Kind People

ISSUE:
Women's lack of access to land and property rights is an underlying cause of domestic physical and economic violence in the Ruhango District of Rwanda's Southern Province. According to team leaders, most community members are uneducated about the legal rights of women and the importance of legal marriage to protect a woman's rights to property inheritance.

SOLUTION:
To protect women's property rights and promote legal marriages, the Kind People project team will train 400-500 men and women about the laws protecting the family and the mutual benefits of legal marriage. As a follow-up to these trainings, advocacy clubs will be created within each umudugudu (neighborhood) to act as a resource for women who may still fall victim to continued domestic. Project goals include:

• To reduce the number of women being sent away by their husbands
• To reduce physical violence against women
• To reduce the number of and disputes within families
• To help men and women see one another as equals
• To ensure couples choose legal marriage
• To promote development within families

IMPACT:
The project will train 20 couples in each of the 9 cellules within their sector, for a total target population of 180 couples. By building an extensive presence throughout the community, they hope to become the 'go-to' network for victims of domestic violence, with a target of assisting 45 women per month to report their problems to the local authorities and help them to find a solution.