Media release:
New Women's Centre at Nyamirambo

16 March 2008

A group of 17 women members have begun a new self-help group called the Nyamirambo Women's Centre (NWC). NWC is supported by the Rwanda Association of University Women (RAUW) and the Peace Institute from Slovenia (PI).

Some members of the Nyamirambo Women's Centre

NWC members are women aged between 18 and 39 years, with education levels ranging from no education at all to third-year university. Some are employed as domestic workers, some in small business, some hairdressers and others are students.

On International Women's Day, NWC held its first training workshop at Karibu Restaurant in Kigali. aimed at empowering its members and led by Professor Verdiana Grace Masagna, RAUW member from the National University of Rwanda.

Professor Verdiana said that this one day event was quite an experience as these 17 women appreciated the training and came-up with practical solutions to solving life’s challenges. “The solutions do not require big investments but can deliver lifelong dividends”, she said.

The workshop tackled the issues of gender-based discrimination, with a special emphasis on gender-based violence and discrimination against women in the field of education and employment.

NWC members now know something about:

• gender based discrimination against women from perspectives of culture/tradition, economical and political
• women's rights related to their reproduction rights, rights to education and employment, and other relevant civil rights and how this links to empowerment of women in their daily lives
• the importance of access to education and employment and their relation to women's empowerment, women's rights and their socio-economic independence as well as a self-sufficient role in the community.

The second day was led by Ms Rose Mukabalisa, RAUW trainer, who provided entrepreneurship training. NWC members looked for solutions on how to overcome gender-based discrimination and undertake income-generating activities that would benefit women in the group, their families and wider community as well.

Group work presentations were made using songs or theatre plays. This approach turned out to be quite excellent. According to Mukabilisa, those who cannot read and write participated fully both in discussions and presentation.

Aminata and Chatrine - Learning can be fun!

A further workshop was held on 15 March on the issue of gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence and domestic violence against women under the leadership of Ms Beatrice Mukasine, Gender Adviser from SNV Rwanda.

Mukasine said that training such a diverse group requires innovative approaches. Most learning is participatory with key information coming from the participants. The trainers' main tasks were to consolidate past learning and add new information on Rwanda (based on Vision 2020, MDGs, and poverty reduction strategies), current statistics and analyses of gender concerns.

A one-day excursion to a women's association ASOFERWA in Musanze was the last part of this workshop. The purpose of this excursion was to empower the women's group economically through learning about various income-generating activities related to community-based tourism.

RAUW President Ambassador Joy Mukanyange and SG Dr Shirley Randell received a great welcome with dancing and singing when they visited the workshops. Mukanyange said that the following gender concerns that participants wanted to address were all goals within their reach and conform with RAUW's mission of empowering women and girls through lifelong education for leadership, decision-making and peace:

• to improve their self-confidence. They committed, within six months, to enrol four of their members in driving lessons, to organise confidence building training activities for all 17 members, and for the four of their members studying for university degrees to attain high passes in examinations
• to improve their education. They committed, within 6 months, to enrol all those who cannot speak English to the English language classes, to enrol those who cannot read and write in literacy classes and to ensure their children go to school, encouraging them to do their best.
• to get rid of ignorance. They committed to set up a library with books and games for members and their children, to meet several times a week at the library to read books and newspapers and share information including with their children, to get internet connectivity in their centre and learn to use the internet to access information on markets, health issues, important Rwanda policy issues, and other information that is pertinent to their cause and general knowledge and current affairs.

The workshops have been organised by Dr. Vlasta Jalusic and Ms Jasminka Dedic from the Peace Institute of Slovenia who have been working hard over the last months to seek funding for the NWC. RAUW member Jackline Murungi has been the Rwandan inspirational leader of the group.

Small-group work

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