As cases of school dropouts persist in Rubavu district, Western Rwanda, members of Tuvugibyayo cooperative have vowed to preach equity and gender parity and help families involved in domestic conflicts to uproot the vice.
Participants who were trained on fighting domestic violence by Global Communities-USAID/EMIRGE Program.
Global Communities-USAID EMIRGE Program has been supporting Tuvugibyayo cooperative in areas of capacity building by providing customized trainings in Cooperative Governance, financial management and literacy, and market linkages. Gender inequality and related violence is among key threats to sustainable development of cooperatives and households in general.
Meanwhile; Global Communities – USAID/EMIRGE Program Rwanda is yet committed to fighting Household violence amid providing necessary trainings in serving Rubavu District residents.
In this regard, Global Communities/ EMIRGE Program, through its “Make it happen” campaign activity has trained members of supported cooperatives including; Tuvugibyayo cooperative, about gender equality and how to prevent and fight Gender based violence (GBV) at households level. Domestic violence is also a core root cause of children who abandon school for streets.
Recently, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame warned that no Rwandan child should be on streets. During his visit to the Western Province, the President reminded parents and local leaders that all children should be in School and receive equal education opportunity.
Statistics from Rubavu district indicate that about 10, 777 children dropped out of schools this year (2016) alone, an alarming issue; which development partners in the district say needs urgent attention.
Shamusi Umubyeyi, a member of Tuvugibyayo Cooperative who was trained by Global Communities/ EMIRGE program believes that working together with her colleagues, “The issue of Gender inequality and household violence can be uprooted once and for all.”
According to Umubyeyi, “Because of gender parity, some women no longer respect their husbands and tend to became overconfident and arrogant. This ends up causing domestic conflicts in families and children are mostly affected.”
Joseph Kalisa - the president of Tuvugibyayo, says his cooperative has been training families on fighting HIV/AIDS in Rubavu district for the past 20 years. Since then, he says, tremendous results have been realized. As Community Gender Ambassadors, they will keep striving to achieve more and reach out a larger number of Rubavu Households with this message.
Ruffin Manzi, the Country Team Leader of USAID/EMIRGE Program Rwanda said that Community Gender Ambassador have been equipped with knowledge on how to promote equity and gender parity in cooperatives, and how to prevent and fight GBV at household level. A handbook will be developed and distributed to the trainees which will serve as reference note wherever they are teaching. He reiterated that Global Communities-USAID/EMIRGE program will keep supporting Graduated trainees in the scale up of this activity so that a large number of community members can be reached with the message.
Meanwhile, Callixte Habanjintwari, the head of social welfare in Gisenyi Sector says the issue of school dropouts has been persistent in the area with at least 200 children roaming on streets. He however adds that through partnership with development partners, 116 children were brought back in schools. He mentioned that this campaign came on time in Rubavu district and they expect greater impact on the social welfare of the Rubavu residents.
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