In April, MenEngage Africa (MEA) partners in East Africa and faith-based community organisations held a two-day workshop in Kigali, Rwanda, on addressing sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls in conflict and post-conflict settings on the African continent. The workshop was held against the background that in countries that are in conflict, women are the worst affected by violence. They bear the brunt of it because when war comes, they often become targets of sexual violence, their husbands may be killed – leaving them without support – and they are, themselves, casualties of war. Women make up 80% of those who have to flee their homes.

Following the workshop with our East African alliance partners and faith-based leaders in the region, MenEngage Africa and the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC), Secretariat of the MenEngage Rwanda network, hosted a high-level meeting to bring attention to the conflict areas of the Great Lakes region. The meeting comprised of representatives of the government of Rwanda, led by the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Ms Diana Gashumba, United Nations agencies, international and civil society organisations operating in the Great Lakes region and from across Africa to focus on the need for governments and civil society to work together to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence in the region.