UNITED PEOPLE

Abishyizehamwe

Fighting Domestic Violence and Improving Family Planning Through Education of Men and Women

ISSUE:
United People (Abishyizehamwe) will fight domestic violence in their community of Byimana in the Ruhango sector. There, husbands abuse their wives, and neither is aware that laws protect women from this situation. The problem is compounded by a lack of family planning. Wives are challenged to care for many children with very limited resources.

SOLUTION:
To reduce domestic violence, United People will address the problem directly by providing home visits and legal training to both men and women in their community. They will personally visit, monitor and evaluate the homes of troubled couples and talk to them about peaceful conflict resolution. To change cultural norms in the next generation they will also provide training to couples preparing for marriage.
United People will also foster strategic partnerships with legal experts to aid them in the creation of a curriculum on family law, health, reproduction and family planning. Finally, they will provide sewing lessons to women to help them earn their own income and be more respected by their husbands.

IMPACT:
The 7 members of United People hope to decrease spousal abuse, lead more women to utilize family planning, and give women more power in their own households.
In the first 12 months of operations they aim to:

• Train 210 married couples in gender equity, reproductive health, family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention
• Reduce domestic violence community wide from 50 to 25%
• Reduce the amount of women who leave their families due to physical and emotional abuse from 50 to 25%