In spite of the progress that Rwanda has made in political empowerment of women, it still seems a long way before real gender equality is achieved. It seems that women's empowerment is not only just an opportunity for political participation but also this is important. It is also about the capacity to make effective choices and to translate them into desired actions and outcomes, unfettered by cultural sanctions. Universalised, top-down gender policy programs have not furnished all women with the necessary capacity to make decisions that affect their traditionally all important reproductive functions; to challenge the embedded gender imbalance; and to strive for a holistic wellbeing of their families, where they play a central role. Indeed, some of the policies could have negative implications to the health of women, in particular, with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS.
Th is paper seeks to examine the proliferation of Pentecostal churches and the changing religious landscape of Rwanda. Th e horrifi c genocide of 1994, left the country's traditional mainline churches bloodied and the Christian faith seriously challenged. Unlike elsewhere in Africa, prior to the genocide, Pentecostal churches had not got a foot-hold in Rwanda, then referred to as the most Catholic country in Africa. In the aft ermath, Rwanda has experienced a spontaneous growth of new churches imported by returnees from far and wide. Th ough the Catholic Church still retains its dominant position, there has been an upsurge of Protestants and the Rwandan religious landscape is changing considerably. Th is gospel explosion has been attributed to the enormous challenges of socialeconomic reconstruction of a fractured society, where reconciliation and healing are of utmost importance. By packaging their messages with hindsight of the disillusionment with the traditional churches and the spiritual as well as the material need to arise from the ashes of genocide and rebuild their lives, these churches have attracted thousands of Rwandans.
The government of Rwanda has pursued reconciliation with great determination in the belief that it is the only moral alternative to post-genocide social challenges. In Rwanda, communities must be mobilised and reshaped for social, political and economic reconstruction. This creates a rather delicate situation. Among other strategies, the state has turned to the concepts of confession and forgiveness which have deep religious roots, and systematised them both at the individual and community or state level in order to bring about reconciliation, justice, social cohesion and ultimately economic development. In view of these strategies and challenges, some of the important questions are: Does forgiveness restore victims and empower them to heal their communities? What empirical evidence exists that religiously inspired justice and reconciliation processes after mass political violence make a difference? In what areas might the understanding of religious thought and activity towards transitional justice be deepened? These questions provide the backdrop against which I examine the case of post-genocide Rwanda in this article. A hermeneutic interpretative analysis is used to situate the phenomena of forgiveness, confession and social transformation within the specific context of post-conflict societies.
Disasters of physical origin, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, tidal waves, tropical storms, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, have affected millions of people globally over the past 100 years. Proportionately, there is far greater likelihood of being affected by such disasters in low-income countries than in high-income countries. Furthermore, low-income countries are in need of international assistance following disasters more often than high-income countries. The funding of international humanitarian assistance has increased from USD 12.9 billion in 2006 to an estimated USD 16.7 billion in 2010. The majority of this funding is channelled through humanitarian agencies and is supposed to be distributed based on the need of those affected, as assessed using needs assessments. Such needs assessments may be used to inform decisions internally, to influence others, to justify response decisions, and to obtain funding. Little is known about the quality of needs assessments in practical applications. Consequently, this paper reports on and analyses the views of operational decision-makers in major health-related humanitarian agencies on needs assessments.
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