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Felicite Rwemarika (born March 9, 1958 in Ruanda-Urundi, now Rwanda) is a member of the IOC since 2018. She is also a speaker at the American University of Nigeria on unity and reconciliation through sport. Rwemarika organizes workshops and seminars to raise awareness for gender equality in sports and promote sport as a powerful tool for peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and economic empowerment. [1] Rwemarika has dedicated herself to healing women who were victims of the 1994 Tutsi genocide through activities that are held by the Association of Kigali Women in Sports (AKWOS). She is a supporter of gender equality and encourages the wider participation of both women and men in conversations about gender-based violence, women empowerment HIV/AIDS reconciliation and entrepreneurship. [2] She is also an organizer of financial literacy trainings and bespoke competitions for AKWOS members. [3]
From 1985 until 1995, Rwemarika studied at the Mulago Hospital in Uganda and received her diploma in Nursing. In 2007, she received her Diploma in Business Administration from Cambridge College online. Rwemarika also has a Diploma in FIFA leadership development program. [1] [4]
From 1985 to 1995, Rwemarika was a medical nurse at the Mulago Hospital in Uganda. In 1997 and 2004, she was the founder of two businesses, a beauty salon and a restaurant. From 2004 to 2008, she was Country coordinator of We Act for Hope NGO, where in 2009 she became chair. She was also Chair of the Rwanda NGO forum on HIV & AIDS and health promotion in 2015. [1]
In 2003, she was founder, chair and legal representative of AKWOS. From 2007 until 2001, Rwemarika was a board member of the international women's organization Women Win. She was a member of the CECAFA Women Commission in 2011. From 2013 to 2017, she was executive and advisor of the RNOSC (Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee). From 2017 to 2018, she was president of the Women's Football Commission in the Rwandan Football Federation (FERWAFA). Also in 2013, she was president of the Rwanda Women and Sports Commission. In 2017, she was a member of the Sport and Active Society Commission, and in 2018 an IOC Member. From 2007 until present, she remains a member of the FERWAFA Executive board, 1st vice president of the Rwanda Olympic and Other Games, as well as initiator of Women Football in Rwanda. [4]
Rwemarika was selected as and made an Ashoka Fellow in 2012. In 2015 she received an award from the Stars Foundation and from Girls Collective. In 2016, she received the IOC Award for Women and Sport on the African continent. [1]
Noerine Kaleeba is a Ugandan physiotherapist, educator and AIDS activist. She is the co-founder of the AIDS activism group "The AIDS Support Organization" (TASO). She is currently a program development adviser for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). She is also the Patron of TASO.
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Rwanda faces a generalized epidemic, with an HIV prevalence rate of 3.1 percent among adults ages 15 to 49. The prevalence rate has remained relatively stable, with an overall decline since the late 1990s, partly due to improved HIV surveillance methodology. In general, HIV prevalence is higher in urban areas than in rural areas, and women are at higher risk of HIV infection than men. Young women ages 15 to 24 are twice as likely to be infected with HIV as young men in the same age group. Populations at higher risk of HIV infection include people in prostitution and men attending clinics for sexually transmitted infections.
Rose Kabuye is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Rwandan Army and Until late 2023, she was the highest ranking woman ever to serve in her country's armed forces. She is currently working in the private sector as chief executive officer of Virunga Logistics and Startech Limited but is best known for her work as a fighter for the Rwandan Patriotic Front during the Rwandan Civil War. She subsequently became Mayor of Kigali City, Rwandan Chief of State Protocol, and a member of the Rwandan parliament. Because of her participation in the liberation struggle, she was awarded The Rwandan National Liberation Medal and the Campaign Against Genocide Medal. She was serving as the chief of protocol of Rwandan President Paul Kagame in November 2008 when she was arrested in Frankfurt, Germany on charges that were lifted in March 2009.
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During the Rwandan genocide of 1994, over the course of 100 days, up to half a million women and children were raped, sexually mutilated, or murdered. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) handed down the first conviction for the use of rape as a weapon of war during the civil conflict, and, because the intent of the mass violence against Rwandan women and children was to destroy, in whole or in part, a particular ethnic group, it was the first time that mass rape during wartime was found to be an act of genocidal rape.
In Rwanda, sport is supported by the government's Sports Development Policy of October 2012. This argues that sport has a number of benefits, including bringing people together, improving national pride and unity, and improving health. The policy identifies challenges to the development of sport in the country, including limited infrastructure and financial capacity. It sets the "inspirational target" that, by 2020, Rwanda should have "a higher percentage of population playing sport than in any other African nation" and be ranked amongst the top three African countries in basketball, volleyball, cycling, athletics and Paralympic sports, and the top ten in football. It also aims to "foster increased participation of people in traditional sports". According to research published by the University of the Western Cape's Interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence for Sport Science and Development, the most popular sports in Rwanda are association football, volleyball, basketball, athletics and Paralympic sports.
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