No More Pigs or Goats Please!

Goat

 

Just had a great day. Went to the Disability PAC (Partnership Committee) meeting at Novotel, a swanky hotel in town which most Disability vols don't go to. Jo managed to wangle me in lol

It was good fun actually, and really useful. It's a quarterly meeting to discuss small grants applications from local groups known to our partner organisations. It's only for a maximum of £2,000 (FRW 2mil) but quite popular as that money can go a long way. We meet and split into two groups (this time anglophone and francophone) and go through the merits of each application against a criteria grid. Then we come together at the end to see'f we agree, and argue if we don't.

I really enjoyed myself because I've spent so bloomin' long writing sodding application forms it was really nice to be on the other side of the table; to see what sort of projects people were applying for, how well the forms were put together, and how the decisions were made.

Originally, no one from my organisation was going to be able to make it. Then Augustin managed to get in for the first half.

Dinner was outstanding and one of the reasons I went lol I haven't eaten like that in all my time here. It was a melange, but vast, with tons of options including a whole table full of salad and vegetables. The desserts were scrummy. I went three times - for a salad round, main course, and pudding. Could barely move back to the meeting room!

After we'd done the funding forms we had a discussion on a few additional things like the recent ministerial decree that is causing a lot of panic. Essentially, just about the same time I arrived, a new National Disability Committee was set up with elected representatives in the five areas of Disability: Deaf, Blind, Physical, Mental and 'other'. It's causing a few problems. Our organisation didn't turn up to be elected because they say they didn't know about it. Two other groups are also in this situation. However, a member from the Deaf Women's Association did turn up and was elected. The Women's Association and RNAD don't get on at all. The Women's interpreter refuses to interpret for our lot at events, and they won't work on joint projects with us. This also means that, technically, RNAD isn't officially the representative group of Deaf people in Rwanda - the Women's Deaf Association is. Even though the Committee of RNAD was voted in by its members.... 

Don't ask.

Anyway, worse than this, a new ministerial decree has just announced that the new national Committee is in place and that all organisations representing disabled people who existed before this Committee must now be 'dissolved'.

Hmmmmm.

So, few confused and distressed faces in the room. Including VSO's, as they've ploughed a lot of money into all of these organisations. This needs to get ironed out.

This was discussed for a while, along with some accessibility issues and so forth. It was good and useful. I feel like I've really been involved in something today. Only, we're all a bit bored of goats and pigs - every second project was an income generating scheme to breed them lol Some were well thought out, some were completely ridiculous. One proposal asking FRW 31mil to plant crops!!! lol