The resilience that paid off

Association Rwandaise pour le Bien-Etre Familial's (ARBEF) was established in 1986.

The Association Rwandaise pour le bien être Familial (ARBEF) continued offering reproductive health to Rwandese even in times of conflict.

Since then we have expanded our scope.

Currently, the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services offered to our target group
of young people – in-and-out of school and young people living with HIV/AIDS; women and
under-served communities - include:

• antenatal and post-natal care
• family planning
• diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections
• prevention and management of HIV/AIDS which includes voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services

Under the peer educators programmes, condoms are distributed, young people are sensitized,
educated, and guided on SRH issues.

We also focus on advocating for formulating friendly SRH policies and their implementation.

Besides this, ARBEF assists the government to deliver services on programmes such as safe motherhood, and has worked with the private sector in drafting workplace policies on HIV/AIDS.

So far, the results of these efforts have been inspiring.

In 2006 ARBEF served 63,041 clients, the majority of whom were poor or socially excluded.

Through our advocacy, we have managed to get the Rwanda President and other senior government officials to give serious consideration to family planning issues.

Nevertheless, challenges abound in Rwanda.

Maternal mortality rates stand at 1,400; modern contraceptive prevalence is only 4 per cent; total fertility rate is 5.2 and HIV
prevalence among females is 3.4 per cent compared to 2.7 percent among males; high
teenage pregnancy; and restrictive legal regimes around abortion.

All this added up puts a massive strain on ARBEF’s resources.

Service delivery points
1 branch and 12 clinics

Members of governing body
11 (5 men and 6 women)

Staff and volunteers
57 staff and 807 (381 women and 426 men)
volunteers

Voluntary counselling and testing sites
4

Youth Centers
1

Members of Young Action Movement
60

Community-based distributors
8

Peer Educators
4

Partnerships
Government: Minisante
Private Sector: APELAS
NGOs: HIV/AIDS forum; Profemme Twese
Hamwe, Family Health International
Donors: IPPF, IPPF Japan Trust Fund, UNFPA,
USAID, IMPACT Rwanda
Networks: NGO HIV/AIDS forum; High Council of
Press for the Regularization of Media in Rwanda