Q1 2023: Update News & Partnerships
From Rwanda to the UN - Mary shared RWN’s work in the NGO CSW Forum
We are proud to share that in March, Mary participated in the NGO CSW Forum, the civil society gathering that runs parallel to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
This year, the focus was innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. This forum provides civil society organizations and activists the opportunity to engage and share experiences and ideas. The result is an ‘Agreed Conclusions’ document, which outlines action by governments and other stakeholders, including the UN system, national human rights institutions, civil society, the private sector, trade unions, the media, and others.
Congratulations to 30 of RWN’s Space Facilitators for receiving the Rwanda Women In Business Award.
The awards were granted to RWN facilitators who have shown exceptional abilities in leading and mentoring other women building Rwanda’s economy in Health, Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Education. Thank you for your hard work and dedication.
Celebrating International Women’s day by helping 89 couples legalize their marriage.
Working closely with local Safe Spaces, we supported 89 couples from Rwaza and Gacaca Sectors of Musanze District and Gishari Sector of Rwamagana district in legalizing their marriage. We supported the couples both emotionally and financially for the protection, safety and solidarity of their families and specifically the women in them.
Partnerships and Collaborations
In Q1 2023 with great partnerships we hit the ground running, below is a glimpse into this work.
“It's in our hands” - Building maintainable Gender Based Violence prevention & response solutions - In partnership with Kvinna Till Kvinna we trained 258 village leaders - mostly male (72%) from 5 districts (Rwamagana, Kayonza, Bugesera, Musanze and Rubavu), giving them tools to actively engage in GBV prevention and response in their communities.
Training mediators in ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)’ for faster Gender based Violence response: To mitigate the number of domestic dispute cases lodged in courts, in Partnership with Norwegian People’s Aid (via the PPIMA project), we trained 434 mediators in local communities (84 sector level, 350 cell level) in ADR. ADR is designed to empower parties in conflict to resolve their disputes amicably without needing courts. Through this training we equipped Mediators and community volunteers with knowledge on key laws, mediation skills, and gender equality and inclusion so that they will be able to resolve disputes of community members peacefully.
Implementing ‘MASIDAMA - Thinking Differently’ methodology within women safe spaces. We started training Women Space Facilitators in Trocaire’s MASIDAMA methodology meant to support them in their daily work. We will be implementing this method in the next 5 years.
RWN in Partnership for UZIMA Sanitary Pads in Safe Spaces: This collaboration between RWN and Friends of Humanity (FOH) /Pride no Shame organization has the goal to provide women and girls through RWN Women Safe spaces an affordable solution to their hygienic needs when menstruating and to generate an income, by creating a sustainable production of sanitary pads by women for women.
French Embassy in Rwanda in Partnership with RWN for CSOs capacity building: The Embassy of France in Rwanda launched a funding opportunity intended to support Rwandan Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) active in the fields of gender and health. As an experienced CSO RWN was selected to champion this activity.
Rwanda Women's Network is in a new partnership with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) who will be supporting the HIV service within our Health Center.
