Developing the Next Generation of Health Leaders in Rwanda: Sexual & Reproductive Health Convening & Advocacy Training
In just a few months, thousands of sexual and reproductive health advocates from around the world will descend on Kigali, Rwanda for the Fifth International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP). They will sound a rallying cry for the international community to recognize family planning (FP) as essential to the public health agenda and a building block of flourishing of communities. Together, attendees will to craft a plan that will see 120 million underprivileged women and girls offered quality and voluntary contraception by the end of the year 2020. In the lead up to this global conference in which Rwanda will be both an organizer and case study.
Rwanda’s storied modern history — rebuilding the entire nation after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi wiped out over one million citizens — has been the subject of intense scrutiny and ultimately, awe. (If you’ve only read what CNN has to say about it, by the way, get your hands on a copy of Philip Gourevitch’s We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, ASAP). Through this recovery process, Rwanda has achieved tremendous success in the realm of sexual and reproductive health, with total fertility rates declining from 6.1 in 2000 to 4.2 in 2015 and access to contraceptive methods rising from 10% in 2005 to 48% in 2015. But there is more work to do: in recent years, Rwanda’s unplanned adolescent pregnancy rate has increased from 6.1 to 7.3%, and at last count, about half of Rwandan women who desire to have access to contraception do not.
Rwanda’s movement for sexual and reproductive health and gender equity needs a growing bench of young leaders to take the reigns as the country moves swiftly toward Vision 2020. Global Health Corps (GHC) has been working to recruit and train young leaders committed to transforming the health system in Rwanda since our founding in 2009, forging close partnerships with grassroots health organizations, INGOs, and the government. Our highly engaged network of young leaders are working across all levels of the health system, many focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and gender equity more broadly. As they emerge as leaders of Rwanda’s future, they are hungry for opportunities for leadership development, skills building, and network building that will amplify their impact. To meet that demand, our team at GHC held a high-level convening and advocacy training in Kigali last month.
Convening Key Players in Family Planning
To promote learning, dialogue, and mobilization of advocates, GHC convened over 120 key stakeholders in the Rwandan health sector, including GHC alumni and fellows along with civil society representatives from organizations including the Ministry of Health, Partners in Health/ Inshuti Mu Buzima, Health Builders, MASS Design Group, African Evangelistic Enterprise, AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Voluntary Service Overseas, Gardens for Health International, The Ihangane Project, American Refugee Committee, Health Development Initiative, Rwanda Zambia HIV Research Group, Team Heart, Alliances for Healthy Communities, and the University of the Global Health Equity. Representatives from theNetwork of International Nongovernmental Organizations that work closely with GHC under the Gender and Health Thematic Working Group also attended. Young delegates from the Chief Gender Monitoring Office joined the convening as well to learn and share their lived experience with family planning access.
The interactive event featured several speakers who laid important groundwork for participants, discussing progress to date and the way forward on family planning access in Rwanda:
- Honorable Minister of Health Dr. Diana Gashumba, delivered an overview of family planning trends across Rwanda, outlining the role of religious institutions, civil society partners, school administrators, parents, and community healthworkers in achieving the country’s FP 2020 Goals. She explained the parameters of current debates around family planning being voluntary and culturally and religiously taboo in some circles.
- Chief Gender Monitoring Officer Mrs. Rose Rwabuhihi spoke about the scale and determinants of unplanned teenage pregnancy in Rwanda, with a focus on the current strategy and successes, lessons, and challenges in rolling it out.
- Dr. Aflodis Kagaba, Executive Director of Health Development Initiative (HDI), discussed challenges and opportunities for ensuring family planning service access by key populations, highlighting some of the advocacy approaches that HDI has successfully employed.
- Alumna Adeline Manikuzwe and Alumna and GHC’s Rwanda Program Senior Associate, Caroline Numuhire, shared a presentation on the emerging leadership perspective on family planning access in Rwanda.
Training the Next Generation of Family Planning Advocates
To build on the knowledge shared during the high-level convening and equip our fellows and alumni (representing every single class since our founding in 2009!) to mobilize their communities and influence policy outcomes, our team facilitated a full day training. Jessica Mack, GHC’s Senior Director for Advocacy and Communications led an interactive workshop on advocacy messaging, outlining the fundamentals of identifying and tailoring language to move the hearts and minds of those in a position to make a specific change we want to see.
Eugene Sangano, Executive Director of Alliances for Health Communities, led a session on resource mobilization for family planning to enable attendees to effectively write grants and build relationships to garner support for their initiatives. Eugene’s involvement was coordinated and supported by the Rwanda alumni chapter.
All participants agreed that the training was engaging, interesting, and useful for their overall professional development. The number of participants who has a strong understanding of family planning access, the key political and organizational decision-makers on the topic, and the main challenges to expanding it increased by over 100% from before to after the training. All participants recorded a heightened understanding of advocacy and the role they can play in it, as well as an boost in their ability and likelihood of engaging in advocacy efforts on family planning and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in Rwanda.
“This training was very relevant and I would suggest to organize it at annually basis turning around hot topic in health sector in order to engage fellows with practitioners and decision makers.” -Training Participant
“I would like a more comprehensive training in advocacy as well as another grants writing workshop! Everything was fantastic and well planned.” -Training Participant
Reflections from Anysie Ishimwe, GHC fellow & Event Moderator
Fellow Anysie Ishimwe, who is currently working at Gardens for Health International, moderated the convening and training. She shared the following reflections on her experience:
Why is family planning important to you?
On a personal level, family planning is important to me because it concerns my overall health and wellbeing and it consequently becomes something I need to be informed about and have a say in. On a global level, it is important to me because the repercussions of the lack thereof affect all of us. Many women do not accomplish their full potential because of obstacles that come with the lack of access to family planning. The future of many young girls who are miseducated on family planning can be jeopardized by unwanted pregnancies. Therefore, it is a pressing topic that we all need to pay attention to despite the discomfort some of these discussions can produce in some cultural contexts.
What were your main takeaways from the convening?
The first takeaway was to shift from looking at family planning from just an individual lens to a population growth lens. We need to take personal responsibility in the present to ensure that Rwanda’s future population or land won’t suffer the consequences that come with overpopulation. If Rwanda is the country with the highest population density in Africa with 12 million, it definitely won’t be any better with the projected 50 million.
The other takeaway was that for the SRH/FP agenda to move forward, we need a multi-sectoral approach. People from the health community need to work alongside the faith-based communities, work with the education system, and work with various government levels because there will always be conflicting messages going out there and sometimes the global health one is not the one that is heard loudest.
Another takeaway was how to practically use my voice to advocate for SRH rights. Actions are the only things that can actually drive change. It was very helpful to learn hands-on skills such as crafting a pithy message to people who influence policy or who might be willing to contribute their funds to the advancement of the SRH/FP agenda.
What are you committing to do to advance FP access going forward and in the lead up to ICFP?
I am committing to using my voice beginning with people in my circle of influence — young girls, co-workers, and family members — by sharing information and creating a safe space for some difficult conversations. I lead a biweekly meeting of all women staff at my organization where we raise issues that face women in their communities and in the workplaces. This is a wonderful platform that I am committing to using to pass the knowledge I received from the training.
Why is it important for young people to engage in SRH/FP dialogue and initiatives?
It is very crucial because young people have the power to shape the culture of now and of tomorrow and through dialogue, they can start dismantling some of the cultural aspects that have been delaying the SRH/ FP agenda. It is also important because there is so much unavoidable suffering that can be alleviated by one knowing their rights as well as the power of using their voice. It is a long-term smart move to form your beliefs from a place of empowerment and not from a place of fear or survival. That transformation usually begins when we shore up the courage to have tough conversations.
Brittany Cesarini is the Advocacy and Communications Coordinator at Global Health Corps, a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world.
All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. Want to get involved? Check out these great opportunities to support the health equity movement and consider joining us as a fellow or partner when applications open later this year! And don’t forget to connect with us on Twitter / Instagram / Facebook.
