MUSANZE YOUTH CENTER, RWANDA

By Maria Vassimon de Assis

The Youth Center in Musanze district, was created in June 2017, based on the National Manual for Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health in Rwanda. The Center's activities are organized and run by a team of 25 young volunteers leaders, and a team of medical providers. Currently the center offers: 1) Information and communications technology (ICT)/Internet connection; 2) Education session on Health related topics (sexualy transmited diases - STDs, drug addiction, types of contraceptives and others); 3) Health services (pregnancy tests, STDs tests, family planning, counselling and other sexual and reproductive health services); 4) Games and Entertainment (Television, soccer matches, ping pong, chess, and others); 5) Support groups (single mothers).

THE CENTER

SCOPE OF WORK METHODOLOGYAssess and help improve the effect of youth leadership participation in achieving gender transformative goals and youth empowerment, by looking at:● Female participation and attendance

in the Center;● The Single Mother support group;● Data collection.

● Observation of the daily activities;● Informal interviews with the youth

leaders, the medical team and the Center’s coordinators;

● Informal conversations with potential partners in the area;

● Data analysis;● Research design and implement

participatory workshop for the youth leaders;

RECOMMENDATIONS

FINDINGS ● The Youth Leaders are extremely engaged in the Center, and eager to learn and

improve personally and professionally, to improve the Center’s services but also their careers;

● There’s a network of people and organizations in the district working with similar issues, that could be potential partners;

● Female participants are more interested in events just for them, and workshops that can help them complement their incomes, like handicrafts;

● The data collected is not easily accessed by the medical team, which makes hard for follow up;

● The single mothers support group has already a solid group of participants, they have leader figures that help the newcomers;

● Increase the number of girls’ focus activities;

● Leverage the existing organizations and projects in Musanze to develop new partnerships for events, workshops, and activities;

● Increase the services offered to the single mothers support group, specially regarding health and soft skills and managing skills;

● Develop a sustainable plan for the single mothers support group’ handicraft production, should have a more sustainable, for example, they should partner with a local store and develop a design for their products, which will allow them to be more efficient and sustainable with their resources;

● Develop a formal training for the youth leaders, so they improve the performance of the services at the Center, but also for their benefit;

● Have a manager in Musanze to make small administrative decisions, and to supervise the partnerships and new activities ;