How RWAMREC's Bandebereho Program Is Transforming Food Security Through Male Engagement in Rwanda
- Apr 24
- 5 min read
Updated: May 5
Rwanda Men's Resource Center (RWAMREC) at the FAO Sub-Regional Workshop on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — April 2026
RWAMREC Takes the Global Stage at FAO's Landmark Gender Equality Workshop
In April 2026, the Rwanda Men's Resource Center (RWAMREC) participated in a significant sub-regional event organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This three-day workshop, held from April 21 to 23, gathered around 70 senior stakeholders from seven Eastern and Southern African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Tanzania. The goal was to advance the implementation of the CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and Women's and Girls' Empowerment in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition (VG-GEWGE).
RWAMREC's Director of Programs, Gisèle Umutoniwase, was a featured speaker for Focus Area 8: Eliminating Violence and Discrimination. She presented RWAMREC's flagship Bandebereho program as a model for how engaging men can eliminate gender-based violence (GBV) and enhance food security across sub-Saharan Africa.
Why This Workshop Mattered: The CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality
The Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and Women's and Girls' Empowerment in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition were endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in October 2023. These guidelines represent the first global, multilaterally agreed policy framework focused on gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE) in food security and nutrition. Developed over three years through multistakeholder consultations, the guidelines provide comprehensive recommendations across nine focus areas. These areas include economic empowerment, access to resources, unpaid care work, and the elimination of violence and discrimination.
Despite their endorsement, the guidelines are often poorly understood or underutilized by governments and stakeholders in the region. The FAO workshop, supported by the Governments of Switzerland, Canada, and Germany, aimed to change this. RWAMREC was selected to demonstrate what effective implementation looks like on the ground.
RWAMREC's Contribution: The Bandebereho Case Study
What Is Bandebereho?
Bandebereho means "Role Model" in Kinyarwanda. It is RWAMREC's flagship program and primary model for national scale. Launched in 2013, Bandebereho is a gender-transformative initiative that engages men and couples in challenging harmful gender norms, preventing intimate partner violence (IPV), and improving maternal and child health outcomes, including nutrition.
Originally adapted from Equimundo's Program P (designed for Brazil), Bandebereho was contextualized for Rwanda. It has become one of the most rigorously evaluated male engagement programs in sub-Saharan Africa. A country-wide scale-up through Rwanda's community health system began in 2023. This initiative aims to reach all 30 districts of Rwanda within the next seven years.
The Link Between GBV, Food Security, and Nutrition
Gisèle Umutoniwase's presentation at the FAO workshop highlighted a crucial point: gender-based violence and food insecurity are deeply interconnected. Violence diminishes women's capacity to work, undermines their productivity, and strips them of livelihood assets. GBV compromises women's ability to leverage agricultural opportunities, weakening their contribution to household and national food security. Conversely, food insecurity and household economic stress can trigger or escalate violence, creating a vicious cycle that is hard to break without addressing gender norms directly.
This is why Bandebereho aligns with Focus Area 8 of the CFS Voluntary Guidelines. RWAMREC's work is directly relevant to the global food security agenda.
How It Works
Bandebereho employs a group education model delivered through Rwanda's community health worker (CHW) system. Expectant couples or couples with children under five years old participate in weekly group education sessions facilitated by trained community health workers. The curriculum challenges harmful social and gender norms, promotes equitable sharing of household and caregiving responsibilities, and supports men in becoming active partners in their families' health and wellbeing.
Key implementing partners include:
RWAMREC — adaptation, implementation, evidence generation, resource mobilization, and scale
Equimundo — research support and global technical partnership
Government partners — Ministry of Health (MoH), Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), National Child Development Agency (NCDA), and the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), all members of the Bandebereho Technical Advisory Group
To date, Bandebereho has reached over 45,000 parents, with more than 1,600 community health workers trained as facilitators.
The Evidence: What the Bandebereho Program Has Achieved
RWAMREC's evidence base is one of the strongest in the field of male engagement programming globally. It spans a six-year randomized controlled trial (RCT) and recent impact evaluation data from the current scale-up phase.
RCT Results (Doyle et al., 2018 — 6-Year Follow-Up)
Outcome | Result |
Reduction in physical IPV | 55% — women in intervention groups were 55% less likely to report physical IPV |
Reduction in sexual IPV | 42% — women in intervention groups were 42% less likely to report sexual IPV |
Increase in men doing daily household chores | 75% relative increase (from 36% to 63%) |
Increase in men involved in caregiving (feeding, bathing, playing) | 35% relative increase (from 57% to 77%) |
Scale-Up Impact Evaluation (Burera District, n=400)
As Bandebereho scales nationally, the outcomes are holding and, in some cases, improving. The most recent impact evaluation from the current scale-up phase recorded a 55.2% reduction in men's attitudes supporting violence against women from baseline to endline. This demonstrates that the program's transformative effects are sustained and scalable through the community health system.
Learn more: www.rwamrec.org/bandebereho
Leveraging Evidence to Drive Policy: RWAMREC's Approach to the CFS Guidelines
A key recommendation of Focus Area 8 of the CFS Voluntary Guidelines is that governments take evidence-based measures to eliminate all forms of violence by addressing harmful social and gender norms. RWAMREC's Bandebereho program embodies this approach.
By generating rigorous evidence and translating it into actionable advocacy, RWAMREC has secured strong government buy-in to institutionalize and scale Bandebereho across Rwanda. The program is currently being scaled in 4 districts with a committed roadmap to reach all 30 districts of the country over the next seven years. This replication model can serve as a guide for other governments in Eastern and Southern Africa.
What RWAMREC's Participation at the FAO Workshop Means
RWAMREC's presence at the FAO sub-regional workshop indicates a growing recognition that male engagement is central to the gender equality and food security agenda. The VG-GEWGE explicitly calls for engaging men and boys as part of transforming unequal power relations. RWAMREC's Bandebereho program provides one of the most compelling, evidence-backed examples of what that looks like in practice.
As governments and stakeholders across Eastern and Southern Africa work to translate the CFS Voluntary Guidelines into national policies and programs, RWAMREC is ready to share its experience, evidence, and implementation model as a resource for the region.
About RWAMREC
Rwanda Men's Resource Center (RWAMREC) is a Rwandan civil society organization dedicated to promoting gender equality through male engagement. Through its flagship Bandebereho program and broader advocacy work, RWAMREC aims to transform harmful gender norms, prevent gender-based violence, and support healthy, equitable families and communities across Rwanda and the region.
Learn more: www.rwamrec.org
For more information about RWAMREC's work or the Bandebereho program, contact us at *info@rwamrec.org
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