The need to advance and invest in girls’ and young women’s education, leadership and climate justice is getting more and more significant, both at national and global level.
Despite evidence demonstrating how central girls’ education and leadership are to the development of any country, gender disparities in such spaces persist.
Data from Unicef hows that around the world, 132 million girls are out of school, including 34.3 million of primary school age, 30 million of lower-secondary school age, and 67.4 million of upper-secondary school age.
The situation of girls’ education and participation in power spaces vary from region to region, but it is clear that Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions lagging behind on this, although individual countries have made great strides.
As far as the local context is concerned, Rwanda as a country has made some good progress in the recent years by mainstreaming gender in all its education systems, policies, programmes and projects, in addition to showing commitment to addressing issues that hinder girls' education in all contexts and levels.
However, advocates and activists say there is still more work to be done towards enabling and empowering girls and young women in the country.
In an interview with The New Times, William Mutero, the Country Director of Plan International Rwanda, a development and humanitarian organisation which works to advance children’s rights and equality for girls pointed out some gaps that need to be addressed,
"While Rwanda has outperformed most countries on all the four indices in the Global Gender Gap Report, 2021, the country is still ranked low for education attainment at 115 out of 156 assessed countries. This, therefore, calls for more efforts from all actors. As Plan International Rwanda, we are committed to working with the government to make sure this sector improves, especially with gender-transformative education,” he said.
"We believe that girls' education is a leading force for advancing gender equality and can save millions from gender-based violence, including teenage pregnancy. Investing in girls' education and leadership promotes their economic and financial independence, which are key enablers to attaining their full potential. Gender-transformative education equips girls with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to be resilient even in crises like Covid-19,” he added.
He stressed that when a girl is educated and empowered, she can claim and exercise her rights, including challenging the systems and norms that reinforce gender inequalities and issues like climate injustice,
"Girls should lead significant improvements in a country's resilience, including finding solutions to climate-related disasters. In a study done in 54 countries, women with secondary education were four times less likely to lack control over household resources, suffer from domestic abuse, or be married too young, compared to women with primary education only,” he said.
This newspaper talked to some key government agencies – specifically the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) and the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) to find out what is being done towards making more progress in creating more opportunities for girls and young women in Rwanda.
Here, Rose Baguma, the Director General of Education Policy and Anaysis at the Ministry of Education told us that the government is embarking on a number of measures to step up investment in an education system that responds to the needs and rights of girls.
Among these, is designing a girls’ education policy that lays down major principles and strategies to be followed to ensure that girls get equal opportunities to education, creating a budget line for hygiene facilities at district level where such materials are purchased and distributed to schools, introduction of girl’s rooms at school level to facilitate hygienic and conducive learning environment for girls more especially in their days of menstruation period, among others.
She also noted that there are efforts for awarding girls who excelled in national examinations in collaboration with IMBUTO Foundation, in addition to conducting sensitization campaigns in secondary schools to encourage more girls to join Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Science and Technology fields.
She stressed that investing in girls’ education creates confidence in them and makes them see the importance of education, assists them to get more involved in formal financial access, and equips them with leadership skills needed for getting into decision making positions.
Ange Marie Yvette Nyiransabimana, a Youth Engagement Program Coordinator at Citizen, Voice and Action (CVA) could not agree more.
"If girls are not educated, if their minds are not sharpened, it is hard for them to take part in solving issues that affect their lives,” she said.
"Policy makers should consider female participation in designing different programs and projects, so that the issues that affect girls and women can be addressed,” she added.
Nyiransabimana holds a bachelors degree in Governance and Leadership, and she believes that other young women can achieve the same or even more academic excellence.
"My advice to fellow young women is: you have to embrace your dignity. You don’t have to waste your life on small things which you may not have today, but you will have them tomorrow,” she said.
Silas Ngayaboshya, the Director General for Gender Promotion and Women Empowerment at MIGEPROF talked to this newspaper about the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic against girls’ education, and how they can be dealt with.
"The closure of schools and educational institutions during outbreaks has obviously increased dropout rates among girls and boys as well as putting most female-headed households and single mothers under considerable stress and tension to find time out of their busy schedule to care for children at home including footing extra costs like internet bills associated with online school assignments,” he said.
"With the gradual relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions and curfews, care and adequate support should be given to ensure that boys return to formal schooling. Also, clear communication with and involvement of the community at all levels so that girls experience social pressure as well as support to return to school,” he added.