GITEGA/KARUSI March 18th (ABP) – The people of Gitega and Karusi province participated in the celebration of International Women’s Day 2022 edition.
In Gitega province, SWAA-Burundi, in collaboration with the governor’s office, organized on this occasion a follow-up-post-training workshop for community and religious leaders on the involvement of men in the prevention and response to gender-based violence as part of the Gir’iteka project.
It was also an opportunity for Swaa-Burundi to assess the activities of community and religious leaders in the fight against gender-based violence and in the provision of post-gender-based violence services.
The legal representative of Swaa-Burundi, Mrs. Rumina Pascasie, said that the Gir’iteka project supports implementing partners to strengthen partner community groups and structures. She also indicated that those sensitized and trained leaders, in turn, carry out awareness-raising actions at the community level around the themes of gender-based violence (GBV), HIV, stigma and gender equality. in their interactions with the community and provide support to survivors of sexual gender-based violence.
Mrs. Rumina further indicated that in addition to working with individuals and communities, health providers raise awareness among men and encourage them to support and even make choices about reproductive health and to mobilize other men to take a stand on gender equity and against gender-based violence.
As for the provincial coordinator of the Gir’iteka project in Swaa-Burundi, Mr. Egide Nimubona, community and religious leaders are making enormous and significant efforts in restoring the rights of women and girls, but also in preventing gender-based violence. made by men towards women and girls, because according to him, they are the ones who see and come into contact with these phenomena.
According to Nimubona, community and religious leaders have the role of raising awareness and educating the community, in particular men to be true partners in the fight against gender-based violence and not aggressors or perpetrators, hence the reduction in cases in their community.
Uwizeye Marie Reine, assistant adviser to the administrator of Gitega commune in charge of political issues, governance and social affairs, welcomed the contribution of Swaa-Burundi in the development of families, called on community and religious leaders to continue to sensitize the families still in concubinage to be enrolled in the service of the civil status as the municipal administration underlined it.
In Karusi province, the ceremonies were massively attended by MPs elected in the Karusi constituency, women from all municipalities, provincial executives and partner NGOs for the advancement of women.
Burundians have changed their face with regard to the treatment of women, according to Innocent Ntirampeba, the governor’s chief of staff in his speech for the occasion.
Yesterday we were singing the cases of violence against women but today it is the evaluation of the concrete achievements of women in their evolution according to the chief of staff.
The chairperson of the women’s forum in Karusi, Mrs. Marie Goreth Benimana, spoke about the representation of women in decision-making bodies, from the government to the commune, a situation that she considers positive.
Mrs. Benimana called on women to take advantage of their recently opened bank in the political capital.
On this occasion, she invited all women to collect, from tomorrow until April 24, maize, for the support of vulnerable women and children.
Returning to the theme of the year which calls for the prioritization of women in agricultural, livestock and environmental protection projects, Mrs. Benimana took this opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of housewife, relative to the theme of the day on the one hand, and to economic, legal and social development, on the other.
The country greatly needs women in the development of all sectors, she concluded.