Gender monitoring officers in districts lack capacity to carry out their duties and have called for more training to enhance their skills.This was observed during a recent meeting organised by the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion to assess the officers’ effectiveness.“We have not had enough training on what we are meant to do and this has heavily affected the execution of our activities,” said Claudine Ingabire, Gender Officer in Rulindo District.She pointed out that among other activities; officers experience challenges in coming up with Gender Budget Statements (GBS), a requirement to access finance that supports implementation of their action plans.Chantal Nyirazana, from Nyamagabe District said that the trainings should also clearly define their responsibilities, which she said are not clear to most of them.“Most of the problems in our communities are put on our shoulders but I am sure these trainings come along with proper description of our job,” she said.Currently the officers are in charge of gender mainstreaming, child protection, family promotion and women empowerment.The ministry’s Director General, Alfred Karekezi, promised that the officers will soon undergo various trainings.“We have already allocated funds to cover their trainings and according to plans, we expect trainings to start in June this year,” he promised.
