News Roundup: Week of July 25
We’re sharing the latest news out of Rwanda, plus updates and ongoings at the Akilah Institute. Here’s what you need to know this week!
The latest news from Rwanda
For the first time ever, Rwanda hosted the annual African Union Summit, the biggest pan-African conference on the continent. More than 35 heads of state and numerous international organizations met in Kigali’s newly unveiled Convention Center from July 10 — 18. The Summit focused on human rights, particularly on women and their roles in peacekeeping, education, health and ICT sectors. Get more highlights from the summit here.
The Rwanda Film Festival kicked off another week of Rwandan and international films for the ‘Hillywood Festival’ this weekend. All films are free of charge and are screened in venues in and outside of Kigali. Pop in for a movie about Rwanda’s creative scene, the first female cyclist in Rwanda, or a documentary about life and love in Rwanda. See the full program here.
Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta with her new Pan African passport
One passport for all Africans? The highly anticipated and long-awaited Pan African passport launched at the African Union Summit last week. This will make travel between African countries much easier and visa-free (!), with the hope that the inter-continental access will create unity and greater business opportunities across the continent. Happy travels!
The latest news from Akilah’s campus
Akilah recently collaborated with the Rwandan Gender Monitoring Office to conduct a workshop on “Navigating the Workplace.” Akilah staff members and the Executive Secretary of the Gender Monitoring Office led a conversation with students on understanding workplace culture and knowing how to adapt and behave according to that culture.
This workshop is a part of recently increased efforts to help prepare students to address challenges in the workplace, particularly raising awareness about sexual harassment as a common workplace challenge. By equipping students and graduates with information about their legal rights and how to cope with such workplace challenges, Akilah hopes to continue to set students up for success when they enter the workplace.
As part of Akilah’s Social Change projects initiative, a group of graduating students are researching reproductive health issues and family planning methods to share information with their fellow students.
Last week, students invited guest speaker Josephine Kobusingye, a program manager from the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE). She shared information about family planning methods, reproductive health management, and the consequences that unanticipated changes in reproductive health can have on education.
Akilah held its annual Entrepreneurship Fund competition this month, an opportunity for students to compete for funding for promising business ideas. This year, 23 students submitted applications to the competition. Congratulations to Pascaline Uwineza, who won the competition and 2 million Rwandan francs (~$2500) which she plans to use to expand and scale her mushroom farm. Runners-up Sakina Usengimana and Souzane Murekatete won 1.5 million Rwf (~$2000) and 1 million Rwf (~$1200), respectively. In addition to funding, Pascaline won one year of business development support from our partners at Inkomoko. Congratulations to our incredible rising entrepreneurs!
Finalists Souzane Murekatete & Sakina Usengimana and winner Pascaline Uwineza
Akilah recently welcomed the Burkina group on campus to learn about our academic model.
Burkina Group included visitors from Diakonia, a Swedish international NGO focused on female empowerment, the Women’s Ministry of Burkina Faso, and UNICEF and UNFPA. Burkina Group coordinated this trip both in an effort to strengthen and solidify the relationship between Burkina Faso and Rwanda, and to learn about growth and development in the entrepreneurship sector. Thank you to the Burkina Group for joining us on campus!
Congratulations to our staff and students for the successful completion of another great academic year! This year our community successfully managed the transition to a trimester system, and our team has been hard at work preparing for the implementation of our new academic model next year. We look forward to sharing our growth and next chapter with you!