Genocide Women Survivors Empowerment in the Rwanda Post 1994 Genocide Against Tutsi: Case Study of AVEGA-AGAHOZO Women Survivors of Nyange Sector, Ngororero District (2015-2019)

Abstract

This research paper entitled Genocide Women Survivors Empowerment in the Rwanda Post 1994 Genocide Against Tutsi: Case study of AVEGA-AGAHOZO Women Survivors of Nyange Sector, Ngororero District (2015-2019)was aiming at answering the question such as: Did women empowerment contribute to the improvement of life conditions of women survivors of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi living in Nyange Sector of Ngororero District during the period of 2015-2019? In fact, AVEGA–AGAHOZO is a French acronym name (Association des Veuves du Genocide/Genocide Widows Association) established in 1995 to rehabilitate and to support widows, in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda. The study has used both qualitative and quantitative methods. Data have been collected from a sample of 61 respondents by using questionnaire, interview, observation as well as the desk review to track information from existing relevant researches on the topic under study. The results from the field have shown that almost 80% of the 1994 Genocide widows of AVEGA-AGAHOZO have improved their self-empowerment such as increasing household management skills and media access, health cares, capability of choice in managing life, income generating activities, self-help initiatives, existence of friendly social networks, and active participation in local community life, to name a few. As the findings have shown above, despite their pain and struggles,AVEGA members succeed well to work tirelessly, to support each other, urging themselves to consolidate and increase their gains in the matter of self-empowerment. However, one of the major challenges AVEGA widows faced was the persistent genocidal ideology within some few Rwandans. This study recommends further researches such as: to assess the impact of genocidal ideology on the women survivors of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda; and to evaluate the impact of strengthened social networks on the women survivors of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda.