Gender Promotion

Nov 22 , 2017
IMG

FVA works to promote the equal enjoyment of rights between men and women and end all forms of discrimination against women. We have over 10 years experience identifying and working with women, youth, orphans and persons with disabilities as these are our main target group. Through the gender program, we have supported over 30,000 women by championing gender equality, preventing violence against women and promoting sexual reproductive health and rights education. We identify gaps in the legal framework for gender equality and conduct advocacy to address the existing gaps. We identify cultural norms that contribute to violence against women, support women to understand and claim their rights as well as conduct trainings to local leaders and communities for them to understand, implement and uphold laws and policies that promote gender equality.

We identify structural causes of violence against women and girls and secure women’s economic justice with increased civic participation and state accountability for the effective redistribution of quality gender responsive public services. We work to reduce the time spent by women on unpaid care work and addressing deficiencies in time for productive work. We strengthen the resilient livelihoods and secure climate justice by ensuring that women small holder farmers access market and credit for increased agricultural production and food security. We work with communities to undertake action research to equip communities with knowledge, information skills and tools to challenge the denial of rights through advocacy and campaigns. We support women and girls’ participation in leadership and decision making positions and policy influence. We work with the community, women movements, local leaders and other likeminded organizations to champion gender equality. We believe in empowering women but also educating men and promoting positive masculinities so that men can act as allies of women in achieving gender equality and preventing gender based violence. We undertake behavior change communication (BCC) activities including GBV education, training in small scale business management and working with men in order to reduce violence among girls and young women.

We build the capacity of women and vulnerable groups with life skills and knowledge so as to be able to make informed decisions about issues that affect their lives. We equip them with knowledge on sexual reproductive health and rights education, gender equality and entrepreneurship skills so as to fight poverty which is a leading cause of violence in some Rwandan families. We conduct advocacy to influence policies, regulations and norms which obstruct the rights and leadership potential of young women, girls and vulnerable communities by taking their voices to the decision making table. We conduct research on violence against women, early pregnancies and women in leadership and use the findings from these studies to conduct advocacy. We provide safe spaces to young women, girls and vulnerable communities for them to engage on issues affecting their lives. Through partnerships with local leaders, schools, religious leaders and parents, we have created over 50 safe spaces where our beneficiaries meet to discuss issues affecting them. We equip girls’ rooms with sanitary materials like pads, beds, basins, soap, towels and jerrycans so that girls can study during their menstrual cycles. Other safe spaces that we support are community forums like umuganda, umugoroba w’ababyeyi as well as national dialogues.

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