The Gender Monitoring Office in collaboration with Western Province on Monday, December 4, 2023, concluded gender accountability month in all districts of the province. At the Provincial level, the ceremony took place in the Bugarama Sector of Rusizi district where 42 couples legalized their Marriage.

The ceremony was attended by the Governor of Western Province Mr Lambert Dushimimana, Chief Gender Monitor, Mrs Umutoni Gatsinzi Nadine, Mayor of Rusizi district Dr Kibiriga Anicet, residents of Bugarama and Muganza sectors, security organs and stakeholders.

Apart from concluding this month, the ceremony also showcased key achieved results during Gender Accountability Month, indicating persistent gender issues and coming up with commitments and recommendations for strengthening gender accountability and improved GBV service delivery in the Western Province.

During this ceremony, 34 couples from the Bugarama Sector and eight couples from Muganza Sector legalized their marriage. One of the couples who legalized their marriage provided testimony of how they decided to legalize their marriage. The family of Bakomeza Moussa and Nyirahirwa Bahati said that they decided to live in a formal union after one of their kids refused to register for a passport. They spoke "We decided to legalize our marriage after one of our children tried to register for a passport and found he is not registered in civil documents; we were ashamed of having a kid who is not registered"

Bakomeza Moussa and Nyirahirwa Bahati spent 23 years together and they have five children. They got married in Islam which is known (as Kufunga Ndoa) in Kiswahili. They encouraged their neighbours to live in legal union to build a better and secure family.

In her remarks, Chief Gender Monitor Umutoni Gatsinzi Nadine thanked the leadership of Western province for their effort in well-conducted gender accountability month across all districts of the province and the outcome of the month.

While closing this ceremony, the Governor of Western Province Mr Lambert Dushimamana thanked Gender Monitoring Office, Partners and all stakeholders that contributed to the well-concluded Gender Accountability Month.

Different activities were conducted during Gender Accountability Month, including Child Civil Registration, Legalization of Marriages, Dialogue on the Role of youths in promoting Gender Equality and Fighting Gender-Based Violence, dialogue on the role of local leaders in promoting gender Equality and fight against Gender-Based Violence, Door-to-door assessment of socio-economic reintegration of teen mothers conducted in Nyabihu district, Assessment of gender and GBV prevention and response mechanisms in school, Kuremera and many more.