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Sarah Doyle
ED2 - Bugesera District, Eastern Province





As many of you may haveread in a previous post, GAD has been busy with a bunch of different projects.One of our initial projects was the “All PCV Gender and Development Survey” togauge what local GAD issues PCVs see their community members face as well aswhat GAD related challenges PCVs face in their day-to-day lives. I thought I’dtake the time in this blog to fill you in on what we found and what it meansfor the Gender and Development Committee.
GADSurvey Results
Education SummaryThe majority of PCVs have41-50% girls in their classes in both 0 level and A level.  As the grade level increases, many noticethat there are more boys in the upper level classes and less girls.  Most also notice that in co-ed learningsettings, the boys tend to speak more and participate in class while the girlsremain more quiet.  Most chefs de classeare male.  The two greatest barriers topaying school fees are access to money/orphans who have to raise their moneyand daily/seasonal work.  For PCVs whowork at boarding schools, 27.6% of PCVs notice that students pay 40,000-55,000FRW for school fees annually.  For thosewho work at day schools, the majority of their students pay 3,000 to 5,000FRW.  Most PCVs have after schoolprograms that are led primarily by the teachers.  Most schools have girls volleyball, whichincludes 23.8% of PCV respondents, and boys football, which includes 28.6% ofPCV respondents.  The majority ofafterschool programs have shared materials, which 42.1% of PCV respondentsfound while there’s an even split of 26.3% of PCV respondents that say theirschools have no funding or they’re uncertain of how after-school programs arefunded.  For Education PCVs, we encouragethem to incorporate GAD into their lessons and also to start GLOW (girls leadingour world) clubs to encourage self-confidence and leadership amongst the girls.As for leadership in the classroom, many PCVs noted that there is a boy andgirl chef de classe, but unfortunately the boy is given all the authority andresponsibility. PCVs could encourage the girls to step up and take on someresponsibility.
Health SummaryIn health centers, 33.8%of PCV respondents believe that health centers provide an array of serviceswhich include: basic/community referral, malaria/tb screening, familyplanning/pre-natal care/baby weighing, ORS, other educational sessions,cooperate/work with NGOs, home visits  toHIV patients, malnutrition services, etc. A slightly lower percentage of PCV respondents, 24.2% believed that thehealth centers mostly offered educational sessions for their communitymembers.  44.8% of PCVs noted that thehead of the health center is male but all the other workers there arefemale.  30.8% of PCVs also noted thatthe male staff tends to feel less empathy towards female patients than femalestaff.  This is a key difference observedbetween male and female staff.  The twobiggest problems for community concerning health, according to the highestwritten percentages, 40% and 26.7%, are family planning/birthing practices andmalnutrition, which is considered to be solely the woman’s responsibility.  If there are equal men and women coming tothe health center, 80% of PCVs replied that they received general consults.  If there are only men receiving services atthe health center, most are there for treatment of physical trauma.  While if only women arereceiving the services at the health center, 55.6% of PCVs believe that theycome more often and receive a wide variety of services.  The two greatest barriers to communitymembers accessing the health center are distance, which 34.8% of PCVs noticed,as well as 28.3% of respondents stating time of the year/daily schedule was themost problematic.  Inability to pay forMutuelle de Sante (health insurance) is also often noted as a problem for many.
Economics SummaryFor 39.6% of PCVS, theircommunity members make money by farming where as a slightly lower percentage,18.6% found that Rwandans mostly make money by teaching and asshopkeepers.  In each profession, PCVSfound that some professions were more male dominated while others were femaledominated.  Farming and co-ops tended tobe female dominated while teaching, health center/school/church officials, anddrivers where completely male dominated fields. There was an even split between males and females for those who work inbusiness or entrepreneurship.  36.8% ofPCVs were also unsure whether there were more women than men in general in thework place.  The majority of respondents,68.4%, did notice that as you move up the hierarchy in the work place, marriedwomen tend to get more respect than unmarried women.  Only 28.4% saw that marital status had littleor no effect on the work place hierarchy. 
