeholders, eventually the number of women expressing interest in working with the bank will increase. On the other side, women are supported to access finance in formal financial institutions through the Women Guarantee Fund hosted by the Business Development Fund (BDF), a public entity that was created by the government to provide a range of guarantees and advisory services to the private sector especially women and young entrepreneurs and small businesses. BDF Chief Executive Officer Innocent Bulindi says that BDF provides its financial

access programs, including credit guarantees, microloans, matching grants and refinancing facilities through the lending institutions (banks, MFIs and SACCOs) to increase the number of women accessing credit. Through Women Guarantee Fund, BDF provides a loan guarantee to women of up to 75% to facilitate them get loans from local lending institutions. BDF also provides business guidance in form of advisory services directly by its staff and through selected individual consultants and Business. Women are among the beneficiaries of these services which are given at no cost to the recipients. Through Business Development Centers (BDCs) in the districts which are managed by BDF, women have been able to access financial advisory services to support their economic activities in various sectors. Bulindi says that BDF in collaboration with various stakeholders such as Rwanda

Cooperative Agency, Private Sector Federation, Workforce Development Authority (WDA), and Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the national gender machinery is participating in the identification of women and youth beneficiaries for these programs. On the other hand, the government through its agencies launched the Women and Youth Access to Finance Program. The idea was to establish a sound, enabling financial environment for women and encourage lending institutions to provide credit to women including the youth who would otherwise not be fully qualified for approval under the normal credit underwriting guidelines. These efforts are expected to expand the ability of women and young entrepreneurs to pursue economic opportunities, invest additional capital, hire more employees and grow their businesses which would ultimately translate into increased economic growth.

New Faces, New Voices Rwanda Plans a Rwf16.4 billion Women Investment Fund By Bosco K. Hitimana The Rwandan chapter of New Faces, New Voices (NFNV), a Pan-African advocacy group that focuses on expanding the role and influence of women in the financial sector is in the final stages of launching its US$20 million (Rwf16.4 billion) women investment fund that will target investment opportunities that lead to massive women economic empowerment in Rwanda through access to finance. The Chairperson of NFNV Rwanda Chapter, Dr Monique

Nsanzabaganwa told this Magazine in November 2016 that the organisation wants a fund in which thousands of Rwandan women will contribute through buying shares. She says the organisation seeks to raise at least 25% or US$5million(Rwf4.1billion) of the targeted initial capital of US$20 million (Rwf16.4 billion) from women and raise 75% from institutional investors who will be interested to join the fund. Each share will be sold

at Rwf 1,000 and each woman will buy up to 10 shares or less, depending on her financial capacity. Dr Nsanzabaganwa says the organisation had anticipated starting marketing the fund to mobilise women to buy shares in December 2016 but this was not possible as the fundâ€™s business plan was not ready. She says NFNV Rwanda Chapter has engaged a consultant who is working on the fundâ€™s business plan and it is building a webbased member registration

EMPOWERMENT system and a mobile USSD application which will be used to register the women willing to become members of the fund and to collect their capital pledges. Already, members of the Unity Club, an organisation founded by female spouses of past and present members of Rwandan cabinet and past and present women members of cabinet have raised their contributions to buy shares in the fund. Also, during the launch of NFNV Rwanda Chapter in Kigali in June 2016, other women pledged to join the fund as shareholders. â€œWe want women to understand that this is a channel for savings and they can be guaranteed to get returns,â€? says Dr. Nsanzabaganwa, adding that even institutional investors who will join the fund will be expecting a return on their investment. She says that the business plan will inform the organisation where the fund will be investing but the general concept is to invest either through equity or loans into commercial projects that could not be able to get funding from commercial lenders due to the high interest rates. This means that the fund will particularly invest in projects with long-term impact but with the highest potentials to return the investment with a profit. It is also understood that projects with massive employment potentials for women such as factories will attract the attention of the fund. The women investment fund falls under investments business line, which is one of the four business lines of NFNV Rwanda Chapter, according to Dr. Nsanzabaganwa. The other three business lines include Networking and Advocacy, Information Services, and Programming. Through networking and advocacy, the organisation seeks to empower women through convening conferences, other events and conducting research to

Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa. form the basis for advocacy on issues affecting women. Through information services, the organisation seeks to fight ignorance among Rwandan women by making available information on the current opportunities whether on access to finance or business related opportunities. Dr Nsanzabaganwa says that the organisation is considering rolling out different projects and one of them is an information portal which will display all the information about financial services and other opportunities that women would benefit from. The portal will also have information on available training opportunities that would benefit women. On programming, NFNV Rwanda Chapter seeks to seal partnerships with other organisations, government and private companies that provide support to women causes and initiatives to have joint programs that will have a bigger impact on the lives of the Rwandan women. The organisation which is also represented into some other African countries, says it will deliver on four objectives which are all centred on

women empowerment. These objectives include: Access to finance for women, Capacity Building for women, women representation in decision making organs particularly financial institutions, and sustainable operations to make effective. Dr Nsanzabaganwa says that the organisation has not been very active on most of its objectives but it has carried out some activities on information services and it has identified some programs which it plans to start working on. She says that in the City of Kigali, NFNV Rwanda Chapter is pursuing a project in partnership with UN Women and the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) that will provide support to the women traders who were placed in the various markets around the City of Kigali by the city authorities. Founded by Graca Machel, a Mozambican politician and humanitarian and the widow of the late Mozambican President Samora Machel and the late South African President Nelson Mandela, NFNV is currently present in 16 African countries.

EMPOWERMENT

National Bank of Rwanda moves to collect vital gender statistics in the financial sector By Bosco K. Hitimana The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR), the regulator of the financial sector, is pursuing an ambitious data project that will enable it collect vital gender statistics on the financial sector to boost gender equality in the sector. The Bank’s Vice Governor Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa told this Magazine in November 2016 that the project named “Electronic Data Warehouse” which the bank is implementing along with financial institutions will see banks, microfinance institutions and insurance companies start collecting gender metrics on their customers. They will then feed the collected information into the electronic data warehouse at BNR. Nsanzabaganwa says that the targeted metrics will be collected from individuals and companies. Banks and microfinance institutions will update their forms which are filled by customers when they are opening new accounts. They will also update their credit forms which customers fill when they are applying for credit. The vice Governor says that individuals and companies which have already opened accounts will also be requested by the respective financial institutions in which they have the accounts to provide the additional information that was not provided when they were opening the accounts. New customers to the banking institutions will also have to use the updated forms which include

the information on their gender be it individuals or companies. The insurance companies will also be requested to collect the same gender information from their new and existing customers. Dr. Nsanzabaganwa says that the gender information that will be collected include gender and age of the applicant for individuals and the gender of the owner of the company or shareholders in case of a company and the size of the company. This information will be collected at the time of opening the account and when the individual or company is applying for credit in case of a banking institution and at the time of buying an insurance policy for insurance companies. She says that banking institutions have always been collecting data on the gender and age of the individuals at the time of opening an account but they have not been collecting the gender information of the owners of the companies and the size of the company. This is why BNR has always been reporting the amount of credit that goes to individual borrowers based on their gender rather than the credit to companies based on the gender of their owners. Dr. Nsanzabaganwa says the project aims at collecting vital gender metrics on individuals and companies and use them in evidence-based planning. She also says that the financial institutions can use the same statistics to better develop products that are tailored to

a particular gender. The vicegovernor says that the financial institutions have the obligation to collect the targeted metrics internally and report it to the National Bank of Rwanda which will be stored and accessed through the electronic data warehouse at the disposal of the central bank. “This project intends to help us capture at the entry the gender of customers of the banks, microfinance institutions, and insurance companies. When they report, we can sort and develop the business intelligence reports for policy use or any other purpose,” Dr Nsanzabaganwa says. She says that the technical part of the project or structure was set to be completed in December 2016 but feeding it with the information would take time since the financial institutions would first collect the information and report it into the database. Taking a tougher position on gender equality In what seems to be a bold policy of the central bank to promote gender equality and to ensure that women are given equal say in the decision making organs of the financial institutions, BNR has also requested all the reporting financial institutions to disclose in their financial statements the gender composition of their upper and middle levels of management. These include the gender composition of board of directors, senior and middle management teams and the

