CARE in Rwanda

CARE started working in Rwanda in 1984 and for the first decade we ran a range of activities, such as improving the health of pregnant women, developing forestry and digging wells and latrines.

In Rwanda we:

provide access to clean water and sanitation
provide health education
improve agriculture and forestry, for example by teaching farmers new farming techniques
promote the status of underprivileged groups

As a result of the violent civil war in Rwanda, which claimed an estimated one million lives, we temporarily closed the Kigali office for a few months in 1994. However, we continued to deliver cross-border relief from Uganda to 150,000 people in eastern Rwanda and 120,000 in the southwest from Burundi and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo).

Emergency operations included providing people with shelter, food, water, seeds and tools. At the height of the emergency in 1994, CARE helped an estimated 1.5 million people, including people who had fled their homes, returning refugees, and impoverished local people.

CARE in action:

Fighting HIV and AIDS
One of the most daunting legacies of the war in Rwanda is the high rates of HIV infection. During the war, many women were raped and a lot of people were forced to flee their homes and settle in large camps, increasing the spread of HIV. CARE is working to reduce the spread of the disease in Rwanda by raising awareness about it and how to prevent it, particularly among teenagers and young women, who are at high risk of contracting HIV.

Working with marginalised groups
CARE is working to promote the status of marginalised groups in Rwanda, particularly people belonging to the minority Batwa ethnic group and women. We are helping woman and members of the Batwa community to become aware of their rights and to lobby for them to be realised, largely through literacy programmes focused on rights issues.