A real knowledge of human rights issues – especially women’s human rights by the largest possible number of men and women at the grassroots level is most essential to making human rights a reality.

ECAW based in Kuria District has a longstanding experience in the field of the promotion of knowledge on human rights through education, mobilization, training, dissemination of information and awareness-raising.  For ECAW, human rights education is a powerful tool for building inclusive societies respectful of human dignity.

For this reason, ECAW organized a two day community engagement forum for one hundred community members, local administration, and paralegals in two divisions of Kuria West district. These were Kehancha and Mabera divisions.  The workshop was conducted on 8^th and 9^th May, 2010 respectively in the two divisions.

Supported by UNIFEM’s GGP Programme, this workshop also aimed at supporting concrete resolutions created by the community on the way forward for the promotion of the rights of women and the girl child with the aim of generating policy recommendations and way forward.

On the state of human rights in Kuria, both forums identified lack of girl child education, rampant FGM, early marriages, poverty, and violence against women and inter clan fighting as current problems that face the community – and which affect the women and girl child the most.The two forums highlighted the need for the local administration and ECAW to promote the education standards of the girl child in Kuria in general. The meetings brought to the fore the girl’s high dropout rates due to poverty, lack of female teachers as role models, and general lack of the community’s interest in investing in the girl child.Persistent cattle rusting and inter clan fighting have also ensured that girls are displaced from schools as their families escape to safe places of stay –thus killing the education in Kuria. The meetings called upon provincial administration to ensure peace is maintained and that women are also included in the PEACE committees to ensure that their issues are articulated and safeguarded.

On the rampant practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages, the communities asked the administration present to ensure appropriate legislation and action are taken on parents who force their daughters to undergo FGM.

ECAW called upon the local administration to ensure that women were at the decision making positions of such organs as the Peace committees as they are most affected during times of war.

The forums also heard that women and men contributed equally on the increasing cases of FGM and early marriages due to poverty. They suggested that Income generating activities can be initiated to enable the community to earn money to educate their daughters.

The area District Officer Mr. Monanda J. who graced the occasion in Mabera warned that serious action would be taken against parents who forced their daughters to drop out of school for FGM purposes, or early marriages. He instructed that chiefs and their assistants have a responsibility to ensure that each homestead sent their daughters to school.  He also reminded the community that peace starts from within themselves – a peaceful environment, he said, was crucial in ensuring peaceful education and development. He asked ECAW to sensitize community on peace building efforts.

Men in the forums indicated their strong support for women’s issues and called upon ECAW to engage men and boys fully in efforts to emancipate women.

“It is true that for a long time men have been a hindrance e to women’s advancement. But things are changing and there are men who are supporting women fully. If programs can be targeted towards men’s involvement to understanding issues affecting women. Things can change and we can move hand in hand”, said Mr. Chacha Mange’ra, a male representative in Mabera.

In conclusion, it emerged that women can be supported through changing the attitudes of men and boys through their participation in women’s programming workshops. Efforts therefore should be made to engage them to learn of their mindsets as men still wield a lot of influence on women’s emancipation.

Women paralegals are very key points for ECAW’s work and ECAW will work to ensure that these women are recognized in the local administration as their important role they played. The administration has called for increase in the number of paralegals to help them do their work.

ECAW will lobby for more women to be included in the peace committees as women suffer most in times of fighting.