Esperance Mukamunigo is a member of Muhoza citizen forum in Musanze district.
“Before joining the forum, I was that woman who never attended the communal activities like Umuganda, Inteko y’abaturage, and others. I used to stay home, working for my family. I did not think that my contribution was needed in community development until I joined the forum.
One day I attended Umuganda in my community, and after cleaning we had a meeting. One of the citizens raised a question about the election process that was near. I wanted to answer the question and was given the floor. Leaders used my answer to give further explanation to citizens. If I hadn’t been a member of citizen forum I would have not been confident enough to stand in the crowd and speak.
From that day, I believed that everyone can share his/her view anytime and anywhere, especially women.”
One of the achievements of the citizen forum that Esperance recognizes is the advocacy made for reopening some of the closed water bodies, which impeded citizens from getting water.
“Our forum has impacted the community positively through empowering women to take part in the community development activities. Nowadays women are confident enough to participate and share their opinions on different issues. Men also knew that they have to support women so that no will be left behind.”