Résultats de recherche

a youth facilitator's guide

The launching ceremony of the Bandebereho scale-up project in Musanze, Burera, and Gakenke Districts was held on March 23rd, 2023, in Burera District. This 5 yearproject is a collaborative effort betweentheRwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) under the Maternal Child and Community Healthdivision(RBC/MCCH), the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), and the National Childhood Development Agency (NCDA). The Global Innovation Fund (GIF) provides financial support for this project. Bandebereho is RWAMREC flagship intervention, and an adaptation of Equimundo Program P for the Rwandan context.It is agender transformative intervention for couples that aims toengage men as partners and fathers in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH),violence prevention and caregiving for a healthier couple relationship. The project targets expectant couples and parents of children under 5 years of age. Community health workers at the village levelare the ones facilitating weekly small group education sessions for 12 couples,for17weeks.The project seeks to positively change the gender attitudes and behaviors of men and couples to promoteimproved maternal and child health, as well as gender outcomes. The positive long-termimpact of the program has been proven by rigorous evaluation carried out through a randomized controlled trial, conducted 6 years after the implementation of the pilot program. Results showed that couples attending Bandebereho sessions showed a statistically significant positive difference across all outcomes, versus the control group. The launching ceremony was attended by various dignitaries, including the Mayor of Burera District, the Vice Mayor, Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) staff, the Director General of Butaro Hospital, the District Police Commander, and religious leaders, among others. Mr. Fidele Rutayisire, RWAMRECExecutive Director officiated the event. Participants pledged their support forthe Bandebereho scale-up project to achieve its expected outcomes. Currently the RWAMREC team is busy raising the matching funds to be able to cover the total budget requested by the scale up process.

The advancement of women is critical to good governance, social and economic development and an active civil society, and thus benefits men as well as women. Ending gender-based violence (GBV) is essential for women to take their rightful place in societies around the world. Engaging men in this process and challenging traditional masculinities is of the utmost importance for sustaining lasting behavioural change that will break the generational cycle of GBV and contribute to the overall advancement of gender equality. In the context of Rwanda, the case studies examined in this Briefing address both the theory behind ending GBV by involving men directly at the national and the village level, as well as the practical tactics used in the process of engagement and dialogue at the grassroots level. This Briefing examines the recent approach of the Government of Rwanda and Rwandan civil society to involve men in gender equality initiatives. Specifically, it will review the progress being made and highlight the barriers encountered through two concise case studies. The first case study analyses the drafting and passing of the Law on the Prevention and Punishment of Gender-Based Violence (Republic of Rwanda, 2009), which involved significant male participation both at the community level and via male parliamentarians. The second case study looks at the work of the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC), which takes a grassroots approach to the sensitisation of men and women in civil society, in both rural and urban communities. These case studies highlight the progress made using targeted methods of engagement with male leaders both at the national and the village level, as well as persistent barriers to gender equality found in the attitudes of both women and men towards gender-based violence (GBV).

Most livelihood and ‘economic empowerment’ initiatives in the global South currently focus on women, and with good reason. At the global level, achieving income parity or women is one of the urgent, unachieved goals of gender equality. The recent World Development Report affirmed that women now represent 40 per cent of the world’s paid workforce, and 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force (World Bank 2012, 3). While there have been significant gains in women’s employment and earnings in the past 20 years, women’s income continues to lag behind those of men everywhere in the world, even when women perform the same tasks or functions. Numerous studies have shown that increased female control over income and spending decisions in the household translates into better outcomes for children and households (Bruce et al. 1995). Increased control over material resources can lead on to women having an enhanced ability to act and choose (Kabeer 2009). The idea is that greater female contribution to household income can result in women having stronger bargaining power within marital relationships and the family. In this way, ‘economic empowerment’ has been linked to women having a stronger voice in negotiating sexual relations and hence reducing their risk of HIV infection ; to reductions in violence from male partners ; and to increased social status and mobility outside the home. Awareness of these links has led development policymakers and practitioners to target women widely as beneficiaries of interventions including microfinance initiatives.

Almost two years after participating in a MenCare+ fathers and couples programme in Rwanda, men are nearly half as likely to use violence against their female partners and spend almost one hour more per day doing household chores, revealed a randomised controlled trial. The evaluation, released by PLOS ONE journal was led by Promundo, Rwanda Biomedical Center and Rwanda Men’s Resource Center (RWAMREC). It is one of the studies, which show that engaging men as they become fathers and focusing on improving couple relationships can be an effective strategy to reduce men’s use of violence against women and improve relationships within the household.

