Women • In Focus

(Sheila McKinnon photo)

"The ultimate task was to determine what assistance and structures need to be put in place to further promote women's effective participation in government."

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Political Voices of
Grassroots Women

Rwanda's first National Conference on Women in Local Government, cosponsored by Africare and the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM), took place in late October 2001 in the capital city, Kigali. Participants were hundreds of ―

  • women who had assumed office within cells, sectors and districts as a result of Rwanda's 2001 local-government elections;
  • women elected by grassroots women's committees in 1999;
  • representatives of ministries;
  • parliamentarians;
  • civil-society leaders;
  • scholars;
  • and officials of international NGOs.

Said Africare's country representative in Rwanda, "The ultimate task was to determine what assistance and structures need to be put in place to further promote women's effective participation in government — to promote the voices of grassroots women." The conference report became a reference for all segments of Rwandan society on matters relating to women in government.

 

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(Updated, Dec. 19, 2007)