MIDIMAR, MIGEPROF, UNHCR and UNWOMEN Launch Inter-Agency Gender Action Plan for Refugees in Rwanda at Kigali Convention Center “Yes, I can!”
MIDIMAR, MIGEPROF, UNHCR and UNWOMEN Launch Inter-Agency Gender Action Plan for Refugees in Rwanda at Kigali Convention Center “Yes, I can!”
At an event which took place at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Kigali Convention Center on 8th February, 2018, the Government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees (MIDIMAR) and Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and UN Women presented the Interagency Gender Action Plan for Refugees in Rwanda. Participants in attendance included Government institutions, the diplomatic community, civil society, representatives of the refugee community and the UN system. The action plan represents the way forward to implement the recommendations of the Interagency Gender Assessment, which was presented in March 2017.
The presentation of the Interagency Gender Action Plan aims at providing an overview of the progress so far made in working to improve gender equality in refugee settings in Rwanda, and also the way forward to address outstanding gender gaps. The action plan is organized according to the sectors linking the recommendations to key actions to be prioritized in 2018-2020 to address these gaps. It also includes an overview of the different actors’ needs in order to implement the action plan.
The Gender Action Plan was developed by the Refugee Technical Gender Working Group co-chaired by MIDIMAR and UNHCR with active participation of representatives from MIGEPROF, GMO, MINALOC, RNP, NCC, UN WOMEN, UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP, IOM, RWN, ADRA, ARC, Plan International, World Vision, Save the Children, African Humanitarian Action and LAF. However, the Action Plan in place is a reflection of views and concrete ideas of refugees themselves who played a critical role in identifying gender gaps and suggesting actions to address them.
Currently, nearly 175,000 refugees and asylum seekers are hosted in Rwanda, with the majority living in six refugee settlements across the country. Urban refugees living in Kigali and Huye make up 21% of the total population. While the Burundian refugees continue to cross into Rwanda every day, the majority of the Congolese refugees have been in Rwanda for over two decades. Refugees living in the camps continue to depend upon full humanitarian assistance, which is very limited and unsustainable.
The assessment conducted in all refugee camps in 2016 found that gender equality is often stemming from issues linked to lack of household resources, lack of access to livelihood opportunities for women, and traditional gender roles persisting in employment and leadership. As such a key pillar of the action plan focuses on increasing refugees’ equal access to self-reliance opportunities, including through building up basic life skills, literacy and numeracy, and education which are needed to unlock higher earning potentials. Including more development fund in the refugee response is critical to ease the pardon on the national government. And the opportunity is there, the World Bank offering sub-window for the refugees, government need to apply for this fund and include the refugees in the national planning.
The aim of the event included presenting proposed actions across all sectors and a range of actors, but also to catalyse key institutions in gender equality in Rwanda to contribute ideas on how they can include refugees in their on-going activities in Rwanda.
“Refugees have been part of the solution throughout their difficult journey and have the potential to be self-reliant,” said UN Women Representative, Ms Fatou Lo. “Refugees have a greater opportunity to contribute to the economic development of host countries. As the core message of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is inclusiveness and resilience, leaving no one behind means removing barriers that displacement and gender place on refugee populations.”
Rwanda is a global leader in gender equality, in part because the Government has made gender equality a priority. Refugees, especially the ones who have been here for many years, have learned a great deal from the Rwandan experience, not only in gender equality but also the social support system and peaceful coexistence. By empowering refugee women and girls today, we are also working towards sustainable solutions for them including building up their potential to one day return home.
Fatou further added, “Being a refugee is just a circumstance. If we remove barriers for refugees then nothing is impossible and they can go back to the dreams they once had. We can all contribute to this.”
During the event, Ni Nyampinga was praised for its contribution in disseminating knowledge about reproductive health among the refugee youth, and promoting behaviour change in the camps.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE INTERAGENCY GENDER ACTION PLAN
“The Gender Action Plan is a living document, so we encourage anyone with ideas for actions to help address gender gaps in refugee locations to contact us so we can add you to the action plan! Please email UNHCR Gender Expert at [email protected]”