One may ask: Why does gender matter for Never Again Rwanda and Interpeace in their peacebuilding interventions? Why is it necessary to engage the media in this process? In fact, men and women have different experiences of violent conflicts, war and genocides, but both genders play a key role in the process of rebuilding the hard and soft infrastructures of life. In the particular case of Rwanda, the many cycles of violence and the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis had different and specific impacts on men and women in general. As in many conflict contexts, rape was used as a weapon of war and in Rwanda; it was used as a strategy to exterminate an ethnic group – the Tutsis. Women were raped, but men got affected as victims and survivors of both marginalization and exclusion during the genocide. In the early stages of the genocide, men and boys (including male infants) were specifically targeted as representing the future enemy and future soldiers of the RPF, while the interahamwe recruited them to later be the brutal killers.
In understanding specific experiences of men and women through violence and especially the Genocide, the intersectionality between gender and other identities is a key component in designing appropriate strategies and approaches for healing and participatory governance. Never again Rwanda and Interpeace believe that the two axes of the program, healing and participatory governance respectively, complement each other because a healed society has the potential to fully engage in the decision-making process. Furthermore, participatory governance draws on peacebuilding values and principles such as inclusiveness, diversity, respect for all and social justice.
In the last three years of experience enhancing citizen participation at the local level, through 10 districts, we have seen young mothers attend meetings with babies on their back, with no facilities reserved for them to ensure their optimal participation while at the same time meeting their children’s needs (care and breastfeeding). This experience of women is equally rampant in other public spaces such as open days, trainings and meetings at the local level, in businesses, schools and churches. A participant in a workshop on persisting hindrances for women’s participation in local governance, organized in March 2017 by Never Again Rwanda, recommended that budgets should consider the special needs of women, especially nursing mothers, with regard to attending meetings, workshops or trainings. Ideally, this should already be possible thanks to the Gender Responsive Budget Policy adopted by the Government in 2008. Unfortunately while the triple role of women is acknowledged, there are several persisting hindrances to their effective participation in the decision making process, most importantly their limited access to information, technology, inadequate capacity building, as well as their limited access to and control over resources.
Gender analysis helps to highlight specific needs and priorities for men and women to inform policies, programs and budgets. It also helps to remedy gender-based inequalities and to meet the needs of different populations. Still, the role of the media is central in expanding the necessary space, to engage decisions makers, civil society and citizens together, to discuss critical issues and suggest possible solutions. The media also helps to advocate the citizens’ needs and priorities. The strategic focus on gender by Never Again Rwanda and Interpeace has given journalists like Habimana an enhanced purpose. Habimana states that he chose to advocate for vulnerable women from remote areas of the country, after finding that most of their rights are not upheld.
“I would like to see women and children participating in environment conservation, as well as to see their rights observed. When women’s rights are respected, their inclusion in the country’s social economic development is also valued.”
Never Again Rwanda and Interpeace recognize that gender integration and women’s empowerment are integral to the advancement of peace, reconciliation and development.