Rwanda: Empowering young people to communicate for peace
Young people have played an important role in pushing a narrative that promotes peace, reconciliation and societal healing in Rwanda, since the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Training them to communicate well is key to ensuring that they feel more empowered and can actively participate in shaping their own futures. On 26 May 2021, Interpeace [...]
African Great Lakes Region: Investing in mediation at the community level
Mediators play an important role by facilitating a return to peace during conflict. For this reason, peacebuilding efforts in the African Great Lakes region must not overlook the need for mediators at community level to resolve conflicts. An insider mediation project, supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and implemented by Interpeace, in partnership [...]
October 22, 2020
Healing the invisible wounds of violence in Rwanda
Linda* is a mother and wife who lost her family during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. She was 16 years old, when armed men attacked her home in Bugesera, a town in Eastern Rwanda, and brutally killed her parents, siblings and friends. “I lost all. It was hard to move on. I [...]
April 7, 2020
Rwanda Genocide Remembrance Day 2020: Monica McWilliams’ message of remembrance and hope
In 1994, the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda claimed about 1million lives and left the country with the massive burden of overcoming this national trauma and building a fresh future. The Chair of Interpeace’s Governing Board, Monica McWilliams, was in Rwanda recently and has spoken of her, ‘incredibly moving experience’ of visiting the Kigali [...]
December 12, 2019
Healing wounds of the past in Rwanda
It is 11:37am in Muhanga, a town in the southern province of Rwanda and a group of 24 women have gathered despite the drizzle, to welcome a delegation of Interpeace and Never Again Rwanda. These women have all experienced a tragic past, but it’s not until you start talking to them, that this becomes evident. [...]
August 5, 2019
Fostering participatory governance
The participatory governance aspect of the programme helps citizen groups to bring their priorities to the attention of policy- and decision-makers at the local, district and national levels. This makes it possible for decision-makers to consider citizen voices and priorities at critical stages of policy making, public programme development and assessment. Interpeace and Never Again [...]
August 5, 2019
Promoting dialogue processes
The programme facilitates dialogue spaces in which community members can openly discuss sensitive topics, identify solutions and reach consensus on priorities for peace. The dialogue gives community members of diverse backgrounds an opportunity to regularly convene. The programme has led a number of youth groups that critically discussed issues of trust, identity and stereotyping, and [...]
August 5, 2019
Supporting trauma healing processes
Trauma healing remains a pressing public health issue in Rwanda. NAR and Interpeace have contributed towards addressing this challenge by implementing a psychosocial support group therapy programme over a four-year period, fostering both individual healing and social cohesion. This initiative was carried out on the basis of a research study by NAR and Interpeace in [...]
August 5, 2019
Rwanda
More than two decades after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda has made substantial progress in the social, economic and political realms. The country has developed a viable multiparty system, while the determined efforts of numerous state and civil society initiatives are gradually leading the country towards peaceful coexistence between individuals and diverse groups [...]
April 9, 2019
25 years after the Genocide against the Tutsi, trauma healing needs to be at the centre of peace and development efforts
By Scott Weber and Joseph Ryarasa Nkurunziza As Claudine draws water from the ground at her home in rural Rwanda, nothing in her demeanour suggests that she has been to hell and back. Her focus is intense as she works the hand pump to fill her bucket with water. As she pauses for a rest, [...]
Healing Trauma and Building Trust and Tolerance in Rwanda
Type: PDF Size: 910Kb Published: April 1, 2019
Interpeace Peacebuilding in Practice – Paper N. 4 Lessons learned from Peacebuilding Approaches to Psychosocial Support Group Healing in Rwanda 25 years after the Genocide against the Tutsi, trauma healing remains a pressing public health issue in Rwanda. In 2015, a research study conducted by Interpeace and Never Again Rwanda (NAR) showed that many Rwandans [...]
Publication
April 7, 2017
International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda – Message from Scott M. Weber, Director-General of Interpeace
For each year that goes by, the gravity of what came to pass on 7 April 1994 and the long months that followed sinks in a little deeper. No one knows this grief better than Rwandans themselves. On this solemn day, Interpeace stands with the Rwandan people in solidarity and joins them in commemoration. Twenty-three [...]
Publication
February 8, 2016
Terre, identité, pouvoir et mouvements de population dans la région des Grands Lacs – Forum des parties prenantes régionales
Type: PDF Size: 2Mb Published: February 8, 2016
Le “Forum régional des parties prenantes” constitue à la fois un mécanisme et une étape clé du processus de mise en œuvre de ce programme. Il valide les résultats des actions de rechercheaction participative (RAP) sur une problématique de recherche identifiée de manière inclusive. Cette recherche est menée à la base, auprès des citoyens et [...]
Publication
December 15, 2015
La paix par le dialogue et l’education – credo commun à 7 organisations dans la région des Grands Lacs
Type: PDF Size: 953Kb Published: December 15, 2015 Author: Journal Indépendant d'Informations Générales
Coverage of the Great Lakes programme Regional Stakeholders’ Forum in the Journal Indépendant d’Informations Générales.
My Land, My Life, My Identity: Addressing land conflicts in the Great Lakes Region
The African Great Lakes region has experienced intermittent armed conflict for the past six decades, often resulting in large population displacements and serious humanitarian crises. In the three bordering countries of Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the conflicts have decidedly taken a cross-border dimension. A conflict in one of the three [...]
October 26, 2015
Great Lakes film festival: Building peace through cinema
Tolerance, identity and peace. Those were the main themes at the Great Lakes Film Festival held earlier this year by our partners Never Again Rwanda and the Pole Institute. People traveled from across Rwanda, DR Congo and Burundi to attend the two-day event in the Rubavu district of Rwanda. The Great Lakes region has long [...]
Youth affirm the power of cooperation for peace in the Great Lakes Region
At just 22 years of age, Ornella Irakoze has a deep understanding of the consequences of political manipulation. She grew up in Burundi, which has known a history of conflict underpinned by ethnic divisions as a result of political manipulation. In September, Irakoze had the chance to talk about this phenomenon with young people from [...]
Great Lakes peacebuilding programme launches first cross-border dialogue space
On a warm Wednesday afternoon, a group of neighbours came together in Rwanda’s Bugesera district to share, talk and most importantly listen to one another in the name of peacebuilding. They are not neighbours in a conventional sense; in fact, half of them are Rwandans and the other half Burundians. Despite living in different countries, [...]
October 14, 2013
Rwanda: Involving the diaspora in the dialogue process
A team from Interpeace’s partner in Rwanda, the Institute or Research and Development for Peace (IRDP), recently travelled to Belgium and Switzerland to engage the Rwandan diaspora in a constructive dialogue process for peace. The aim of IRDP’s mission to Europe was to replicate the successful platforms for dialogue it has set up throughout Rwanda [...]
May 2, 2013
Rwanda: Engaging youth in the peace process
Interpeace’s local partner in Rwanda, the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP), engages young people in the peacebuilding process. Schools of Debate – promoting a culture of peace Since 2006, the School of Debate programme has been working with youth in secondary schools and universities to promote a culture of debate and critical [...]
Educators on “Ecole du débat” program
Published: May 2, 2013
Author: IRDP Rwanda
Since 2006, the School of Debate programme has been working with youth in secondary schools and universities to promote a culture of debate and critical thinking as fundamental aspects of a functioning democracy. The video shows the views of four educators following a meeting which gathered almost 50 educators to share lessons learned and explore [...]
December 4, 2012
Peace circles in Rwanda
Nine women leaders from various communities in Rwanda came together last month at the Peace Center in Kigali for a ‘Peace Circle’ training programme. This programme is organized by the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP), Interpeace’s local partner in Rwanda, as part of the Bibamahoro project, which trains Rwandan woman leaders. Training [...]
Each and everyone of us can play a role in building lasting peace.
Keep up-to-date with the latest news and stories from Interpeace. Our newsletter includes poignant insights and latest news from our peacebuilding work.
The Peace Talks is an initiative that showcases the inspirational stories of people making a positive contribution to peace.
Get involved on our social media pages and get the latest news about our peacebuilding programmes.
Interpeace works in over 15 countries around the world. Learn about our upcoming events and register to attend.
