AEGIS TRUST has announced plans to open three peace-building centres in Southern and Eastern provinces under a programme dubbed, Action for Sustainable Peace, Inclusion, Rights and Equality (Aspire). The initiative, launched early this week, seeks to actively engage citizens in ongoing efforts to promote peace and unity and to inculcate strong moral values in communities. The programme, which is set to last at least four years,is particularly targeting the youth, teachers, parents as well as opinion leaders and decision-makers, is designed to help consolidate the gains made in the national reconciliation effort. With a plan to reach at least about a million people,the initiative is a welcome addition to already existing interventions in the area of peace-building and reconciliation – in a society deeply scarred by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. According to the Rwanda Reconciliation Barometer 2021, the country has generally made impressive strides in reconciliation pillars, including Citizenship, Identity and Responsibility (94.6%); Social Cohesion (97.1%); and Understanding the Past, the Present and Envisioning the Future, at 94.6%. The other pillars, Security and Wellbeing (94.3%); Justice, Fairness and Rights (93.1%); and Political Culture and Governance (90.6%), were also found to have improved. While the majority of indicators showed strong improvement, the barometer also revealed gaps in different indicators. Indeed, community-based programmes like the one launched by Aegis Trust are an important contribution toward removing lingering obstacles to unity and reconciliation. Some of these challenges include people who continue to propagate genocide ideology and divisive politics, at 8.6 per cent (although the rate fell from 31.5 per cent in 2010 to 25.8 per cent in 2015). Other factors that were cited as hindering reconciliation include ethnic-based stereotypes, at 27.9 per cent, lingering genocide ideology, at 25.8 per cent, and wounds caused by the genocide and divisive politics, at 26.9 per cent. Another major issue that the Rwandan society faces 27 years since the Genocide happened is what has been described as trans-generational trauma, which has been identified among many youths who were born after the killings or were still very young at the time. A study by Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) indicated last year that this form of trauma stood at 18 per cent among 24-35-year-olds. In addition, a different study conducted in Bugesera District found that 44 per cent of survivors aged 45 years and above were experiencing recurrent depression, as did 22 per cent of the perpetrators who had returned to communities after serving out their time. Recurrent depression was also reported among 33 per cent of the perpetrators who were still serving sentences. These are serious issues that need sustained effort in continuously engaging and offering trauma counselling services to communities, including young people,and to work to address their concerns. This is why peacebuilding, healing and reconciliation initiatives at the grassroots are still critical now and will be in the future.
