Funding development in Rwanda: the survivors' perspective

Abstract

Why has the humanitarian world already forgotten the people of Rwanda? And why do the survivors of the Rwandan genocide continue to be sidelined, particularly those women who were raped and deliberately infected with HIV/AIDS in a campaign of systematic sexual violence? The focus of humanitarian organisations shifted from Rwanda after 1994, and these women – most of whom have to maintain their households alone – are needlessly dying because they have no access to treatment. Humanitarian and development efforts will not achieve lasting benefits without better coordination and the ability to act on lessons learned.

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Notes on contributors

Mary Kayitesi-Blewitt

Mary Kayitesi-Blewitt is the Director of the Survivors Fund (SURF). She lost 50 members of her family during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. That year she spent eight months working for the Ministry of Rehabilitation and then set up SURF at the behest of some of those who had suffered, to assist and support survivors of the genocide in the UK and Rwanda.