TEENAGE PREGNANCY IN HUYE AND KICUKIRO DISTRICTS The overall objective is to “conduct a participatory action research on attitudes, perceptions and needs of teenagers, teen mothers and community members, including people with disability, towards teenage pregnancy for effective implementation of the National Gender Policy and other policies and strategies that address teenage pregnancies, including the Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy”. From this main objective stem a series of thespecific objectives as detailed under the introductory chapter. The study used a qualitative approach and covered two districts purposively selected, namely Huye in Southern Province and Kicukiro in the City of Kigali. In addition to an extensive desk review, KIIs and FGDs were conducted with teenagers, teen mothers and parents of teen mothers. One overall finding is that teen mothers have huge needs, including limited access to SRH services, reintegration of schools and acceptance in the respective families and communities. Community attitudes and perceptions towards teen pregnancy are very negative. In relation to the specific objectives, the study shows that : Attitudes & perceptions : teenage pregnancy outside wedlock is a social deviance ; it is perceived as a sign of parental failure. Some parents feel like the affected girl would be sent away from the family. Due to social pressure, parents would stop the pregnant girl from school. The pregnant girl would be abandoned to the man/boy responsible for the pregnancy. In sum, the pregnant girl/teen mother suffer from social stigma, shame and dishonor (therefore hard education re-entry), and in the worst scenario discrimination, which would lead to deprivation from access to legal rights and services ; Needs : Access to service points, including information on sexual reproductive health and rights, family emotional support, vocational skills, school re-integration, family and community reintegration are the leading needs of teen mothers ; Barriers affecting access to knowledge and skills for girls : Social cultural expectations, household labor division, family poverty, low sex negotiation skills, and lack of dialogue with parents ; Challenges in accessing existing legal, health and psychosocial services are associated with low awareness about existing services, distance from home to the service point as compared to family resources, lack of family support, limited knowledge about sexual reproductive health rights ; misconception about the use of contraceptive methods and myths around sex Major policy gaps : The role of the family in sexual education and the prevention of GBV is unclear ; there is a discrepancy between the policy ambitions and the budget ; GBV and sexual reproductive health are superficially mainstreamed in local development plans ; and there is weak coordination of existing GBV prevention initiatives ; Long term strategies to prevent teen pregnancy and address the needs of teen mothers would include family and peer support and adolescent sex education right from the family.

FINAL STUDY REPORT RWAMREC ABOUT PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH ON ATTITUDES, PERCEPTIONS AND NEEDS TOWARDS TEENAGE PREGNANCY IN HUYE AND KICUKIRO DISTRICTS

IN KICUKIRO AND HUYE DISTRICTS The study on attitude and perceptions on gender based violence towards men and boys in the districts of Kicukiro and Huye was conducted as an exploratory action research commissioned by the Rwanda Men Resource Center (RWAMREC), with a view to asses the extent of Sexual and Gender based violence against men and boys in the mentioned districts and to know the characteristics of SGBV against men and boys. The methodological approach used to achieve the above mentioned purpose of the study included review of existing literature and consultations with community members, including adult males and females and teens males and females as well. Consultations were conducted through focus group discussion with the mentioned categories of resource persons. Interviews with key informants were also conducted at the level of the selected sectors of Kigarama in Kicukiro District and Mukura in Huye District. Key findings were categorized under different aspects as unpacked below. General perceptions of GBV by consulted community members : it was found that there is very limited awareness among community members on what gender based violence means, its different forms (especially physical, psychological and economic) and how it differs from other forms of violence. Additionally, there is a misunderstanding that the GBV law is defending women’s rights only ignoring that it is at the same time defending men’s rights as well. Perceptions of community members on GBV issues against men and boys : the different resource persons highlighted that men are also victims of GBV even though there was recognition that women remain majority among the victims. Community attitudes on GBV against men and boys : although men and boys were found to be also victims of GBV but community members do not tolerate GBV against them. They would rather tolerate GBV as subjected to women but not to men. The explanation behind this stand was that are the heads of families and therefore GBV would attack the leadership of families which is unbearable. Identified particular GBV issues pertaining to men and boys : men and boys were found to be victims of the different forms of GBV including physical, sexual, economic and psychological violence. However, it was found that men and boys, especially boys between the age bracket of 13-17 years were more victims of physical violence compared to their female counterparts. In addition to physical violence, men were found to be victims of both economic violence and psychological violence. Barriers encountered by men and boys in disclosing and reporting abuse perpetrated against them : different factors were found to be contributing to the limited reporting among men and boys of their GBV cases but the most influential were : socio-cultural barriers dictating men to suffer in silence if they want to keep their manhood, poverty, fear of stigma and the need to keep the family together, limited knowledge on evidence for psychological and economic forms of GBV, limited functioning and limited trust in existing GBV structures and misinterpretation of GBV law. Structural and implementation gaps in government efforts to effectively involve men and boys in the promotion of gender equality and fight against GBV : a sizable number of structures addressing GBV, as efforts made by Government of Rwanda were identified. However, the limited coordination and capacity to handle GBV cases among the structures themselves and the lack of targeting men and boys as victims are the major gaps leading to the limited participation of men and boys in the promotion gender equality and fight against GBV. Based on the above the following were found to be the key challenges hampering promotion of gender equality in general and men and boys’ involvement in particular : 1) Misinterpretation of the concept of gender equality ; 2) Limited knowledge about the GBV Law ; 3) Limited government attention to men as beneficiaries and allies for gender equality ; 4) Limited trust by men in structures addressing GBV ; 5) Effects of negative masculinity around men as custodians of power over women. December 2019