The government through the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion met with stakeholders in Kigali on Friday to review the 2005 Family Policy law. “Our research indicated that there are many issues that need to be considered based on the changes that are taking place and affecting our families every day; and this has significantly resulted in poor performance and conflicts in the families,” said Henriette Umulisa, the Permanent Secretary in the Gender Ministry. She explained that families problems have a negative impact in the development of a nation or communities. Some of the issues that need to be addressed in the law include child protection issues, violence as well as parenting of children with disabilities. The policy aims at establishing positive parenting techniques with focus on gender equality within the household and the promotion of positive fatherhood. “Among others, we want to also give protection to vulnerable children in their respective families and scale up the provision of social and psychosocial services for these children as information we have proves that there is urgent need,” she said. Officials said that the meeting was crucial in a sense that it gave a platform for participants to discuss issues affecting families. Noala Skinner, who represented UNICEF-Rwanda, said the new draft was expected to bring many changes in family promotion. “The development of the family is such a big and important factor towards the development of any country; and it’s for this point that we are ready to work together in ensuring that families are promoted, particularly with this policy,” she said.