EMPOWERMENT financial institutions have already started publishing these metrics in their quarterly financial statements which they send to the central bank and distribute in the newspapers. Dr Nsanzabaganwa says that publishing these metrics on the gender composition of the leadership of the financial institutions will expose the gender gaps in the individual financial institutions something that could compel these institutions to narrow down the gender gaps. What is evident, however, is that there are still few women serving in the senior leadership of the financial institutions which could be

linked to the less credit that goes to women from the banking institutions due to limited advocacy at the top. BNR, says Dr Nsanzabaganwa, shall use the reported statistics to do advocacy on gender inequality with the target to drum up for action. She says that despite the concerns on unequal access to finance among men and men, most research has always focused on the demand side. Dr. Nsanzabaganwa says Finscope Survey, which is the leading research in the financial sector so far, only tackles demand side but it does not

tackle the supply side. In order to understand the supply side, Dr. Nsanzabaganwa says that BNR has commissioned another study to understand whether financial institutions also value the gender aspect in their business and whether women would mean business. “When we get the results of the study we will sit in a privileged position as the regulator. We will use these metrics to challenge them [Financial Institutions] and this will be part of raising awareness,” says Dr. Nsanzabaganwa.

Securing women’s land rights in Rwanda By Annie Kairaba

that protect the rights of women and emphasize the importance of gender equality in social and economic development. Rwanda was among the first countries to enact a law that provides for equal inheritance rights for the girl and boy child, law N° 22/99 of 12/11/1999.

Annie Kairaba Rwanda is one of the most progressive countries in Africa in terms of gender equality and women’s rights. After the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, the government led by the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) prudently decided to make this a priority during the rebuilding process by establishing laws

For years, Rwanda has been committed to fighting poverty and promoting peace and security, as exemplified through the initiation of development programs geared towards these goals (RISD 2012: The Impact of Land Lease Fee on Landowners: Rwanda Case Study). One of these programs is the Land Tenure Regularization Program (LTRP), which is intended to strengthen tenure security, promote investment in land and contribute to poverty reduction for about 80% of Rwandans depending on land for their

livelihood - over 90% being women. Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD), a civil society organization operating in Rwanda since 1997, has the goal to contribute to the effectiveness of land reform in Rwanda in a way that promotes gender equality, poverty reduction and sustainable peace. To achieve this, RISD work through networks to strengthen her advocacy and lobbying towards the protection of women’s land rights. In particular, since 2000, RISD hosts and coordinates LandNet Rwanda Chapter - a network of more than 35 civil society organizations working on land rights issues in Rwanda. This network has successfully influenced Rwanda land related policy for the equal land rights of women as that of men.

EMPOWERMENT Since 2003, RISD has influenced policymakers on two major gender related issues: (1) influenced the land policy to state that ‘land is an inheritable property, and women have equal inheritance right as that of men’. Prior to this advocacy work of LandNet, the draft land policy stated that, ‘as related to inheritance, refer to the family law of 1999’, yet the family law only referred to the land policy which even didn’t exist. Today, Rwanda has made a world record of legally allowing single women to own land at 100%; and for married women at 50%, making equal land rights as single men and married men, respectively. Whereas in other countries in the region, women are still demanding a land right of 30% only. This is why recently His Excellency, Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda was honored with a Gender Cup, in recognition of the Rwandan record in his championship in promoting the women’s rights. Official statistics show that women account for 53% of the current population in Rwanda (10,762,085), and women (GoR 2012) head more than a quarter (27.7%) of all Rwandan households. There are also more women (81.9%) than men (61.3%) who are agricultural and fishery workers. These figures underscore the crucial role women play in economic development considering the fact that agriculture is the primary industry in Rwanda. The Rwanda land reform is implemented through the legal framework known as Land Tenure Regularization Program (LTRP), understood as one of the most ambitious land reforms in Africa aimed at registering every piece of land through individual titles. The LTRP is not just concerned with the titling process, but is explicit in its intention to also transform women’s access

