Through dance, plays and poems, Zakhia Mbabazi and her team express their mood and the gravity of gender based violence as an issue that continues to taint society. One Billion Rising Movement (OBR) is their platform, a campaign that runs across the world to end violence against women and girls. As they gather, they also celebrate the fact that they have not been defeated by such life issues. They rise to show they are determined to create a new kind of consciousness, one where violence will be resisted until it is unthinkable, Mbabazi says. As the coordinator for the Rwandan wing, she sheds light on the magnitude of this issue and mentions aspects such as men engage, as some of the strategies that need to be fully embraced if the world is to end this form of violence. The campaign runs to end violence against women and girls. “1 in 3 women across the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. That’s one billion women and girls. OBR rises in countries across the world to show our local communities and the world what one billion looks like and shine a light on injustice that survivors most often face,” she explains. Men and women, girls and boys all have a role in working to transform this picture, according to her, so that both genders thrive in partnership and in living productive lives. This is the challenge OBR is trying to address by bringing women and girls at the level boys and men are and continue to grow on the same level thereafter. As a recurring campaign that runs every February, the campaign has a different theme with every year it runs. “The theme has to relate with the OBR mission and we plan activities that go with it. We usually launch the next year’s theme before, usually towards end of year so that coordinators begin to plan how they will rise in February. We will not go far from the concept above in planning our 2022 rising, Mbabazi fights for a society where violence will be resisted until it is unthinkable. Pictures/ Courtesy Specific activities are yet to be approved. We look forward to a strong support from the authorities, who pledged so during the launch campaign plus partnership with other stakeholders. We also intend to work with the media to expand the reach of this campaign.” The road to transformed gender relations According to World Bank brief of September 2019, GBV issue; impact of GBV entails significant social and economic costs. Violence against women is estimated to cost countries up to 3.7% of the GDP, more than double what most governments spend on education. Children growing up with violence are more likely to become survivors themselves or perpetrators of violence in the future. According to the recently published Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2019-20 Final Report, on domestic violence, it’s reported that 46% of ever-married women and 18% of ever-married men have experienced spousal physical, sexual, or emotional violence. The prevalence of any spousal violence among ever married women increased from 40% in 2014-15 to 46% in 2019-20 but declined slightly from 20% to 18% among men over the same period. Numbers of GBV cases keep increasing and if not tackled can affect the quality of the future generation due to their psychological wellbeing. Of 1.3 billion global citizens living in poverty, a large percentage of that is women. While statisticians, theoreticians, multi-lateral organisations, NGOs and academics study this phenomenon, the women themselves whose daily lives form the reality of their life style have little time or strength for abstract debates regarding their condition, Mbabazi points out. She says, most of these women know its normal for any woman, their daily work, the high risk of maternal death, the constant and consistent discrimination, the stretching of daily incomes to feed and clothe their families, the exchange of their existence to survive one more day and so on. “It has been said, “Women hold up half the sky.” For millions of women locked in poverty, responsibility for their families’ and communities’ well-being does not end just because they encounter unequal access to resources in health, nutrition, education and economic structures. In their ongoing responsibility, the women themselves, their families and their entire communities pay a steep price for constraints and injustices encountered in attempting to provide for basic human needs.” The road to transformed gender relations failed to recognise the contributions of both genders. Projects, programs and policies that were developed did not keep track of the perception of GBV among women and men, boys and girls and how they impacted communities. They did not develop equitable and sustainable solutions as had expected, hence the reason why GBV is still an issue, she notes. “This calls for a quick yet very efficient attention of all stakeholders if the percentage of costs involved reported by World Bank is to reduce.” Way forward Basing on the previous campaigns and outcomes, Mbabazi says it has turned out to be creating big impact in terms of awareness, mind-set change, improving women and girls’ self-esteem. “It would be great if we were able to reach other parts of the country. Currently, we are operating in Gasabo and Rwamagana districts in Rwanda.” What fuels their campaign is their global solidarity to address the need by all countries involved. They think, plan and execute together. This gives them hope that together with local stakeholders, their vision to make violence unthinkable at some point in future will be attained. “We look forward to see this campaign owned by men and women, girls and boys on a very high note positively. We are so lucky in Rwanda that there’s huge support from the government to ensure that the issue of GBV is uprooted completely. We look forward to using this great opportunity through support from authorities and other stakeholders to implement our planned activities.”
