Several Global Grassroots
social projects are using the performing arts to raise awareness, inspire
dialogue and change behaviors around issues facing women, including
domestic violence, girls' education, prostitution and HIV/AIDS.
We Are One
Grant amount: $2390
Team size: 14 members
Launched November 2008
Social impact: 190 women
issue: Discrimination
against women manifests itself in many forms. According to the We are One
team in Kicukiro District, women are discriminated against daily on the
basis of their gender, race and nationality by family members, employers,
teachers and Rwandan society as a whole.
Solution:In order to fight discrimination based
on sex, race, nationality and ethnicity, the We are One team is producing
theme-based plays, films and songs in order to teach women and
marginalized indigenous groups about their rights and to change the
attitudes among those who discriminate. Their goals are that:
Women will have knowledge about their
rights and claim them.
To reduce oppression of women and its
effects.
To reduce discrimination, particularly
of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity children.
IMPACT: This
project is targeting three communities throughout rural Rwanda with
especially high rates of discrimination due to limited development and
empowerment activities. Themes of these performances will range according
to the most pressing issue within each area; these include rights of girl
children, the value of single women and mothers and gender equality.
We Are One performed their first play in early 2009 at a
local high school. There was such a strong response and multiple requests
for the team to return and continue to perform, that they started a high
school club called the “We Are One Club” so that the students could keep
working on issues of discrimination.
Upon completion of their baseline study, they also
identified the problem of the historical marginalization of the Batwa
Pygmy ethnic group. The team decided to provide literacy training to Batwa
women, the vast majority of whom are illiterate, and also created a local
Batwa Club. We are One intends to help them work together as a team so
that they can bring together their ideas and claim their rights as full
Rwandan citizens in society.
Finally, they have identified a need for income generating skills in rural
areas to enable women to become less economically dependent on their
husbands. As they move forward with their theatre performances and films,
they will work incorporate these activities among their target
populations.
Watch this team's
most recent film:
Achieving a
Better Life | Umurinzi
Grant Amount: $3100
Team size: 20 members
Launched July 2008
Social impact: 150 households
Audiences reached: 25,000 +
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.
IMPACT: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.
To date, they have 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, 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.
Achieving a Better
Life wins World Pulse Second Annual Bold Ideas Contest:
World Pulse Magazine