Rwandan women working on a farm. Photo courtsey of RISD. to land. Before LTRP, women had no land rights in Rwanda, including the lack of control and ownership over land. Even in cases of legally married couples, a wife was not entitled to inherit land after the death of her husband. Instead, a brother of the deceased husband was to become the owner of the land, or marry the widow and manage the land. In some cases, the widow was allowed to manage the land herself until a son became mature enough to manage it. These patriarchal settings denied women’s rights, which in turn hindered their social economic development (RISD and Shearer 2016: Women and Land Rights in Rwanda; (RISD and ILC 2016: RISD’s intervention in pro-poor land policy implementation in Rwanda). It is important to note that like elsewhere in the World, although not its intention, the LTRP has resulted in revealing underlying family disputes, at times seen as LTRP causing family disputes. What has happened is that this reform challenged the cultural norm where only men owned land or only men could make decisions on the use of land thus it triggered these conflicts with men trying to fight back for the control. It is therefore important to

recognize that equality and empowerment of women has triggered family disputes, where men tend to resist from such change, combined with the increased value of land, as land became registered. The recent record shows that majority of land related disputes registered are family related and over 80% relating to women. The intervention of RISD to cab down these disputes has been to introduce a ‘Securing land disputes management program’, launched in 2012 with the aim to promote mediation, as opposed to formal courts that is too technically complicated and too costly for most women. Through this program, RISD also gathers reliable data on land related disputes through Action Research, as a support to policy change. In support of Mediators (Abunzi), RISD has introduced a web portal where post data instantly for monitoring and analysis, for quicker action as over 80% of disputes reported to Abunzi are inheritance land related, hence concerning women.

The author is the Director of Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD).

CHILD RIGHTS

HAGURUKA NGO advocating for the rights of Children and Women By Ninette UMURERWA

Ninette UMURERWA, National Executive Secretary, HAGURUKA HAGURUKA is a Rwandan nongovernmental organization established in accordance with the Law No 04/2012 OF 17/02/2012 governing the organization and functioning of non-governmental organizations. It was created on July 16, 1991 by Ministerial Order No 127/05 of 28th December 1991 which confers legal personality. HAGURUKA has the mission of promoting and protecting women and childrenâ€™s rights through national and international legal framework and policies, research and advocacy, capacity building with partners, mobilization of the community, provision of psycho-social assistance, legal and judicial assistance to the beneficiaries and other partners as well as advocating for vulnerable people. HAGURUKA has expertise in the legal field, Gender Based Violence (GBV), land and family matters and it has also helped vulnerable people to have access to justice. Started 1991 when GBV practices and gender inequalities were very high in

the community, HAGURUKA took the first initiative in offering legal advice to women and girls and training workers in villages on their rights and legal procedures as a move to combat GBV practices in the country. However, activities of HAGURUKA were interrupted by the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis but since 1996, AGURUKA is still fulfilling its mandate. HAGURUKA receives different cases and assists the victims. Among these cases include causes related to paternity establishment, child support and custody, inheritance and succession. Others are in relation to assaults and batteries, murder, and child defilement. HAGURUKA played a key role in influencing the government to put in place laws and policies aiming at enhancing the principle of gender equality, a good example for this is the law No 22/1999 of 12th November 1999 to supplement book one of the Civil Code and to institute Part Five regarding Matrimonial Regimes, Liberalities and Successions. Even though it has been repealed, it was the first law in Rwanda that entitled women succession rights. HAGURUKA has also contributed to the enactment of the law No 59/2008 of 10th September 2008 on the Prevention and Punishment of Gender Based Violence. Through these initiatives and other programmes, women and children, who were mostly the victims, are now aware of their rights through sensitization programs and talk shows carried out by HAGURUKA in the last few years. HAGURUKA has also played a significant role in addressing the violence committed against children.

