The economic empowerment and rights promotion for thousands of rural women and girls by ActionAid Rwanda has led to the Recognition, Reduction, and Redistribution of household Unpaid Care Work and raised rural women’s economic and leadership power.

The women and girls are celebrating the achievements as part of marking the International Women’s Day under the theme: "Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a Covid-19 world”.

Immaculée Uwimana, from Mukingo sector in Nyanza District lived a life of isolation for a long time due to tiresome domestic Unpaid Care Work and violence.

"I used to stay at home and cook, look after children and carryout other domestic work. I was often in domestic related wrangles with my husband. I used to depend on him to get all my needs which would lead to domestic violence at home,” she said.

However, today, Uwimana is celebrating the International Women’s Day as dignified woman holding different leadership positions.

She is the secretary in the Village Leaders Committee, and she is in charge of welfare of FPR-Inkotanyi committee at sector level.  She is also one of founding members and currently the president of Aboroshya-Mukingo, an agriculture cooperative that groups together 30 women.

Women started the cooperative as a savings group, contributing Rwf100 per week.

"I got a loan of Rwf 1, 500 in our cooperative to vend avocados. I later started to trade in rabbits. After years working as a savings group, we started to do agriculture under the support of ActionAid Rwanda in 2017,” she said.

The group leases 1.5 hectares of land on which they grow vegetables.

"ActionAid supported us with irrigation equipment. The sector gave us one hectare land where we planted maize. We expect to harvest about three tonnes of maize in this season,” she said.

Besides agriculture support, hours spent on Unpaid Care Work was reduced. Thanks to all the support services provided by ActionAid Rwanda such as energy saving cooking stoves, water tanks, and early childhood centres that enabled me to get time to focus on other income generation and leadership opportunities 

"I would spend two hours collecting firewood and many hours cooking, an hour going to fetch water and five hours washing clothes at the remote fountain, but such time has been saved and spent on income generating activities. I spend the saved time to retail ripe bananas, tomatoes and others and feed my family,” Uwimana said.

Uwimana is now a modern exemplary farmer and help others improve agricultural practices in the Village. She thanks ActionAid Rwanda for building her capacity.

Kanzayire’s leadership

Jeannette Kanzayire, is the president of "Twisungane Iwacu Cooperative” with 30 women that grow mushrooms.

Due to ActionAid Rwanda’s empowerment, she has gained leadership skills and confidence. She is a member of the women council in the cell and a member of Mukingo sector council.

"We started as a savings group contributing Rwf100 per week until ActionAid Rwanda came in to support us. We first got cows from ActionAid in 2007. Later ActionAid supported us in growing mushrooms,” she said.

Kanzayire harvesting mushrooms.

With manure from the cows, her agricultural productivity has increased from 50 kilogrammes to over 400 kilogrammes on the same size.

A widow, Kanzayire managed to pay school fees for all her five children who have now completed university.

The group of women invests Rwf 400 in growing one mushroom spore and currently has 4,000 mushroom spores. One mushroom spore produces two kilogrammes every week and each sold at Rwf 1, 500. The cooperative now has over Rwf30 million in total assets.

"ActionAid Rwanda has also supported us with Rwf1.5 million for equipments to dry and produce mushroom flour, At least 80 per cent of the assets value has been generated by ActionAid,” Kanzayire said.

The story of Nyirampore

Immaculee Nyirampore, a mother of four from Busasamana Sector, Gahondo Cell also has her own story to tell.

Despite enduring years of domestic violence from her husband, she managed to beat the odds and rose to different leadership positions.

After divorcing in 2007, she teamed up with 25 other women and started a savings group which later grew into a cooperative thanks to the support from ActionAid Rwanda.

"ActionAid Rwanda trained us on our rights and supported us with Rwf 2.5 million to start businesses,” she said.

Nyirampore bought a tailoring machine which has changed her family’s life.

