UNDP to learn from Rwanda’s leadership on women’s empowerment

Kigali, Rwanda 21 April 2008 – Putting gender equality and women’s empowerment at the top of the international agenda is key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. “Investing in women and girls is not only a worthy goal in its own right - it is one of the fastest and best means of advancing human development for all” as Kemal Derviş, UNDP Administrator has said. To ensure that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is doing its part it is organizing a five-day Global Gender Equality Retreat, which was officially opened today in Kigali, Rwanda.

“We are here to learn from the experience of Rwanda, which has emerged from genocide to become a world leader in promoting women’s political participation”, said Winnie Byanyima, Director of UNDP’s Gender Team. UNDP staff members from offices all over the world are meeting in Kigali to take stock of the progress UNDP is making in supporting developing countries to achieve the third Millennium Development Goal on gender equality and to plan ahead. In particular, participants will focus on ways to implement UNDP’s new corporate Gender Equality Strategy. In doing so, they will meet with Rwanda government partners, scholars, civil society and private sector representatives and sister UN agencies. The UNDP officials will have a special meeting with members of the Rwanda Women’s Parliamentary Forum.

Special attention will also be given to deepen understanding of the intersection of gender, environment and sustainable development. On Thursday April 24 , an open session will be held to explore ways in which poor women and men from low income countries can gain more access to existing climate change finance mechanisms, and how new mechanisms could be designed to benefit them. “Women throughout the developing world have been acting to mitigate and adapt to climate change but their actions mostly at household and community level have not been recognized by decision-makers. It is important that women’s organizations and women-led businesses have access to environmental financing”, says Byanyima.

Speaking at the opening of the retreat, the UNDP Rwanda Country Director, Mr. Anthony Ohemeng-Boamah indicated that he was pleased that Rwanda was chosen for this event and that it is a recognition of the role Rwanda plays in advancing gender equality. Rwanda has an advantage compared to many other countries, which makes the work of UN in gender equality and women’s empowerment easier than perhaps elsewhere. The 2003 Constitution, along with determined leadership on gender issues, and strong policy commitments have given concrete results in a very short time.

He also stressed that UNDP and the UN Country Team through the Delivering as One UN Reform pay particular attention to gender in the development process. The UNDP Country Director stressed that ‘UNDP Rwanda, has a very practical roadmap set out in our Gender Mainstreaming Strategy, determining the steps we need to take in the coming few years to achieve the target of true mainstreaming of our work”, he added.

The retreat participants are expected to visit two Rwandan women’s environmental preservation projects. The first, “Association pour la Conservation de l’Environnement”, is a group of women collecting organic waste for composting and making briskets for use as cooking fuel, to reduce the demand for charcoal. The second, “Tuberwe Mode Batik”, is a women’s group that produces baskets and other products from leaves of bananas, sisal hemps and palm tress. Their products are environmentally friendly and provide an alternative to plastic bags which are prohibited in Rwanda.