Action Aid Rwanda, an international humanitarian body, has launched a $3 million (approx Rwf2.2 billion) women empowerment project aiming at increasing income for women as well as advocating for their rights.

The five-year project dubbed, ‘‘Funding New Leadership and Opportunities for Women 2’’ (FLOW) was launched on Friday in Kigali, an event that convened various stakeholders from donors, government institutions, civil society private sector and beneficiaries of the project.

The project will be implemented in five districts: Nyanza, Gisagara and Nyaruguru in the Southern Province, Musanze in Northern Province, as well as Karongi in the Western Province.

The project is already operating in three other countries: Ghana, Bangladesh and Pakistan focusing on the empowerment of women at households and community levels by raising their awareness about their rights, training them in processing, packaging and market accessing methodologies.

The project looks to widen women’s income base and increasing their economic participation through helping them have access to productive resources and reliable markets, as well as reducing the time they spend on unpaid care work so that they may have more time to engage in profitable business.

Josepine Uwamariya, the country director of Action Aid Rwanda said that the project will help to bring recognition to the work done by women. She added that women play a significant role in agriculture with up to 80% of food production done by them, yet it is not recognized by men because it does not bring in recognisable incomes for the families

"We want to make sure that the time spent by women on unpaid care work is reduced so that they will have more free time to engage in social, economic and political activities,” she said.

According to Anatole Uwiragiye, the projects manager at Action Aid Rwanda, under this project women will receive agricultural provisions in form of quality seeds, animals as well as training them in leadership skills for effective participation in meetings so that they play a role in community decision making.

"Action Aid will work with local government to make sure these women are supported. For example we shall advocate for increased budgetary allocation for interventions proven to reduce time the women spend on unpaid work,” he said.

According to him, the project will help link women to alliances, networks and coalitions at local and national levels to help them develop and implement advocacy plans of demanding for their rights.

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