Bright Future

ISSUE:
We are working to address the issue of domestic violence among women because of water scarcity. The root causes of that issue include: Women don't accomplish their daily domestic tasks on time, because they walk such a long distance to water site. Women spend a long time there and men become upset because they believe that they are the priority and they abuse their wives due to their delay in responding to their needs on time. Men get those beliefs from Rwandan traditional culture, which has prioritized men and devalued the women. Men ignore the principle of gender balance and equality, which makes them overwhelm their wives and children. Then, they use their time for drinking and that is triggered sometimes by not having access to jobs, or lack of skills to create jobs for themselves. Some men have full access to jobs or a way to create jobs but they don't; they prefer to make their wives be responsible for everything. Our community faces poor hygiene linked to the limited access to clean water. That in turn results in malnutrition, diseases, stigma and polygamy among some couples (men cheat on their wives due to their poor hygiene). Jali is one of the rural sectors of Kigali city, so we have a limited number of water points. Spending time walking long distances produces numerous of consequences that include: children drop out of school because the children spend too much time at the water point and either are late or miss school. Some women lack enough time to manage other personal income generating activities causing economic dependency on men, which also causes family conflict and infidelity. Other consequences include: death, orphans, widows, poor-hygiene diseases, prostitution, theft, criminality, etc.

MISSION:
To reduce water scarcity problems by encouraging community members to apply family planning systems, sensitizing the community on hygiene improvement, training on gender equality and women's rights, establishing a water pipeline and water tank, and providing vocational training skills to couples experiencing violence.

THEORY OF CHANGE:
We believe that:

• Through education of women's rights, domestic violence will be reduced
• With local access to water, children (especially girls) will attend school on time and complete their education
• With skills training, women can participate in income generating activities and contribute toward the household which will improve gender relations.

SOLUTION:
Our project is dedicated to alleviating the water scarcity that mostly affects women and children. We will achieve our purpose by providing water to 3,360 people living in in 3 villages (Bugarama, Rwankuba, Runyinya) through a pipeline installation, and that will allow women and children to save more time for their personal interest activities. We will offer a two-week training on family planning and women's rights training, and monthly workshops on vocational skills will be provided to 50 couples experiencing violence, with the aim of reducing economical dependency as a trigger of violence. We will organize monthly workshops on hygiene; to avoid infidelity caused by domestic poor hygiene. We will provide free water to 15 vulnerable households; 2 jerry cans each per day to address unaffordable price barriers. Finally, our project will also organize charity activities to support households with handicaps.

12-MONTH GOALS:

• 100% of women will have access to clean water within 1 year
• After one year, there will be a reduction of school drop-outs by 20%
• 40% of men will commit to sharing the domestic tasks within their homes
• After one year, there will be a reduction of polygamy/infidelity by 10%
• There will be a 10% increase in women participating in income generating activities