Unite Jali

ISSUE:
We are working to address the issue of domestic violence committed against women and girls. The root causes of this issue are based on the Rwandan cultural belief held by men that their wives should take care of them, first, before anything else. Typically, women don't accomplish their daily domestic tasks on time because they walk a long distance to collect water. Because the water site is far away, and because there are so few of them, women spend too long on this task and their husbands, upset, respond by abusing or beating her. Another related issue is the overburden of women who have too many responsibilities to possibly accomplish. This issue exists because of a lack of education and people not respecting women's rights and the idea of gender balance between couples. A lack of family planning is another issue that occurs, as many couples do not plan for the number of children they will raise. As a consequence, with a large number of unplanned children, mothers become overwhelmed and can't possibly complete all their all tasks. The roots of not using birth control are caused by religious or cultural beliefs in most cases. The combination of all these issues increases the need for children to collect water, which results in school drop outs, deepened poverty and consequences such as: orphans, widows, hygiene related diseases, prostitution, theft, criminality and death.

MISSION:
To improve the well-being of women and girls in our community.

THEORY OF CHANGE:

• We believe that if we can help a woman accomplish her domestic responsibilities by accessing clean water quickly and easily this will reduce the amount of domestic violence that occurs.
• We believe that by offering sensitizations about the benefits of family planning, and encouraging smaller numbers of children, we can increase a sense of wellness among families.
• We believe that by sensitizing a man to understand the importance of sharing domestic tasks, this can contribute toward a reduction in domestic violence.

SOLUTION:
Our project addresses the improved wellbeing of women and girls. We will achieve our purpose by providing water to more than 3,000 people living in our community, which will allow the women to accomplish their domestic tasks and save more time to participate in other revenue activities. A 2-week training on family planning and gender balance will be provided to 100 families who experience domestic violence and help change mindsets on the way women are considered in society. At the end, there will be a commitment to sharing responsibilities between couples, which will alleviate the suffering women face. We plan to offer 2 jerry cans of water a day free to each of 20 vulnerable families. Our project will also target 50 non-income generating women to help support them in starting a lending circle group to build financial management skills and then to generate small capital to start a business according to what they feel called to do. We will achieve this through a weekly workshop held for a month. The last workshop will be focusing on how a family is impacted when a woman has access to income.

12-MONTH GOALS:

• After one year, our target villages will have access to clean water
• After one year, there will be a reduction of school drop outs by 20%
• After one year, men will commit to sharing domestic tasks within their homes by 50%
• After one year, there will be a reduction of polygamy by 10%
• After one year, there will be a 20% increase of women participating in income generating activities
• After one year, 60 % of trained couples will commit to using birth control