As a result of trainings on human rights and democratic decision making processes under Never Again Rwanda’s ‘Inzira Nziza’ activity supported by USAID, trained youth have started to independently organize community level activities aimed at strengthening accountability through promoting and enhancing meaningful participation of the youth.
The awareness raising campaign in Nyabihu District on 25th July 2018, consisted of community dialogue sessions on human rights, democracy, and youth participation, and youth football tournaments in different sectors of Nyabihu District (Karago, Mukamira, Jomba and Bigogwe).
In Birandeba campaigns in Nyabihu District, participants were a mixture of youth trained under Inzira Nziza, and their peers who shared some of the same realities within their communities.
In the football tournament, Bigogwe won the final match 5-1 against Karago in the inter-sector level football tournament organized by youth. The youth organized football tournament aimed to attract their peers to then listen to some key positive messages on youth involvement aired through the sound system.
A male participant noted that before being trained under Inzira Nziza, youth were dormant in government programs, but today youth have expressed a significant willingness to contribute to their communities.
“After being trained under Inzira Nziza, we raised awareness on building the confidence of youth for their meaningful participation in our communities. Now we have attracted a good number of our peers to help local leaders in raising awareness on Government programs in our communities”.
Inzira Nziza Activity Manager at Never Again Rwanda, Hategekimana Jean Baptiste, has called upon youth trained under Inzira Nziza to participate, engage, and collaborate with other youth to promote human rights and democracy in their communities.
“Something that impedes the youth ability to participate in the decision making processes is when ideas of youth are rejected by their peers in front of decision makers. You need to plan your actions and have a common understanding so that your ideas and concerns are heard and considered in the decision-making processes”.
The District Community Liaison Officer (DCLO) and Inspector of Police (IP), Alexandre Minani, noted that engaging young people means that policy decisions that affect them are appropriate, relevant, supportive, and responsive to the needs of young people. He noted that youth are the vital force to drive the nation, and it is important to make policy processes more transparent and accountable.
The Executive Secretary of Mukamira in Nyabihu district, Gahutu Tebuka Jean Paul, underlined the fact that youth should not be considered as a problem but rather potential agents of transformation within their communities. He has called upon the youth to participate in all processes of parliamentarian’s elections ahead.
“We need more youth to be involved in our decision-making processes such as elections, raising awareness on human security issues, and reaching out to young people in disadvantaged areas”.
Inzira Nziza is an activity which has trained 500 youth and local leaders on human rights, youth participation, and democratic decision-making processes, funded by USAID Rwanda and implemented by Never Again Rwanda in 5 districts (Nyamagabe, Gisagara, and Huye from Southern province, Nyabihu, and Ngororero from the Western Province).