Gov’t applaud RICH’s plan to restore hope to teen mothers
- 2023-01-25 12:18:54
Local government authorities applaud the good fight Rwanda Interfaith Council on Health is championing in combating gender-based violence under its project dubbed “Claiming Social Reproductive Health in Rwanda /CCSRHR” aimed at creating awareness on gender-based violence prevention and response for the last four years.
“Equipping the young girls with technical know-how and knowledge in reproductive health, behavior and mindset change besides economic empowerment is a strong tool to help our daughters and sisters fight GBV,” the Vice Mayor in charge of Social Affairs in Huye district, south Rwanda has stated.
Vice mayor Annonciata Kankesha commended the work RICH has done when she paid a curtesy visit to some of the GBV victims, beneficiaries of the project in Huye, where 26 young girls have been trained in leadership, entrepreneurship, combating stigma, technical skills like fashion design and hairdressing among others.
“The six-month-long training has boosted our sisters’ capacity for leadership and their ability to set goals and persevere in attaining them. Most importantly, it has impacted how they envisioned their future and how optimistic they are in their ability to change it, after having experienced the painful experience of sexual abuse, leaving the majority of them with unwanted pregnancies.” Said Kankesha.
“This program has clearly restored self-esteem and hope, it will bring up more opportunities that shall reduce the risk of being abused again, and we can only thank all of our district’s partners along RICH,” the vice mayor added.
She called upon the CSRHR project beneficiaries to make good use of the skills they gained in order to make a living out of it and for their children and most importantly to work uplift their communities.
Since 2017 we have been implementing a program that aimed at creating awareness at local and national levels on GBV prevention and response, strengthening the capacities of Isange One Stop Centers for high quality provision of sexual and reproductive health services as well as empowering SGBV victims economically.
This program has reached xxx numbers of beneficiaries (Cfr RICH designated desk) in six districts, where many agents of change and local opinion leaders were sensitized to tackle serious issues around gender and sexual based violence facing their communities.
“After realizing there was alarming numbers of GBV victims across the country, we stood up to mobilize resources because we think it’s crucial to raise awareness, gain community support and put these issues on the agenda to get communities to tackle them,” said Gatete Jean Marie Vianney, the Executive Secretary of RICH.
Claiming Social Reproductive Health in Rwanda (CSRHR), is a 4-year project aimed at creating awareness at local and national levels on GBV prevention and response, strengthening the capacities of Isange One Stop Centers for high quality provision of sexual and reproductive health services as well as empowering SGBV victims economically. The CSRHR project is implemented by the Rwanda Interfaith Council on Health (RICH) with the funding from the Scottish Government through OXFAM.