"We work with individuals and groups, and you can see some steps forward as individuals are empowered, but you cannot do this in isolation, so we bring the structural change. When women are empowered, they empower others. If you empower women and girls, they empower their family. And you can’t leave the men and boys behind. If you work directly with men to address gender based violence, you bring them on board, so that they can understand, and be positive contributors to change." CARE Project Coordinator
This pillar of CARE Rwanda’s work focuses on empowering women and girls, and supporting men and boys to have and sustain non-violent relationships. Intimate partner violence is the most common form of gender-based violence in the world, and in Rwanda, at least 37.1% of women state that they have experienced it at some point in their lives [UNDP].
CARE Rwanda, working in partnership with community organisations and funders, oversees a range of carefully interwoven programs that empower women and girls, and engage men in mindset change. CARE Rwanda knows that unless men and boys are engaged in the transformation process, it will not be possible to change the day to day lives of women, even if they are fully empowered and supported.
Furthermore, CARE Rwanda and partners commit to challenging and changing long-held social norms. This is necessary in Rwanda, even as great achievements for gender justice are made at a leadership and policy level, the impact of this change is still to be fully felt by many women, particularly the most vulnerable. This takes time, but CARE Rwanda is committed to strategic programming and partnership that creates sustainable change and a Life Free from Violence for all.
One example of this powerful work was the Indashyikirwa – Agents of Change program. Almost 80,000 people were engaged in a five-month Couple’s Curriculum - evidence-based programming incorporated learning from other successful CARE Rwanda programs, and further afield. Training included considering and discussing communication, gender power balance, economic inequalities and conflict resolution, together. Participants in the program were then given the option to become Community Activists, advocating nonviolence and gender justice within their communities.