"I started to generate income that helps to feed my four children. I bought a land worth of Rwf 800, 000 and it is now worth Rwf 2 million where I grow beans and other crops to sustain my family. ActionAid gave me a cow that provides milk to my children. Manure also increases my yields. I managed to pay school fees to my children. One of my children completed secondary school, two others are in senior six,” she said.

With Action Aid Rwanda’s support, the cooperative is also running a bee keeping project from which 120 Kilogrammes are harvested, selling 1 Kilogram at Rwf 4, 500.

Nyirampore bought a tailoring machine form ActionAid Rwanda's support which has changed her family’s life.

The cooperative has also bought land worth Rwf 1 million and members have been supported with pigs, goats and cows.

Due to the empowerment provided by ActionAid Rwanda, Nyirampore is in different leadership positions including heading Unity and Reconciliation association in the village, a member of Friends of the Family/Inshuti Z’umuryango that helps families in conflicts management.

She also leads 570 women grouped in 19 groups supported by Action Aid Rwanda in Busasamana sector, in Nyanza District.

Girls’ education and rights

Through Speak out Project, ActionAid Rwanda has also promoted girl’s education and rights.

The initiative increased confidence and intellectual capacity of girls which equip them with leadership power.

The project also established safe houses to cater for cases of Violence against women and girls’ and they provided girls’ rooms with hygienic materials to support girls continue school during menstruation as well as training on making reusable pads.

Belise Mutuyimana, a student at G.S Torezo in senior 1 in Nyanza district said: "Before 'Speak Out Project', I could not speak publicly but this project has built my confidence. We learnt about our rights, reproductive health and fighting violence against women and girls.”

Before establishing a girls’ room, she said a girl in the menstrual period would spend four days without attending class and some could drop out of school.

"However, the trend has changed and no more school dropouts under such circumstances,” she said.

Thanks to ActionAid Rwanda, Mutuyimana is currently a class monitor, a leader of girls’ rights club and has a vision to become a model leader in the future.

Odavie Niyomugisha, a mentor representing other Speak Out Project mentors in the Mukingo sector said that serving as a model to girls helps in successful mentoring.

"Inculcating self-confidence paves way for girls to become future women leaders. We thank ActionAid Rwanda’s Speak Out Project to have initiated this program that improved the level of understanding among these young girls,” she said. 

ActionAid Rwanda’s support in figures

Through ‘POWER project’, ActionAid Rwanda has supported 7,350 rural women in five districts grouped in 245 women cooperatives in sustainable agriculture and access to finance through saving and credit groups.

To support women to have access to market, ActionAid Rwanda established eight selling points with eco-friendly storage technologies such as solar-powered cooling rooms.

In order to add value to agricultural produce, the women cooperatives were also given machines that process honey and cassava as well as drying mushrooms and produce flour.

Josephine Irene Uwamariya, ActionAid Rwanda Country Director, believes that Women Empowerment is an anchor of Sustainable Development.

At least, 386 cows, 461 goats, 392 pigs and 71 sheep have been distributed to the women to improve nutrition and agriculture productivity.

From 2016 to 2020, AAR had been providing interventions that helped women to reduce time spent on Unpaid Care Work which include access to clean water through provision of tap water to 510 households, 19 water kiosks, 580 rain water harvesting tanks, 3,629 energy saving cooking stoves contributing to environmental conservation and 11 ECDs with kids learning and playing materials.

Josephine Irene Uwamariya, ActionAid Rwanda Country Director, believes that Women and Girls Empowerment is an anchor of Sustainable Development and Prerequisite to Nation Building.

"Empowering women and girls enable them to take on key leadership roles at decision making levels contributing to systems change and enhancing gendered development. ", she said.

She reiterated that different interventions supported women to reduce dependency on their partners and got to know their rights.

"We do this by promoting and supporting sustainable farming through agroecology, advocating for Reduction, Redistribution, and Recognition of household Unpaid Care Work which would otherwise limit women and girls to sufficiently engage in economic activities and leadership opportunities and lead  them to psychological, physical, sexual, and property violence due to financial dependency on their partners,” she said.