final_aids2012_influencing the political arena updated (ah)

Influencing the Political Arena in
Rwanda
Viviane Furaha Kalumire, FRSL+/RW
Women’s meaningful participation in
shaping HIV decision-making, policies, and
programs

WOMEN & GIRLS: INFLUENCING THE POLITICAL ARENA IN RWANDA
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Presentation Outline
I. Background on Women, Girls, HIV in Rwanda
II. Promising Practices: 3 Case Studies
III. Key Strategies for Meaningful Participation
IV. Achievements
V. Lessons Learned and Recommendations

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Women, Girls and HIV in Rwanda
•HIV prevalence in Rwanda is 3.0% in the general
population aged 15-49 (DHS 2010).
•Women are disproportionately impacted, comprising
59% of infected adults.
•HIV prevalence is 3.7% among women 15-49,
compared to 2.3% among men.
•Prevalence is higher among women than men in nearly
every age group.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Promoting Women’s Participation
and Gender Equity in Rwanda
•Rwanda has been at the forefront of promoting
women’s empowerment and participation.
•The country has the highest proportion of female
parliamentarians in the world (56%).
•The country’s Economic Development and Poverty
Reduction Strategy emphasizes women’s representation
and participation in political processes.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Women’s participation in the HIV
response
•Progress has been made to promote gender equality
and women's participation in decision-making.
•However, women living with HIV (WLHIV) remain
underrepresented in the national HIV response.
•Experience shows that HIV policies and programs
often fail when women are excluded from shaping their
content and direction.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Promising Practices: 3 Case Studies for
Promoting Meaningful Involvement of
WLHIV (MIWA)
1. National Accelerated Plan for Women, Girls, Gender
Equality and HIV (2010-2014);
2. EC-UN Women “Supporting Gender Equality in the
Context of HIV/AIDS” program; and
3. National Strategic Plan for the Elimination of Mother-
to-Child Transmission of HIV (2011-2015).

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
National Accelerated Plan (NAP) for Women, Girls
Gender Equality and HIV (2010-2014)
• In 2010, Rwanda’s First Lady launched the four-year
Accelerated Plan to promote actions for addressing
gender equity and women’s empowerment in the HIV
response.
• “Concentrated effort is needed to ensure that women and
girls, especially those living with HIV, are empowered
and equipped to transform the national agenda to protect
and promote the needs and rights of women and girls in
the context of HIV.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
• WLHIV and women’s advocates are
key partners in developing and
implementing the plan, identifying
priorities and strategies to promote
equity and empowerment.
• The plan advocates to: “Empower
women, especially those infected and
affected by HIV, to become leaders and
active participants in the national HIV
response, shaping policies, programs,
and budgets.”
Women’s Participation in the NAP

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
EC-UN Women “Supporting Gender
Equality In The Context Of HIV/AIDS”
Program
•The program is a US $3.1 million, cost-sharing programme
between the European Commission and the United Nations Entity
for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN
Women).
•It is being implemented in five countries – Cambodia, Jamaica,
Kenya, Papua New Guinea and Rwanda (Jan 2009-Dec 2012).
•The overall objective of the programme is to ensure that
gender equality and human rights are integrated
into key policies, programmes, and actions to address HIV and
AIDS at the national level.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Promoting Women’s Empowerment
The EC-UN Women programme aims to:
1. Promote the leadership and participation of HIV-positive
women’s organizations and women affected by HIV/AIDS
in influencing and shaping the policies, programmes, and
resource allocations that address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in
5 selected countries.
1. Enhance the national commitment to and action for
addressing gender equality in the national AIDS response in
5 selected countries.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Increasing Women’s Participation
• In Rwanda, the EC-UNWOMEN program work with
women living with HIV’s organizations to strengthen
institutional capacity for advocacy and meaningful
participation in HIV decision making, policies and
programs.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
National Strategic Plan for the Elimination
of Mother-to-child Transmission of HIV
(2011-2015)
•In 2011, Rwanda developed a new national e-MTCT
strategy to meet its bold target of reducing mother-to-
child transmission of HIV to less than 2% by 2015.
•Successfully eliminating new HIV infections among
children and keeping their mothers alive requires that
women living with HIV are actively engaged in and
contribute to the development of national e-MTCT
strategies and targets.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
•A one-day consultative
workshop with WLHIV,
women’s advocates and
organizations was conducted to
identify women’s priorities, needs
and lessons learnt.
•Recommendations for women’s
involvement in the implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of the
plan were incorporated into the
final strategy.
National Consultation with WLHIV

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Promising Practices &
Achievements
• NAP (2010) and eMTCT Strategy (2012):
– Participatory processes involving WLHIV (workshops,
focus groups, and in-depth interviews) were used to
identify key priorities and activities, and to develop HIV
strategies that address women’s needs and rights and promote
gender equity.
• EC-UN:
– The EC-UN Women project fostered HIV-positive women's
leadership through training, technical assistance,
advocacy planning sessions, and the
development of formal mechanisms within national
AIDS coordinating bodies that include women.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Lessons Learned
•WLHIV's active participation in national HIV policies and
strategies development increases their visibility and ensures
that their needs and rights are prioritized (e.g. requirement
of future participation of women and girls in national HIV
decision-making).
•Such practices enable WLHIV to be directly involved in
implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of strategies
they helped to develop (e.g. by aligning their own programs
and budgets to the National Accelerated Plan).

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Lessons Learned
These case studies highlight MIWA's positive impact
and the need for concentrated commitment to actively
involve WLHIV in decision-making.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS:
•Deliberate programming is needed to ensure that women and
girls are empowered and equipped to transform national agendas
to protect and promote their needs and rights in the HIV context
in all countries.
•Concrete strategies and opportunities for engaging women and
girls in decision-making are necessary to ensure meaningful
participation of WLHIV.

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