The minister of Gender and Family Promotion Valerie Nyirahabineza has urged NGOs to work hand in hand with the government towards gender and family promotion. Valerie made this call last week while on a visit to Rubavu district to supervise and evaluate various activities and services provided to families by François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) foundation, an NGO that aims at reducing the consequences of HIV/Aids in societies. "I visited and interviewed various family members that are supported by FXB in Rugerero sector. They told me the life they lived before and how they are living now. I’m so much impressed with the activities that are carried out by the NGO. They are not different from the reports I had earlier on received about their activities in the district,” said the minister.She further said that though her random interviews with the beneficiaries of the services provided by the NGO, she got a true picture of how FXB has helped people out of poverty. "I think FXB should be supported by the government to spread its activities not only in Rubavu but also to other parts of the country,” she added. Joyce Mukaminega, one of the members that are supported by FXB, revealed that the NGO has greatly improved their living conditions. "Life was not easy before I joined FXB. I begged for money on Gisenyi streets. I did not sleep in a mosquito net, which resulted into getting malaria many times. I always used the bushes for long and short calls due to the fact that I did not afford the construction of a pit latrine,” she said. Joyce further explained that the NGO has helped members by constructing for them pit latrines, providing mosquito nets; and at the same time trained and supported them to make small scale projects that have helped them generate some income. According to Damascene Ndayisaba the FXB coordinator in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, the NGO helps orphans, the poor as well as families affected with HIV/Aids. He said that the NGO was also planning to start other projects such as providing residents with clean tap water, helping small scale projects and various associations that have the motives of pulling people out of poverty, providing good seeds to farmers, helping in increasing and supporting nursery schools as well as helping the poor to join Mutuelle de santé. "FXB is aimed at providing support for children with HIV/Aids. The strategies drawn up by FXB depend on the social, cultural, economic and political conditions of the regions in which the programmes are implemented. All FXB programmes aim to reduce the consequences of HIV/Aids in societies in general and on vulnerable children in particular as well as poor families,” he said The François-Xavier Bagnoud foundation in Rubavu district helps 240 families and over 1,520 countrywide. It started its activities in 2005 and moved to Rubavu district in 2006. FXB was founded in 1989 and named after François Bagnoud, a son of a wealthy family from Switzerland who died in a plane accident. Ends