Aloisea Inyumba
Rwanda

Aloisea Inyumba is Governor of Kigali-Ngali province in Rwanda, responsible for overall management of the province, as well as policy coordination and implementation. She formerly served as Executive Secretary of the country's National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, which organizes and oversees national public debates promoting reconciliation between Hutus and Tutsis. Immediately following the 1994 genocide, Ms. Inyumba was the Minister of Gender and Social Affairs, involved in managing the aftermath of the genocide by creating programs that promoted coexistence, reconciliation, and peace. In this position, she directed a national adoption campaign to find homes for the enormous number of children orphaned by the genocide, thus reducing the number of children without families from 500,000 to less than 4,000. She also created programs to bury the dead and resettle refugees after the genocide. Ms. Inyumba is also founding member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front.

Ms. Inyumba's peace-building activities include:

• developing numerous programs to rebuild Rwandan civil society, including a survivor's fund to restore lost property to those impoverished by the violence, an emergency fund to help those without resources, and a national women's network to adjudicate family and property issues resulting from the genocide;
• initiating local social and economic efforts to unite and reconcile all Rwandans, as well as successfully working to change national policy to allow women to own property;
• working to mainstream peace education, as well as supporting the construction of schools and medical facilities; and
• consulting with community leaders and elders, church associations, and women's organizations to educate Rwandans on their rights and assist them in building a culture of tolerance and respect for others.
  

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