All of our activities and programs are guided by a belief in each person’s inner goodness and ability to love. In our post-genocide workshops, we bring together 10 survivors of the Rwandan genocide with 10 people who had been perpetrators. Our three-day basic workshop focuses on understanding trauma, loss, grief, and mourning, how to deal with the consequences (such as anger, depression, and isolation), and rebuilding community trust.

At one of our workshops, we heard from a man (featured in the video above) who had been in jail accused of killing the family of his neighbor, a widow of genocide. When he was released, he was afraid to approach the woman, but through our program, they were able to meet and to find forgiveness. They are now good friends working for peace and reconciliation in their community.

Our workshops have been highly successful for communities affected by the genocide, and we have expanded the program to provide healing for people who suffer from any and all kinds of traumatic events. This includes working with survivors of sexual and domestic violence, and with the Twa, a small minority group in Rwanda who suffer from serious historical trauma. By working with Rwanda’s three ethnic communities (the Hutu, the Tutsi, the Twa), we create a cornerstone for rebuilding interconnectedness and trust in Rwanda.

After we conduct a series of basic workshops in a community, participants often feel the need to engage in a similar type of healing process either for themselves or for family members or friends who did not get to attend. In these cases, the HROC attendees elect trusted members of the community to become Healing Companions. These Companions are trained to listen compassionately and guide people through the personal journey of trauma healing. Healing Companions become integral parts of developing peace and reducing isolation in their specific communities. We hold approximately 15 Healing Companion workshops a year.

Since we believe that trauma healing and peacebuilding are deeply connected, we decided to offer HROC workshops paired with Alternatives to Violence Program (AVP) trainings. AVP began as a highly experimental violence prevention program within the New York prison system in 1975 and was introduced to Rwanda in 2001. AVP’s themes include: seeking that which is good in ourselves and others, cooperation, community-building skills (trust, respect, and inclusiveness), communication skills (deep listening, speaking with clarity and responsibility), and conflict transformation.

In addition to our community-based workshops, we are promoting peace education to establish a future generation guided by values of nonviolence and harmony. We conduct a scholarship program in which we pair youth who were orphaned by the genocide, war, or HIV/AIDS, or who are living in extreme poverty, with sponsors who help cover the cost of education. We also provide these youth with a yearly Peace Retreat that teaches peacebuilding methodology and healing. Our peace library, which opened in April 2012, provides children with books containing messages of nonviolence, fun interactive activities, and peace/peer mediation workshops that focus on tolerance, cooperation, dealing with frustration/anger, and other peace skills.

by the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre, Kigali, Rwanda

Gender issues are commonly identified as solely women’s issues, and campaigns against gender-based violence, gender inequality, and sexually transmitted infections are very often associated with women’s organizations. We represent a group of dedicated men in Rwanda who are working hard to positively change that understanding. Founded in 2006, the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre’s vision is to create a “peaceful society where women and men share roles and responsibilities of raising families and governing society in equality and respect.”

The idea for the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre was born after a police report was released in 2005 with shockingly high statistics on the number of rapes committed across the country. It became obvious that men were the main source of a sexual abuse pandemic. At the same time, men were often standing silently in the way of, or blocking, women’s empowerment efforts. Men’s engagement in gender promotion, especially in efforts to end gender-based violence, was a major missing link in gender-responsive development programming in Rwanda.
 
Our organization began when a group of nine like-minded men who met regularly to discuss social and development issues decided to combat these growing trends. They thought to use and influence Rwanda’s National Policies, Strategies and Laws, which address gender issues, to change negative traditional definitions of masculinity—and the related attitudes and practices that fuel and perpetuate gender-based violence. Over the past few years, this group of nine men has grown into a vibrant national organization with 24 staff, 32 volunteers, 216 members and over 400 applicants waiting to be considered for membership at general assembly.
 
The Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre proactively engages men in promoting positive masculine behaviors so that men are supportive of women’s empowerment and play a significant role in ending men’s violence against women and children. We empower men so that they feel good about themselves, and we help them do away with aspects of masculinity that have affected them negatively in many parts of their own lives. We help men become better role models for other men, and in particular, more nurturing fathers to young boys.
 
In our efforts to create positive male engagement, we work from the grassroots to national levels. Our national volunteering team is actively organizing communities to prevent gender-based violence in 16 out of 30 national districts. In local communities, we are creating new men’s self-reflection groups to challenge negative behaviors, facilitating evening dialogue groups with couples in villages, and fostering masculine behaviors that support women’s economic empowerment. We work with local organizations and coffee cooperatives to promote gender equality, and we work with schools to educate youth about healthy relationships.
 
At the national level, we are advocating for and helping to create gender-responsive policies and development strategies. We are promoting healthy masculinities with uniformed people, especially the police and ex-combatants. Through our MenCare campaign, we are promoting men as caregivers, as good fathers and supporters of maternal health, and as health partners in fostering sexual and reproductive health in Rwanda. We also use radio as a tool to mobilize the public to end men’s violence against women and children.
 
Throughout our work, we aspire to positively adapt traditional Rwandan male roles to uphold gender equality. Working in partnership with women, we aim to create a society where men are positive and supportive of gender equality and women’s empowerment in order to promote healthy families in a peaceful Rwanda.