This module is tailored to women trained women’s facilitators at community level to Foster positive change. The module was developed following the establishment of women’s spaces as safe venues for women at community level to interact and exchange of their day to day life challenges mainly on how they can prevent GBV and overcome its consequences. It is intended to improve knowledge, attitudes, skills, and actions of women; facilitate women to connect with other women on key GBV issues and support each other to collectively organize themselves for change. The training module also aims at creating an enabling environment for gender equality and GBV prevention and response in communities.

pdf Download (2.27 MB)

Stern, E., & Heise, L. (2018). Sexual coercion, consent and negotiation: processes of change amongst couples participating in the Indashyikirwa programme in Rwanda. Culture, health & sexuality, 1-16.

pdf Download (1.36 MB)

Rachel Kwizera CARE Rwanda

Indashyikirwa (Agents for Change) is an intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention project being implemented across seven Districts in the Western, Northern and Eastern provinces of Rwanda. The programme targets both partners of couples through a series of reflection sessions that challenge causes of gender based violence (GBV) and promote equality.
Ndabaruta Beatrice and Ndayambaje Godefroid are one of the couples that were selected to be a part of the five-month, weekly curriculum.
Beatrice spoke about the difference in her life and relationship before and after participating in the curriculum: “When we got married we didn’t own much, but as time went on, it got worse. We barely had any food in the home because even the little earnings we had my husband spent on alcohol. He always came home late and drunk and he often kicked the door open while hurling insults at me and the children. I became such a miserable person to the extent that I didn’t care whether I took a bath or not, I was not even bothered about body hygiene. I lived in that hopeless situation for seven years”.

The Indashyikirwa programme in Rwanda was implemented over four years (2014-2018) by CARE Rwanda International, Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre, and Rwanda Women’s Network, in rural Rwanda. The programme aimed to reduce IPV, shift social norms and attitudes condoning violence, and provide more empowering responses to survivors.

This practice brief highlights lessons learned from the Indashyikirwa programme on working with couples to prevent IPV. These include the need to design a culturally appropriate curriculum with content that is relevant and appropriate for the target community, and recruit skilled male and female facilitators who over a prolonged period of time can build a rapport with and equip couples with the skills to build healthy, non-violent relationships.

pdf Download (360 KB)

The Indashyikirwa programme in Rwanda was funded by the UK department for International Development, with the aim of preventing and reducing intimate partner violence. The programme was implemented over four years (2014-2018) by CARE Rwanda International, Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre, and Rwanda Women’s Network, in Eastern, Western and Northern provinces of rural Rwanda. One of the components of the programme included the training and engagement of opinion leaders to help create an enabling environment for social change.

This practice brief highlights lessons learned from – and assesses the value of – engaging opinion leaders as part of a comprehensive intimate partner violence prevention programme. In order for effective engagement to take place, there is a need to carefully map which key opinion leaders can and should be targeted, and maintain regular dialogue and communication. It is also important to engage them not just as opinion leaders, but also as people in relationships themselves.

pdf Download (340 KB)

The Indashyikirwa programme in Rwanda was funded by the UK department for International Development, with the aim of preventing and reducing intimate partner violence. It was implemented over four years (2014-2018) by CARE Rwanda International, Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre, and Rwanda Women’s Network, in rural Rwanda. One of the components of the programme included training couples as community activists (CAs), with the view to diffusing the benefits of the programme to a larger audience.

This practice belief highlights the impact of training of 840 couples as CAs, which include them feeling better equipped to respond to IPV, greater community awareness of IPV and greater community support for women’s empowerment and more gender equitable division of household labour. Recommendations consist of training more couples as CAs, adapting the community activism component to the specific country and context in which it is being applied, and ensuring proper linkage between the community activism component and other parts of the Indashyikirwa programme, e.g. engagement with opinion leaders.

pdf Download (418 KB)

The Indashyikirwa programme in Rwanda was funded by the UK department for International Development and implemented over four years (2014-2018) by CARE Rwanda International, Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre, and Rwanda Women’s Network, in Eastern, Western and Northern provinces of rural Rwanda. The programme aimed to reduce IPV, shift social norms and attitudes condoning violence, and provide more empowering responses to survivors. One of the components of the programme involved the establishment of women’s safe spaces, where women and men could disclose and discuss IPV, and be referred or accompanied to health, justice and social services.

This evidence brief reveals that the creation of safe spaces helped facilitate the disclosure of IPV, enhanced knowledge and awareness of more gender equitable norms, offered opportunities for collective solidarity and livelihoods skills training, and improved the quality of and linkages to formal services.

pdf Download (577 KB)

Indashyikirwa is a multi-collaborator programme to prevent intimate partner violence prevention (IPV), across rural Rwanda. It is being implemented by CARE Rwanda, Rwanda Women’s Network (RWN) and Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC). A critical component of the programme is the creation of women’s safe spaces dedicated to offering informal support to survivors of IPV, including a pathway for referral to formal services (i.e., health, criminal justice and social services). Drawing on their experience implementing the Polyclinics of Hope since 1997, the RWN established14 safe spaces, designed to address the health, psychosocial, and socio-economic needs of gender based violence (GBV) survivors. At each women’s safe space, 22 facilitators were recruited from the communities engaged in the programme and trained to offer dedicated support to women and men that report IPV, educate women about their rights, and refer or accompany individuals who wish to report abuse or seek health or social services.

Stern, E., Martins, S., Stefanik, L., Uwimpuhwe, S., & Yaker, R. (2018). Lessons learned from implementing Indashyikirwa in Rwanda-an adaptation of the SASA! approach to prevent and respond to intimate partner violence. Evaluation and program planning, 71, 58-67.

pdf Download (442 KB)

Stern, E., & Niyibizi, L. L. (2018). Shifting Perceptions of Consequences of IPV Among Beneficiaries of Indashyikirwa: An IPV Prevention Program in Rwanda. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 0886260517752156.

pdf Download (386 KB)