Girls from Mahama refugee camp in Rwanda return to school - EDUFAM Project

In Rwanda, teenage girls in the Maham refugee camp have resumed their studies thanks to the EDUFAM project of CECI-Rwanda, Pro-FemmesTwese Hamwe collective.

This project’s awareness campaign was able to really help these girls thanks to strategies that allowed them to better understand how to overcome the factors at the root of their non-enrolment. Its main goal was the prevention of crimes and violence against girls.

The activities of the EDUFAM project designed to promote the education of girls in the Great Lakes region are beginning to pay off, as the staff can attest. Etienne Ntakirimana, a finance and administration staff member in the Mahama sector, explains: "We are very grateful to our partner PRO-FEMMES for this project, because it helps our teenage daughters. Their parents also benefited from the training on equitable, safe and inclusive education.”

Angélique Mulisa, coordinator of the EDUFAM project, further highlights its success by explaining that despite the fact that the activities began in the midst of the Covid-19 health crisis, the project has delivered considerable results.

Girls and boys detecting talent

Through its activities, EDUFAM does not only focus on girls. EDUFAM also promotes discussions with young teenage girls and boys and creates public spaces for recognizing talent and for deconstructing gender stereotypes through art competitions. There is also a clear message about drug control and reproductive health issues.

Ms. Mulisa also explains that in two years, the EDUFAM project will have reached 23,000 adolescent in 5 schools in the region through its awareness campaign. The theme of the campaign is the prevention and fight against unwanted pregnancies.

The Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion recently published a report showing that in 2021, 23,000 teenage girls had unwanted pregnancies, and that 9188 of them were from the Eastern Province. The same report also shows that 2043 of these girls were under the age of 17.

Our partner Pro-Femmes / Twese Hamwe is a platform for women's civil society organizations to promote the status of women. The organization is present in every district of the country and is a member of the Collective of Women's Associations of the Great Lakes Region (COCAFEM/GL).

Click here to learn more about the EDUFAM project

Text inspired by the article by Ndahiriwe Jean B. published on Iriba News