First Quarter Kvinna till Kvinna Project Activities
The first quarter of this year’s project “Strengthening the role of young women in preventing and resolving conflict and peacebuilding through sports” in partnership with Kvinna till Kvinna has finished and AKWOS looks back on a series of successfully implemented activities. The work on the field started with an introduction meeting to present the planned activities and the goals of the project to the districts’ stakeholders. Not long after this, we celebrated international women´s day with our rights holders in Rubavu and Musanze districts. The events served as a platform to highlight the importance of women in peace building, preventing gender based violence, fighting climate change and the power of women in sports at community level. After this activity, AKWOS started the revision of their training manuals to expand the topics covered and improve the quality of the capacity building. This took place for staff and for right holder once the new manuals were validated. The Staff and right holders learned about power relations, gender lifeline and prevention of GBV and its response as well.
Celebration of international women´s day on 8th March
On international women´s day 2022, AKWOS staff team was in Rubavu with their right holders. The event was started with a friendly game between the women teams of football from Nyakiriba and Mudende sectors. It was officially kicked off by one of the guests of honor, Honorable Mrs Espérance NYIRASAFARI, vice president of the Rwandan Senate. The game was followed by different speeches and discussions about women in peace building, climate change and the prevention and response to GBV. Through the game watched by many attendants, it was also a celebration of women in sports. One day later AKWOS also celebrated the same international day with right holders in Musanze district with a friendly game between Kinigi and Nyange sector women´s football teams at the center of the event. Local leaders were present and spread powerful messages related to women’s empowerment especially in sports sector. As motivation to continue do better and increase their sports activities to a professional career, the winning teams in both districts received a Trophy.
Training of AKWOS staff and right holders
The capacity building workshops for staff and right holders happened in Rubavu from April 18th to 21st and in Musanze from April 22nd to 25th. They focused on power relations, gender lifeline and prevention and response of GBV. With the acquired knowledge, the trained right holders will educate other Women sports club for Peace(WSCFP) members, who will ultimately all work on these topics in the communities. This contributes to the big goal of the project, reducing conflicts and violence in family households in targeted communities. Especially GBV is a prevailing issue, and with the training, WSCFP members have learned methods to tackle GBV cases in their environment which will hopefully reduce the overall number of GBV cases. The acquired skills by both staff and right holders will hopefully also increase the awareness about the importance of GBV prevention in the respective communities.
