Achieving a Better Life

Using Theater and Film to Fight Violence Against Women

ISSUE:
According to team leader Charlotte Nyiraneza, physical, emotional, economic and sexual violence against women is responsible for the overall oppression of women throughout Rwanda.

SOLUTION:
Achieving a Better Life is using theater to educate the population about the causes and consequences of violence against women. The guided conversations following each performance are designed to encourage men to make better decisions and educate women about their rights and alternatives to violence. Achieving a Better Life aims to see a 70% reduction in physical violence and fighting within the target population, a 75% decrease in husbands who seek the services of prostitutes, a 95% increase in family planning, a 50% increase in the number of girls sent to school and a 70% improvement in women's psychological wellbeing.

IMPACT:
In their first year of operations, they performed fourteen times in four communities in Kigali on the topics of domestic violence, violence against domestic workers, adultery and bearing children out of wedlock. Their performances have been attended by ever growing crowds, and the reaction of the audience during the discussions is telling: many women have reported that following the performance, they have gone to seek help for domestic violence and have talked to their husbands about how to improve their relationships. Many men also attend the performances, and have stated that they have started to think more seriously about how they treat their wives. The team has also produced two full-length films on the topic of domestic violence and marital relations.

The group was awarded a tender by the American NGO, Intrahealth, to perform a theatre on domestic violence for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence, an event attended by the director of USAID, the US Ambassador, and the Minister of Gender. In February 2009, they performed the very first V-Day Vagina Monologues in Rwanda, adapted to a Rwandan context with monologues of Rwandan women, tackling tough and taboo topics not often discussed publicly. On International Women's Day in March 2009, the team was invited by the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion to perform one of their plays, which was broadcast nationwide three times, reaching at least 25,000 people. Project leader Charlotte Nyiraneza won the World Pulse Second Annual Bold Ideas Contest in January and was even nominated for a CNN Hero Award. Achieving a Better Life continues to perform new plays and hopes to make another film about the oppression of Rwandan women.