Rights for the exploited

“I have problems because my parents never thought it was important for me to attend school or any literacy programme. In terms of basic human rights, I have a very limited knowledge and I wouldn’t know if any of my basic rights are violated or not,” she says.

Women celebrating the RAAP project in Rwanda

©CARE/Alex Rees

Raising awareness  

Keziya is one of the women taking part in CARE International’s Rights Awareness and Action Project in northern Rwanda, designed to enable communities to take action collectively to improve their situation, and to reduce exploitation and discrimination.

She is a member of the Batwa people, an indigenous tribe that is spread across the Great Lakes region. Illiterate and exploited by other ethnic groups, the Batwa make up a tiny minority of the Rwandan population. They have little knowledge of their rights, or ability to access them. Very few have jobs, or land, and many face constant threats on their lives. Women – particularly Batwa women – face the worst discrimination.

The project addresses two key needs: 

• the need to increase the participation and inclusion of marginalised Batwa and women in public affairs and
• the need to strengthen the approach of other organisations working on issues related to rights for Batwa and women.

Keeping informed  

Keziya hopes to be able to do many things once she has learnt to read and write, including reading the Bible and newspapers to be informed about events in her region and country.

“I will be able to claim my rights and fight against discrimination: I am a Batwa woman. Whenever there are social events organised in our local area I am not invited. If only I could read and write I would have access to documents concerning basic human rights and be able to claim my violated rights.”

CARE's Alex Rees, who has met many of the women involved in the project, said: “The women’s groups are very excited about it. Quite a number of them were not literate. They felt disempowered. They understand and really appreciate that getting a fuller understanding of their rights serves a purpose – being able to go into a meeting and having the information you require to make your argument makes a considerable difference."

The women’s groups are trained through the use of role play, poetry and drama, all of which is always grounded in the reality of their lives – the problems they face, the opportunities they have and so on. This sort of training, and experiential learning, is then also complemented by the attempt to raise awareness in the wider community about basic rights for everyone, and to influence local leaders to listen to their claims.

Learning to read

CARE is working with the Batwa people and other NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) to develop a literacy manual from which the groups will learn to read. But as the subject matter of the manual is all about rights, those learning literacy skills from it are also learning more about realizing their rights in their community.

In the nine poorest provinces of Rwanda, CARE is working with eight organisations representing the Batwa and women, helping them to develop local community-based organisations.

The aim is to increase the ability of 15,000 Batwa and women to advocate for and claim their rights on issues such as land, education and healthcare.