Rwandan CSO Spearheads Policy Review to Close Gender Investment Gaps
By Gift Briton
Efforts by Pro-Femmes/Twese Hamwe (PFTH), an umbrella of 53 civil society organizations (CSOs) in Rwanda, to reduce gender inequalities in public investment are bearing fruits.
Under the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) programme, PFTH in collaboration with key government stakeholders has influenced the review of public investment policy in Rwanda to become gender-responsive.
“The national investment policy was formulated in 2017. However, it was gender-blind and was not known by key stakeholders. It also did not indicate gender barriers and ways to overcome them,” Ernest Bucyayungura, Director of Programs at PFTH said in a virtual meeting with ScienceAfrica.
“We called for the review of public investment policy, convened a workshop to analyze the investment policy and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning agreed to revise the policy and considered our inputs.”
The organization is now working with both the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to formulate gender mainstreaming strategies. This will be followed by the dissemination of the policy and training of local leaders and other key policy actors to include gender mainstreaming into investment policy.
“The simplified draft manual of the national investment policy is now available, lobby meetings are under process with key ministries to discuss the need for gender mainstreaming strategy in the investment sector, and PFTH has agreed with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion to jointly conduct a gender mainstreaming training for 100 key policy actors planned in March 2024,” Bucyayungura adds.
The GrOW programme is an initiative jointly funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to increase women’s social and economic prosperity in East Africa. Under this initiative, PFTH alongside Action Aid Rwanda was jointly funded to provide tailored policy support and concrete actions to boost women’s economic empowerment in East Africa.
To achieve this milestone, Bucyayungura notes that PFTH leveraged its networks with key government stakeholders in Rwanda and actively participated throughout the process of the draft development, adding that PFTH cultivated mutual relationships with government ministers and other key stakeholders.
“We worked closely with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to get our suggestions and recommendations accepted. The approval of our recommendations was fast because key institutions such as the parliament and cabinet are keen on entrenching gender equality in all government activities,” he said.
“Being an umbrella organization, we formed thematic working groups. Through these thematic working groups, different civil society organizations come together to influence policy in their respective thematic areas.”
Bucyayungura urged CSOs to keep an eye on the policy processes to ensure that they cater to the needs of their interest groups, emphasizing that PFTH continues to work with relevant government ministries to develop a gender mainstreaming strategy in the investment sector and to speed up the dissemination of simplified investment policy manual which will be translated to Kinyarwanda.