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Women commit to solving problems that affect families
Uwajeneza Donatha
Sep 20, 2024 - 21:58
The leaders of Nyarugenge District have invited the representatives of the various sectors of the District to focus on resolving certain problems affecting women and children, in particular, homelessness and informal street trading, which are extremely widespread in the District, which operates largely in urban areas
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This point was underlined at the general assembly of the Nyarugenge District National Women's Council, held on Friday, during which performance contracts were signed with the District's leaders.
Mrs Genevieve Uwamahoro, Deputy Executive Secretary of Nyarugenge District, urged the National Women's Council to focus on certain urgent challenges affecting the communities in which they live.
She said: ‘The issues they should prioritise include promoting self-development, encouraging women to stop being idle and to work hard to improve the situation of their families. We also asked them, as part of their campaigns to raise awareness of women's progress, to ensure that women work in inappropriate and organised places. In Nyarugenge, we have many markets, so we asked them to encourage women and young people to avoid street trading and to sell their goods in places set aside for this purpose.
This challenge, along with other problems such as homelessness, are among the concerns that the District believes the National Women's Council should address, particularly in an urban environment such as the centre of Kigali.
One person said: ‘Some young girls are attracted to the city, others are brought to the city to work as domestic servants, but when they arrive, they encounter problems in the homes, and some of them end up becoming homeless without having planned it. These are the kinds of problems we face, and this is where we find a large number of girls who get knocked up without intending to or planning to, who find themselves manipulated into dropping out of school. These challenges are rooted in family problems, so we need to work with the government to solve the problem of homelessness and resolve family conflicts.
Another person added: ‘Women need to be financially empowered, but some of them don't understand that, and others do, but their means are limited. We need to raise women's awareness and talk to them so that they know that going to work on the legal and formal markets, and leaving the streets, can improve their economic situation’.
The coordinator of the National Women's Council in Nyarugenge District, Ms AGATESI MUGABO Marie Laetitia, stressed that these performance contracts must be fulfilled, through awareness-raising and education activities, and by tackling the root causes of these problems in order to find lasting solutions.
She said that the first step is to understand the root cause of the problem and that homelessness and many other problems are often linked to family conflicts.
She said: ‘This is a point that we have included in the performance contracts we have signed, with the emphasis on resolving family problems.’ She also added that they will undertake to discuss with the families in order to identify the central problem, because according to her, if the family problem is understood, a lasting and constructive solution can easily be found. For some, ‘We offer professional training, but we start with advice because it's impossible to teach someone in distress effectively. Some children have dropped out of school, and we defend them in collaboration with the local authorities so that they can return to school, which helps the family to progress’, said Ms Mugabo.
The MUTIMAWURUGO initiative will be implemented by representatives of the National Women's Council, in collaboration with various partners. It focuses on four key pillars: economic development, social well-being, good governance and justice.
Written by Gisubizo Philemon, Author: BERWA Gakuba Prudence
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