Advancing Generation Equality Forum commitments in Rwanda: Reflection day for the action coalition #5 on technology and innovation for gender equality.
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In moving towards the implementation and realization of Generation Equality Forum commitments, UN Women Rwanda in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion hosted a reflection day at the Park Inn hotel on 13 December 2022, with all government stakeholders who have a strategy to implement Rwanda’s GEF commitments under four pillars, namely: Policy & Strategy, Program, Finance, and Advocacy.
Over 40 stakeholders convened in Kigali to celebrate the milestones since GEF and to take stock of the commitment implementation, evaluate progress made in their respective sectors, put together a joint action plan for the next year. The Generation Equality Forum brought together leaders from governments, civil society, youth and the private sector in Paris in 2021, to take bold global action on gender equality, marking the start of an ambitious 5-year journey convened by UN Women.
Generation Equality Forum (GEF) is an international platform that seeks to mobilize diverse stakeholders to accelerate the implementation of the gender equality commitments made during the fourth world conference on women held in Beijing in, 1995. GEF is anchored on the following six thematic areas that are led by Action Coalitions: i) Gender Based Violence, ii) Economic justice and rights, iii) Bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), iv) Feminist action for climate justice, v) Technology and innovation for Gender Equality; and vi) Feminist movements and leadership.
With Rwanda as a leader in the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation, H.E President Paul Kagame made seven concrete commitments during the Generation Equality Heads of States’ Forum held in Paris in June 2021.
Opening the event, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion Ms. Mireille Batamuliza applauded UN Women’s coordination to create a platform for all partners to renew commitments on bi-annual basis, adding that the next reflection day would probably be held in June 2023.
She reiterated the Government of Rwanda’s commitment for gender equality in technology and innovation, saying that the government’s support remains steadfast and comes to compliment a lot of efforts already made in line with other international commitments geared towards empowering women in the area of technology and innovation such as HeForShe (2015) and the African Smart Women and Girls Declaration 2017.
“As Generation Equality Forum seeks to deliver concrete game changing results for girls and women within the period of 5 years from 2021 to2026, let us use today’s session to create synergy and ownership among different stakeholders but also to devise a strategy to keep track of progress as 2026 is not far” Ms. Batamuliza added.
UN Women’s Programme Management Specialist, Ms. Tikikel Tadele presented to all partners the global overview of the Generation Equality Forum commitments and priorities, saying that GEF is a landmark global initiative introduced by UN Women and its partners to drive the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action commitments and putting GEWE as a central component of building back better from COVID 19.
She said that the reflection day is not only an opportunity for all stakeholders to strengthen existing gender themed coordination platforms into multi-stakeholder and cross generational partnerships but also a chance to reflect on strengthening accountability mechanisms at country level.
During the reflection workshop, stakeholders from different sectors discussed their individual institutional contributions to accelerate bridging the gender digital divide in line with government of Rwanda’s commitments including on use of digital devices, broadband connectivity, digital literacy presented by Ministry of ICT and Innovation(MINICT), on innovation ecosystems, presented by Rwanda Information Society Authority(RISA), as well as on women’s digital financial services usage by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning(MINICOFIN) together with the National Bank of Rwanda(BNR) and last but not least, a presentation on STEM and Girls education by the Ministry of Education(MINEDUC).
Other than government, partners from the private sector, civil society organizations and UN sister agencies including UNICEF, UNCDF, Smart Africa, SheCanCode and African Girls Can Code trainers were part of the reflection which greatly added value to the intergenerational dialogue because they were able to a collectively contribute to actionable recommendations for accelerated and full realization of Rwanda GEF commitments on technology and innovation by 2026.
Ms. Peace Iraguha, Co-Founder of Lifesten Health, a local tech startup that develops incentive-based health and wellness programs to help people adopt healthy behavior to prevent non-communicable diseases through a Mobile App and recent winner of Hanga Pitchfest, a startup pitching competition organized by the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, which UN Women has been financially supporting since 2019.
Sharing her experience, Ms. Iraguha said that some of the challenges she faced as one of the female innovators in the competition and during her career in the tech space include negative stereotypes of what women can or cannot do. “For example, some people especially male attributed my successes and achievements to my gender not capabilities. For people to take me seriously, sometimes it required me to pull off masculinity traits which wasn’t sustainable. As a young woman, I would encourage girls to embrace their femininity, be themselves, and do what they should do” Ms. Iraguha added.
Madam Jennet Kem, UN Women Rwanda Country Representative, building on what Ms. Peace Iraguha said, she emphasized the need to dismantle negative social norms as one of the stepping stone towards achieving equal opportunities for boys and girls in STEM, stressing the role of parents and family members in empowering girls especially fathers to build their confidence so that they can take on such big challenges like Ms. Peace Iraguha. Ms. Kem appreciated the Government of Rwanda's efforts towards the Generation Equality Forum commitments and all stakeholders on GEF journey.
Through group discussions, partners discussed what was needed to enhance knowledge sharing and encourage multi-stakeholder learning on promising approaches to implementation and financing. They also discussed accountability for the implementation of programming in support of AC targets and the next steps on how to strengthen accountability mechanisms.
By the end of the workshop, a network of intergenerational and intersectoral coordination was created to promote collaboration and exchange information.
