GEOGRAPHY

The Republic of Rwanda is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Rwanda supports the densest human populations in continental Africa. According to a 2005 report, there are approximately   7.6 million people. The small country bears the title "Land of a Thousand Hills

 GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

“Rwanda women represent 48.8% in politics”

A new constitution, written by the RPF government, was adopted by referendum in 2003. The first post-war presidential and legislative elections were held in August and September 2003, respectively. By law, at least a third of the Parliament representation must be female. It is believed that women will not allow the mass killings of the past to be repeated. Rwanda topped a recently conducted global survey on the percentage of women in Parliament with as much as 49 percent female representation, currently the highest in the world.  The current Rwandan government, led by Paul Kagame, has been praised by many for establishing security and promoting reconciliation and economic development.

EASSI members in Rwanda are Profemme Twese Hamwe and SWAA Rwanda

Profemme/Twese Hamwe is a collective network for women’s organisations
They have over 50 organisations since 2006. The aims are Development
Stable society and Peaceful society and their vision is A society where all forms of discrimination against women are eliminated, with gender equality and development for all.  For more information, visit http://www.profemme.org.rw

SWAA-Rwanda is Society of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Africa and has been very active especially after the genocides where widows were the main survivors. Rape and poverty also escalated the AIDS scourge.

EASSI has been actively involved in a peace campaign in the region and through advocacy and networking, has managed to conduct several trainings and sensitization awareness campaigns with key organizations.