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Positive Masculinity in Africa: RWAMREC Highlights Rwanda’s Leadership and Calls for Climate Justice Integration

  • RWAMREC
  • Sep 9
  • 5 min read

Updated: Sep 11


RWAMREC proudly participated in the Consultative Meeting on Promoting Positive Masculinity in Africa, held from 9–10 September 2025 in Lusaka, Zambia.


Our Executive Director joined representatives of the African Union, member states, civil society, and development partners to reflect on how Positive Masculinity in Africa can be a transformative tool for advancing gender equality and eliminating violence against women and girls.


Fidele Rutayisire, RWAMREC ED, at the Consultative Meeting on Promoting Positive Masculinity in Africa

In his intervention, the Executive Director showcased Rwanda’s leadership through RWAMREC’s gender-transformative interventions — Bandebereho, Powered by Women, and Kataza. These programs demonstrate how engaging men as allies in unpaid care work, violence prevention, and women’s empowerment contributes to healthier families, more equitable relationships, and stronger communities.


Fidele Rutayisire in Zambia

Why Harmful Masculinities Undermine Peace and Sustainability


Research shows that harmful masculinities — those that valorize control, militarized authority, and aggressive competition — often reinforce exploitative relationships with natural resources. This has several consequences:

  • Resource exploitation and conflict: Extractive industries and competition over land or minerals are frequently linked to hyper-masculine norms, labor exploitation, and armed violence.

  • Militarization and war: Armed groups often exploit masculine ideals of power and status, pulling men into cycles of conflict that further harm communities and the environment.

  • Environmental destruction: Domination-driven masculinities normalize exploitative practices that degrade ecosystems and undermine climate resilience.


Addressing harmful masculinities is therefore not only a gender-equality goal but also a peacebuilding and environmental protection priority. Gender-transformative approaches that promote care, equality, and shared resource management can reduce gender-based violence while also supporting sustainable development.


© Luqman Mahoro
© Luqman Mahoro

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The Role of Girls’ Education and Family Planning in Climate Action


RWAMREC highlighted evidence showing that girls’ education and voluntary family planning are powerful tools for climate adaptation and mitigation. Research from Project Drawdown demonstrates that:

  • Educated girls are more likely to delay marriage and childbearing, leading to healthier families and slower population growth.

  • Universal access to family planning and high-quality education reduces vulnerability to climate shocks while contributing to long-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

  • When girls and women are educated, they are more likely to participate in decision-making processes, strengthening climate resilience and environmental governance.

Investing in education for girls and family planning is therefore not only a human rights imperative but also an effective climate strategy.


Girls in education, Rwanda

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Green Cooking as a Gender and Climate Solution


RWAMREC also underscored the importance of green cooking solutions. Traditional cooking methods place a disproportionate burden on women and girls, who spend hours collecting firewood and are exposed to harmful indoor air pollution. This limits their education and economic opportunities while driving deforestation and carbon emissions.


Adopting clean cookstoves and alternative fuels delivers multiple benefits:

  • Improved health for women and children.

  • Reduced deforestation and household carbon emissions.

  • Freed time for women and girls to pursue education and income-generating opportunities.

  • Increased gender equality as household responsibilities are shared more fairly.


Clean cooking must be integrated into gender-responsive climate strategies to unlock co-benefits for health, environment, and women’s empowerment.


Improved cooking Stove in Rwanda
© Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA)

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From an Extractive Economy to an Economy of Care


RWAMREC also stressed the importance of rethinking our economic models. The extractive economy, rooted in accumulation, waste, and short-term profit, mirrors patriarchal masculinities that value domination over people and nature. This system drives environmental degradation, deepens inequalities, and fuels conflicts over resources.


In contrast, an economy of care — centered on nurturing people, communities, and ecosystems — offers a sustainable alternative. Prioritizing care work, which is often invisible and undervalued, can shift the focus from endless growth to well-being, equity, and regeneration. This approach reduces overconsumption, strengthens social cohesion, and encourages responsible stewardship of natural resources.


Importantly, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights recently recognized the right to care as a human right, setting a groundbreaking precedent. This recognition affirms that states have an obligation to guarantee conditions that allow people, especially women, to both provide and receive care without discrimination. RWAMREC advocates for the African Union and other regional bodies to bring this transformative recognition to Africa as well. Embedding the right to care within regional frameworks would not only advance gender equality but also accelerate the transition toward sustainable economies that value care, reciprocity, and responsibility for both people and the planet.


An economy of care recognizes interdependence: just as families and societies thrive when men and women share caregiving roles, the planet thrives when humanity prioritizes restoration over extraction. By valuing care, cooperation, and stewardship, we can build economic systems that are both gender-just and environmentally sustainable.


Men's Engagement in Care Work
© Pierre Jean Fasan, Bigwi film agency

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RWAMREC’s Call to Action


RWAMREC reaffirms its commitment to advancing Positive Masculinity in Africa as a pathway toward gender equality, violence prevention, and climate justice. We call on the African Union and its partners to:

  1. Integrate the intersection of masculinity and climate justice into policy frameworks.

  2. Invest in girls’ education and voluntary family planning as essential climate adaptation strategies.

  3. Support the adoption of clean cooking solutions that promote gender equality and reduce emissions.

  4. Promote a shift from an extractive economy to an economy of care that values people and the planet.

  5. Strengthen gender-transformative programs across the continent to foster care, responsibility, and stewardship.


By reshaping masculinities and centering equality, we can build a sustainable Africa where both people and the planet thrive.



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