Kigali-19 October, 2018- The International Day of Rural Women was observed on 18 October 2018 across the country whilst on national level, the celebrations were held in Gisagara District, Save Sector. Officials who joined Gisagara residents include the outgoing Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, State Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, MINALOC State Minister in Charge of Social Affairs, Southern Province Governor, the army among others. Minister Nyirasafari who has now been moved to the Ministry of Sports and Culture highlighted that: 'The International Day of Rural Women is an opportunity to look back on where rural woman came from, what she has achieved and also stress on challenges that hinder her development so that we find solutions.' Minister Nyirasafari added that there are lots of achievements made in empowering women as they now contribute to the country’s development through working in groups, working with saving and credits cooperatives and financial institutions. This has decreased the number of poor women from 58,9% in (2001) to 39,1% (2014accorind to (FinScope 2016). The National Employment Program ‘Kora Wigire’ also left 45,2% women employed. The financial inclusion also rose from 16% in 2012; to 39% in 2016 according to statistics.   Though there is a notable progress, Minister Nyirasafari stressed that the Government is worried about a number of challenges that affect the family such as child defilement that leads to early pregnancies, HIV and other sexual infectious diseases, school dropout, hence urging everyone to join hands in tackling these issues. ‘We strongly request everyone, leaders from different institutions, partners, educators, parents and the youth to play a role in preventing and responding to child defilements and its effects.'-noted Minister Nyirasafari At the sidelines of the International Day of Rural Women, vulnerable women were awarded with cows, toolkits including modern cooking stoves and sewing machines as part of ‘Kuremera’ initiative. Rwanda started observing the International Day of Rural Women in 1999. Globally, it was first celebrated on 15 October 2008 to recognize the critical contribution of Rural Women in enhancing agricultural & rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty. The idea of honoring rural women with a special day was put forward at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995. This year’s celebration of rural women’s day is part of the ongoing two-months campaign on governance and family welfare that was launched on 11 October 2018 under theme ’Buidling a Family We want. Say No to child defilement.’ The campaign will be conducted accros the country with a special focus on 17 districts that include the ones with a higher poverty rate namely Burera, Gicumbi, Gisagara, Nyaruguru, Ngororero, Nyamasheke and Rutsiro and 10 districts having high number of teen mothers namely Gatsibo, Nyagatare, Kirehe, Bugesera, Gasabo, Rubavu, Kayonza, Musanze, Ngoma and Rwamagana. The Ministry along with other key partners will identify teen mothers, assess their needs, provide dialogues on reproductive health to youth and parents through different forum such as Evening Parent/Umugoroba w’Ababyeyi. There will also be Birth registration of children including those of teen mothers, counseling to parents of teen mothers. In Response and rehabilitation teen mothers will be supported according to their needs, they will be provided with legal aid as well.