From 2012 to 2016 HAGURUKA has implemented a project in Gatsibo and Bugesera Districts aiming at educating secondary school students on their rights and combating the violence committed against them. Haguruka assisted students in 50 schools in Gatsibo and Bugesera districts to create childâ€™s rights clubs with the aim of combating violence against children. In the past five years, HAGURUKA legally assisted 354 cases regarding sexual violence committed against children. Remarkably, in 2010 Haguruka treated a high number of sexual violence cases against children comparing to the years that followed. HAGURUKA also played a pivotal role as far as civil rehabilitation of GBV survivors is concerned. For instance, HAGURUKA helped a girl who had been raped by the husband of her sister-in-law when she had visited them. Since her sister-inlaw was infertile, she consulted a sorcerer who told her that her husband should have sex with her virgin sister or sister-in-law in order to give birth. The husband raped her for three consecutive weeks and eventually this young girl got pregnant. HAGURUKA provided the young lady a lawyer who represented her in court of law claiming the compensation of the victim. The court convicted the offender and sentenced him with 5 years of imprisonment. Regarding compensations, the court ruled that the offender has to pay Rwf3.6 million of damages to the victim.HAGURUKA continues the journey of combating all forms of GBV whether committed against children or women as it is indicated in its new strategic plan of 2017.

CHILD RIGHTS Capitalizing on Child Protection through Community-Based Child and Family Protection Volunteers-Inshuti z’Umuryango By François BISENGIMANA

François BISENGIMANA, Director of Adoption, Protection and Promotion of Child Rights, NCC In order to maximize protection of all children–boys and girlsfrom violence, abuse and neglect through continuous family empowerment and appropriate referral, the National Commission for Children(NCC) under the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) together with partners has established 2 Family and Child Protection Volunteers (Inshuti z’Umuryango) in each village of the Country. Approaches to a sustainable community-based child and family protection model In order to ensure sustainable, timely and qualitative prevention and response mechanisms at community level to effectively protect children from violence, abuse, neglect and promote protective norms and attitudes within families such as positive parenting, several key elements have to be addressed. First, coordination of protection service providers at decentralized level is key to improve efficiency and effectiveness of child protection interventions, harmonize service delivery, and ensure quality assurance across different sectors, institutions and organizations. Rather than creating new structures, building on local capacities and structures

contributes to a sustainable approach to child protection, which can ensure an optimal use of human, technical and financial resources and prevent duplication of efforts. In the Rwandan context, a coordinated approach to harmonize interventions of State and non-State actors will be achieved through the development of national Terms of Reference, the adoption and of child dissemination protection minimum standards and Standard Operating Procedures. The child and family protection framework should sit within an evidence-informed child protection system. Linkages with formal and informal systems are instrumental both in supporting the work of community-based groups as well as in expanding their reach and scope of impact. A mapping of service providers across different sectors and administrative levels - including health, education, and justice – will inform the development and implementation of Standard Operating Procedures for referrals to multi-sectoral protection services. Also, pre- and in-service capacity development programmes should aim at increasing knowledge and skills of community-based child and family protection workers to increase the quality of service delivery (including monitoring and reporting) on the ground. Specific topics include positive parenting and discipline skills, violence detection and prevention, and case management. A quality assessment and revision of national training manuals on child protection issues should result in to commonly agreed standards, tools and learning outcomes of child protections trainings. To provide a holistic approach to child protection

issues, addressing attitudes, behaviors and social norms that are affecting a child’s development and protection in a community is paramount. An evidence-based behaviourchange communication strategy focusing on advocacy on child rights, behavior change communication and child-parent relationships can tackle the root causes of violence, abuse and neglect faced by children. In the Rwandan context, communitybased groups and gatherings such as parent evenings (umugoroba w’ababyeyi) and Umuganda provide forums to mobilize and engage individuals in child rights and protection discussions. Roles and responsibilities of Inshuti Z’Umuryango

