This report presents the findings from the End-of-Line Evaluation of Beyond Raising Awareness:
shifting the power balance to enable women to access land in Rwanda, implemented by RCN Justice
et Démocratie as Lead Organisation with Haguruka as Co-Lead Organisation between 1st December
2010 and 15th August 2014. Other partners included AVEGA, RRP+, Association Nzambazamariya
Veneranda and Reseau des Femmes. The programme was funded by a grant of US$ 1,602,812.21
from the Multi-Donor Fund for Gender Equality (FGE) of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality
and the Empowerment of Women (UNWomen). The evaluation was informed by a gender
perspective, participatory and informed by the United Nations Evaluation Groups ethical guidelines
(UNEG 2008).
The programme aimed to empower women economically and politically by empowering them to claim
and exercise their rights to own and control land and to claim a fair and equal share of land
inheritance and of land distributed to children. It planned to work at national and decentralised levels
empowering women’s civil society organisations to advocate for women’s rights with national and
local government and to empower women individually as well as collectively to claim and exercise
their rights to own and control land. This was to be achieved by: (a) empowering women in 60
villages across Rwanda to know their rights, to know how to overcome traditional values that act as a
barrier to them exercising their rights and be prepared to claim them effectively in local-level formal
and informal dispute resolution institutions;(b) sensitising men in 60 villages in Rwanda so that they
understood women’s legal rights and how to overcome traditional barriers to women claiming their
rights; training leaders in 60 villages in Rwanda so that they were better able to support women in
claiming their rights; (d) training paralegals to support women in making claims , with back-up from
fully trained lawyers, (d) providing legal aid to support women involved in complex cases. At the
national level a coalition was to be set up which would act as a pressure group to advocate for
Rwanda’s domestic laws were brought in line with international laws and agreements which the
country had ratified (which thereby acquire a status in Rwandan law above that of most domestic
legislation) and to support and oversee work at the village level. At a local level the trained women
were to monitor progress and to act as advocates for changes in policy and better implementation of
the existing legal framework at a local level (district/sector/cell/village) to enable women to exercise
their rights to own and control land.
The programme evaluation aimed to measure and document the intended and unintended outcomes
(results) of the programme by testing an imputed theory of change and to report on best practices and
lessons learned. It used the OECD evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, sustainability,
impact and lessons learnt. Data collection took place between May and June 2014. A mixed methods
approach to the investigation was used involving both desk and field research at both national and
decentralised levels. The desk research involved a review of key programme documentation including
the proposal and revised programme document and the M&E reports. Field research included semistructured
interviews with duty bearers and other key informants at national and decentralised levels
and FGDs with beneficiaries and other members of the communities where the programme was
carried out. National level informants were selected purposively as were district level ones. Districts
and villages for intensive study were selected using probability sampling as were beneficiaries, other
community members and paralegals.
The activities planned to implement the programme have generally been carried out although there
have been some delays. Sixty rural villages, four in each of 15 districts across Rwanda were selected
for the delivery of the Programme. Training materials and information packs were prepared for
sensitising women and men on women’s legal rights to land and for training in dissemination,
monitoring and advocacy skills. Sixty village leaders (one from each village) and 120 CSO volunteers
(1 male and 1 female opinion leader from each village) were then trained. The CSO volunteers
(VAFs) organised village discussion and community dialogues for 25 women and 25 men in each of
the villages, 3,000 community members in total. The programme was successful in training 201
Paralegals (146 women) who assisted 3,122 women, and legal aid was made available to 1,769
women3
. Thirty-two trainers and 490 grass roots CSO/NWC members have been trained in monitoring
and five monitoring surveys have been carried out with two producing useable results. At the national level a coalition named Coalition Rwandaise pour l’Accès des Femmes à la terre4
(CRAFT) has been
formed, an agreed advocacy strategy developed and advocacy activities carried out at national and
local levels.
While the programme was clearly relevant to meeting the needs of rural women evidence of
effectiveness (the achievement of the intended outcomes) is uneven and sustainability is questionable
(see key findings summary table). While the programme activities have contributed to the outcomes
there is little evidence of the programme having had impact as yet. A number of important lessons
have been learnt.