YEMEN

U. A. E.

UGANDA

TANZANIA

SUDAN

SOMALIA

SAUDI

ARABIA

QATARLIBYA

KUWAIT

KENYA

JORDAN

ISRAEL

IRAQ

IRAN

ETHIOPIA

ERITREA

EGYPT

DIJBOUTI

DR CONGO

CHAD

CENTRAL

AFRICA REPUBLIC

BURUNDI

BAHRAIN

ANGOLA

KigaliKibuye

GisenyiGabiro

Butare

Gatsibo

Country OfficeProgram Units

RWANDA

3GOODREASONS whyPlanworksin

OURPRIORITIESin

Capital: KigaliPopulation: 10.7 millionLanguages: Kinyarwanda, French, English and Kiswahili Climate: Temperate. There are two rainy seasons (February to April and November to January). It is mild in the mountains with occasional frost and snow.

Economy: Rwanda is a poor rural country with about 85 per cent of the population engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture. It is the most densely populated country in Africa and is landlocked with few natural resources and minimal industry. Primary foreign exchange earners are coffee and tea.

RwANDAFAcTS

• 45 per cent of children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition

• More than half of young men are unemployed

• Only 13 per cent of girls attend secondary school

• Enabling girls to enrol, attend and reach their full potential at primary and secondary school

• Helping children under six to survive and thrive, and helping families and communities to promote children’s healthy development

• Tackling unemployment and social and political disenfranchisement among young people

• Boosting children’s participation at all levels of social discussion and decision-making

‘welearntthatgiventheopportunitygirlscanperformbetterthanboys’

Girls attend classes at Kiziguro Secondary School

AYEARIN

RwANDA SUMMARYREPORT

2010

Students receive media training as part of the Youth Empowerment project

Rwanda Rwanda

FOcUSON:girls’educationPlanaimstohelpgirlsenrolatschoolandcompletetheireducation.wearehelpinggirlstogetafairerdealfromtheeducationsystemthroughmentoringandspecialclasses.wearealsoworkingtomotivateimpoverishedanddisadvantagedgirlstocontinueintheireducation.Finally,weare

MARY’SSTORYOnlyafractionofgirlsinruralRwandagotosecondaryschool.

Formany,educationcomessecondtostayingathomeandhelpingtorunthehousehold.Frequentlygirlsarepressuredintogettingmarriedyoung.Yeteducationhasprovedtobeatoolforempoweringwomenthroughouttheworld.Andwhenwomenareeducated,theirchildrenandtheirwholecommunitiesbenefit immensely.

That’s why Plan is targeting girls’ education as a central part of our program in the country.

Mary, aged 17, is fairly typical of the girls we are trying to help. A promising computer science student, Mary is boarding at Kiziguro School in Gatsibo, north-east Rwanda. The school is one of Plan’s partners working to improve education for girls, and Plan has been working to make the school a friendly environment for girls and support them academically.

UncomfortableconditionsSchools in Rwanda are mostly uncomfortable environments for female students. Lack of sanitary towels during menstruation has long been a hindrance for girls attending school, and there are often no facilities to wash themselves and toilets are often unpleasant or non-existent.

Also, the sleeping arrangements at the school are often a problem. ‘My parents live in Nyagatare district at more than one and a half hours’ drive from Kiziguro Secondary School,’ says Mary. ‘The Kiziguro dormitory is the only place where I can stay for my studies and before this new building we used to sleep two people to a bed.’

Fortunately this all started to change last year. Plan helped Kiziguro Secondary School to construct a new dormitory building for girls with a capacity of 600.

Mary is happy about other improvements to the school too, including basic new indoor lavatories and access to water from new rainwater catchment systems for washing.

NewapproachespayoffAside from added infrastructure, the focus on education in Kiziguro puts emphasis on extra tuition so that girls whose education may have been neglected can catch up with the boys. In April 2009, Mary was one of 70 girls at the school who stayed behind in the holidays for extra tuition.

While the main objective of the tuition was the improvement of skills in English, which has recently become the official language of Rwanda, Mary and her classmates also debated several cultural topics. During the week of extra classes, the girls learned to develop their opinions and improve their life skills.

This tuition helped girls like Mary perform better in the following term. ‘We learnt that given the opportunity girls can perform better than boys,’ says Sarah, one other girl who took part. ‘I also discovered the potential in me when I took the seventeenth position out of 41 students.’

For Mary and her classmates, the biggest benefit of the improvements to the school has been a change in attitude towards what girls can achieve. They have taken part in new approaches to learning, including working in groups with other girls and mutually analysing and commenting on projects. Also, they have discussed crucial issues such as sexual harassment and learnt how to prevent it.

Initiatives like this support girls and women of Rwanda to succeed and be an equal part of a peaceful society with opportunities for all.

Some names have been changed for child protection and privacy reasons

improvingthequalityoftheeducationsoschoolsareworthwhileandenjoyableplacesforchildrentobe.

Produced for Rwanda by Plan International Australia.

Plan is working with children, families and communities to find sustainable solutions to the challenges in Rwanda. We have only given you a small insight into Plan’s work in Rwanda with this report but over the past year we also:

• Reduced girls’ school drop-out rates through integration of gender issues in education and providing water and sanitation facilities to primary schools

• Implemented a child protection program to improve opportunities for vulnerable children including those who are sexually exploited, child heads of households, or children orphaned by HIV/AIDS or genocide

• Trained a range of adults with key skills including 580 agricultural workers, 88 health workers and 80 education workers

• Activated the Youth Empowerment through Arts and Media project to provide space and tools for young people to engage with their peers across the world

Your support as a sponsor is crucial to achieving these results. With the resources provided by sponsors, Plan expertise and the collaboration of communities and local partners we are making a big difference to the lives of people in Rwanda.

Thank you for your involvement!

‘IlooktothefutureandtotheprospectoftheexpansionofPlaninRwanda,andtothefurtherdevelopmentandtransformationthatPlanbringstothecommunities’– Mamadou Kante, Plan’s countryDirectorinRwanda

TolearnmoreaboutPlan’sworkinRwandavisitplan.org.au/ourwork/southernafrica/rwanda

A meeting held as part of an Early Childhood Care and Development project in Murambi

ThEBIGGERPIcTURE

‘SchoolsinRwandaaremostlyuncomfortableenvironmentsforfemalestudents.’