Through the work of Inshuti z’Umuryango, women, children and their families will be supported by active and effective care and protection communitylevel mechanisms to significantly reduce violence, abuse, abandonment, child trafficking, child labour and other associated child protection risks in their communities. To achieve this goal, the following roles and responsibilities will be fulfilled by Inshuti z’Umuryango: Coordination In addition to the roles and responsibilities described below, the Inshuti z’Umuryango at cell and sector level has an additional responsibility of coordinating Inshuti z’Umuryango in their respective administrative level. This includes acting as a liaison between and within

CHILD RIGHTS administrative layers and organising meetings on a regular basis. The volunteer at sector level in specific will maintain regular contact with child protection team at district level to address concerns and seek technical assistance or advice. The Inshuti z’Umuryango with a coordination role will therefore play a key role as focal person in the dissemination of information and the delivery of trainings. Preventive interventions Inshuti z’Umuryango will play a key role in understanding and addressing the root causes of violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect of children. Sensitization of their peers on child protection and more generally child rights issues, as well as positive parenting and discipline. Sensitization will also include providing community members with information on the services available, including child care and protection services. Sensitization should take various forms, from household sensitization to smaller group and bilateral discussions in different settings. Preventive interventions will be made through active listening and home visits or follow-ups. Response interventions Inshuti z’Umuryango will play a key role as caseworkers. A sound case management system will focus on the needs of an individual child and their families through the coordination of child friendly and child centered services as well as support within an interlinked system. Participation in coordination forum Inshuti z’Umuryango from the Umudugudu should meet quarterly at cell level to discuss synergies, challenges and lessons learnt, ideally in the presence of village chiefs and cell authorities. The meetings should be organised by the Inshuti

Inshuti z’Umuryango being identified and selected after Umuganda in Nkungu SectorRusizi District. Photo Courtsey of François Bisengimana. z’Umuryango that is operational at cell level. The reports from the meeting from cell levels are submitted to the sector level. Following the meetings at cell level, at sector level, twice a year the coordinator of Inshuti z’Umuryango at cell levels will meet for the same purposes, under the leadership of the Officer in Charge of Social Affairs at sector level, the Inshuti z’Umuryango at sector level. Reports from the sector are submitted to the District. To improve coordination, the Inshuti z’Umuryango will be represented in various external coordination forums, including Umuganda, Parent Evenings and the Intersectoral Early Childhood Development (ECD) Committee (sector and village level). Additionally to these gatherings of Friends of a Family, Inshuti z’Umuryango should advocate for discussing child protection issues during Joint Action Development Forum (JADF) meetings and complex protection cases should also be on the agenda of the security meetings at the sector level. Criteria for identification of Inshuti z’Umuryango • To have a Rwandan

nationality • To be persons of integrity • To be altruistic • To be committed to children and family values • To be motivated and interested in volunteerism • To have enough time to identify and refer child protection cases, regularly conduct home visits, engage in community activities, and report on a monthly basis • To be well-established in the community as trustworthy and involved in their respective village activities • To be identified and recommended by community leaders and children, and endorsed by the Village Chief and the President of the Children’s Forum • To be able to write, read and count in Kinyarwanda • At least have a minimum education level of primary school • To have a minimum age of 25 years old • To have not been involved in criminal acts or in any behavior that is detrimental to children’s lives and interests

We call them our Mothers, Sisters And Wives. But it doesn’t Matter What We call Them If We Can’t Share Their Pain, Suffering and Inspirations. Together, We’re Humans, We’re Equal. We call upon all Men and Boys To Support Women and Girls. Together we can have an Equal World. We’re HeForShe. 43

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