Family RelationsIt appears that though thegovernment is emphasizing the importance of good family relations and offeringfamily planning services to anyone over the age of 15, the reality is thatlittle improvement/access has been noted at the local level. Gender basedviolence and family planning continue to be a challenge for communities. Almostall PCVs noted that family planning was available, while a few lived in asector supported by a religious organization that only provided natural familyplanning or did not have health facilities available. Though family planning isavailable, single women are not accessing it due to stigma and generalembarrassment of sitting in the waiting room with mothers and married women.One PCV noted that in 2011, only 30% of the women receiving family planningservices at Kitabi Health Center were unmarried women. Another PCV has hadunmarried women come to his/her house at night saying that they want birthcontrol off the books (NB: PCV is not providing it, but there is a demand).Whitney and Jacob were able to convince their HC to provide BC at generalconsults, so women didn’t need to wait in line or be embarrassed. The successof Whitney and Jacob could be a great venue change for other PCVs to encourageat their health centers so young women are not faced with embarrassment beingtheir only reason for not accessing family planning support.Gender-basedviolence (GBV) is definitely a problem that PCVs and their communities dealwith. The majority of PCVs said it was a problem and about half of them haveactually seen or heard instances of GBV. Though this is a big problem, it isalmost never reported. One PCV noted that women don’t report it because thepunishment for the husband is to pay a fine, which then takes away from thefamily’s funds, which affects everyone. Another PCV noted that the police onlyget involved when there is blood, which again is very rare. Though there are afew health centers and organizations involved with GBV projects and awareness,the vast majority of PCVs reported no public awareness committees ororganizations at their site. A couple PCVs stated that they had done GBVtraining at their site, with Caitlyn Griffith willing to share moreinformation. Since this appears to be such a problem at many sites, it might begood for GAD to put together a GBV training manual.
Sexual Harassment Experienced by PCVsUnfortunately, sexualharassment is a big problem for PCVs. The majority of volunteers experience ita few times a month, while though not a significant number, others experiencesexual harassment weekly and sometimes daily. Furthermore, nearly equal numbershave experienced both verbal and physical harassment, something that PeaceCorps seems to be unaware of (probably due to the low reporting of suchinteractions to Peace Corps). PCVs try to handle this harassment in many differentways, with “distance” and “showing dislike” being the most common techniquesused. A few also noted that they avoid interactions with men or make eyecontact or appear too friendly in public.                 Though few people reported about how their communitysupported them, it is clear that there is a lack of support coming from thecommunity (an omission is assumed to be a lack of community support). A PCVmight have the chance to vent or talk to a few people they are close to, andsometimes a community member will speak out against harassment of a PCV, butmany PCVs seem to handle it on their own or internalize it. This is furtherdemonstrated by the fact that only fifty percent of those who experiencedsexual harassment went to Peace Corps for support. One PCV said she did notreport it because she was told that the only option PC offers to deal with sucha problem is to change sites. Others said that they did go to PC, but only feltcomfortable talking to specific staff members (Gloriosa and Dr. Laurent). Thoughnot reported, many PCVs have stated how they feel only a few staff members areapproachable, while the majority don’t understand the amount of harassmentPCVs, especially females, receive on a regular basis.                Though many people said they were unsure about whatPC could do to better support them, an equal number said that there was a needfor sexual harassment to be discussed further in training. There is a need fora clear delineation between appropriate and inappropriate behavior becauseoften at site, people try to say it is their culture to touch a particular wayor linger inappropriately. PCVs suggest that there be a discussion between PCTsand LCFs and PCVs to discuss appropriate behavior as well as coping mechanismsused by PCVs. Another also suggested (in the GAD project section) that PeaceCorps should offer a sexual harassment and self-defense training. This PCV didone in the United States before starting her service and says that she is moreaware of her surroundings and more comfortable standing her ground if she isever put in an uncomfortable position. There was also the suggestion thatheadmasters and community leaders be made aware of what constitutes appropriatetreatment of a volunteer and to make community members aware of it. Though harassmentwill probably be a part of a PCV’s service, there are things that can be donefrom the Peace Corps perspective to reduce its presence and help communitymembers understand that “ihangane” is not an appropriate response.
Homosexuality and GBLTThough many PCVs have notparticipated in a discussion about homosexuality, the majority has and has hadto struggle with a very negative Rwandan opinion that refuses to recognize aperson’s right to their own opinion/ideas. Many of them emphasized their attemptto share American culture and stories from home to show the presence ofhomosexuality and general respect of others, whether you agree with theirchoices or not. Though this is a difficult for PCVs to have with communitymembers, many PCVs noted that Peace Corps often does not address it intrainings and there is no discussion about it amongst PCVs or staff. Otherssuggested that PCVs share their experiences and how they approached thediscussion, as well as have PCTs participate in role plays to practice. Ingeneral, there’s a need for general awareness amongst Peace Corps staff and anexposure of PCTs and PCVs to the reality of how a possible homosexualitydiscussion could go and how it could be handled.
How weare using the resultsAs stated inthe previous post about what GAD is working on, the survey results were key infuture planning at our last GAD meeting. We decided to take the recommendationsof many PCVs and put together a manual of lesson plans for adults. We have GADmembers as well as other PCVs who offered to share their projects working onlesson plans which will hopefully be finished by our next meeting. We will alsowork closely with the Peer Support Network to find a way to support PCVs whoexperience sexual harassment or problems related to queer issues, so stay tunedas we iron out what that’ll look like. We will encourage future GAD committeesto put out a GAD survey every few years to get current info about site-specificneeds of PCVs which will help the committee to plan projects and support PCVsas best as we can.