{"id":4091,"date":"2026-09-29T17:05:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=4091"},"modified":"2026-09-29T17:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:05:26","slug":"october-unity-month-to-assess-progress-address-challenges-to-social-cohesion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/29\/october-unity-month-to-assess-progress-address-challenges-to-social-cohesion\/politics\/national\/","title":{"rendered":"October unity month to assess progress, address challenges to social cohesion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rwanda will use this year\u2019s October unity and resilience month to assess progress in strengthening social cohesion and identify challenges that continue to affect unity, the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The month, observed annually in October, will bring together communities across the country for discussions on unity, resilience and the role of Rwandan values in building a cohesive society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister Jean Damascene Bizimana said the activities should give Rwandans an opportunity to reflect on the country\u2019s history, assess progress and discuss what still needs to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke on Tuesday, Sept. 29, during an interview with Rwanda Broadcasting Agency, as the country prepared to begin the month\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bizimana said an assessment of unity and resilience showed a 13% increase between 2010 and 2025, describing the trend as encouraging while stressing the need to protect the progress made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ministry plans to hold discussions in districts across the country, with some activities also bringing together Rwandans living abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The focus will include identifying achievements and remaining obstacles to unity in communities, workplaces and families, according to Bizimana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said some people, particularly among older generations, still hold attitudes linked to Rwanda\u2019s troubled history that can undermine national unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bizimana called on young people to help challenge such attitudes rather than inherit them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have young people who do not have problems with genocide ideology,\u201d he said, urging them to help change attitudes among older generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister said the unity month also provides an opportunity to examine the contribution of Rwandan culture, values and traditions to the way people think, behave and work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussions will also seek ways of preventing and addressing problems that continue to threaten unity and resilience, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2026 programme comes as the country implements the National Strategy for Transformation 2, a five-year government development programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bizimana said unity and resilience should be considered alongside the country\u2019s wider development efforts because social cohesion affects how communities work together towards common national goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The month is intended to provide an opportunity for communities to reflect on progress made, discuss remaining challenges and develop measures to further strengthen unity and resilience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda will use this year\u2019s October unity and resilience month to assess progress in strengthening social cohesion and identify challenges that continue to affect unity, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,53,41,34,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current_affairs","category-featured-stories","category-hot_topics","category-national","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4093,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4091\/revisions\/4093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}