HUYE – Women in Huye district, Sunday, joined the rest of the country in the early afternoon festivities to celebrate the giant strides the country has taken in gender and women promotion.

Activities of the day included a march attended by hundreds of residents from Tumba and Ngoma sectors and testimonies from women who have made tangible progress within the community.

Gloriose Uwamwezi, the president of the National Council for Women in the district, said that women have registered great progress in the last 16 years than ever before in the history of the country.

"We have been able to make progress because of able and visionary leadership which has the interests of women at heart, let us continue this progress and strive to make a difference in our homes and the community at large,” she said.

Women from the two sectors showcased the achievements registered in the last 16 years. They also hailed pro-women programmes which have pulled them out of extreme poverty.

Aimée Mwizerwa, the president of the student’s guild at the National University of Rwanda, said that gender and women promotion has been wholly embraced at the biggest public university in the country.

"I made history by becoming the first female guild president since the university was established in 1963,” she said, amid applause at Huye stadium.

Representatives of women from different cells flanked by their Cell Executive Secretaries signed performance contracts where they vowed to excel in the areas of social and economic welfare, and good governance.

Jeanne Izabiliza, the Provincial Secretary urged women to implement the performance contracts; and called for communal efforts in achieving the targets set in the contracts.

She urged women to turn up massively in the forth coming presidential polls and to vote for leaders who will advance their cause after the polls.

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