Gacaca (Living Together Again in Rwanda?)

The Gacaca strategy was carried out in 4 phases:

• Phase I focused on raising awareness about Gacaca and increasing knowledge about the law..
• Phase II was concerned with the election of Gacaca judges.
• Phase III dealt with confession, testimony, and reconciliation.
• Phase IV focused on re-integration of prisoners into society through a work programme.

Project activities included:

• Training of community opinion leaders (COLs). The project trained more than 600 COLs to serve as "emissaries" of the Gacaca behaviour change communication (BCC) project. COLs were trained in the content of the law and effective communication techniques. They were drawn from the Ministry of Justice, Civil Society, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and religious organisations.
• Emissary BCC sessions. COLs conducted interactive BCC sessions at the community level. They explained the law, described why it is important to participate in the process, and distributed Gacaca print materials to encourage participation. In their presentations, the COLs used the "Gacaca kit," which contains research briefs, flipcharts, handouts, badges, and an "aide memoire". Each COL conducted, on average, 8 to 12 BCC sessions per month.
• Gacaca play. A play about Gacaca was produced by one of Rwanda's top theatre troupes and toured throughout the country.
• Weekly radio spots were broadcast on Office Rwandais d'Information (Rwandan National Information Office) (ORINFOR ) about various Gacaca issues to increase understanding of the election process and encourage participation.
• A bi-monthly newspaper, Inkiko Gacaca, published by the Ministry of Justice with technical assistance from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, reaches the general public and discusses the Gacaca process and trials in detail.
• A bi-weekly radio talk show was produced and aired on Rwanda Radio to complement the spots, and each month call-in programmes were broadcast to cover aspects of the Gacaca law.
• Gacaca soccer matches. Educational sessions about Gacaca were held during soccer matches.
• Election campaign. To get Rwandans to participate in the first step of the Gacaca process and elect Gacaca judges, an election campaign was conducted and included posters, stickers, a comic strip, radio spots, and a film that toured the country on the project's cine-mobile.
• Gacaca song competition. This competition was held throughout the country, with winners selected at the provincial level to compete at the national level, where the grand prize winners were announced.

Conflict, Political Development, Rights.

The Gacaca communication campaign was conducted throughout the country, but was limited in scope due to timing and funding parameters. The roll-out of the actual Gacaca justice programme took much longer than expected - only 11% reported that the process had started in their sector in the final evaluation of the communication programme - while limited funding did not allow the campaign to continue past Phase III. Nonetheless, results from the evaluation survey indicate positive movement in terms of attitude and behaviours regarding the Gacaca Jurisdictions.

According to evaluators (click here for an evaluation [PDF]), the combined use of modern and traditional media and the wide variety of campaign materials and activities made it possible to reach the various socio-demographic groups that the campaign addressed: four-fifths of the respondents reported exposure to at least one campaign material or activity and almost half were exposed to five or more different campaign materials or activities. Knowledge about Gacaca jurisdictions was high, with 96% of respondents reporting they had heard about Gacaca jurisdictions. There also appears to be a sort of dose-response relationship between campaign exposure and knowledge: the higher the level of exposure, the higher the level of knowledge. Findings also indicate that the campaign had greater impact among women compared to men. Among women, even a low level of exposure makes significant difference in terms of knowledge. It is, however, pertinent to mention that by the end of the campaign, there was still a high level of misinformation about the jurisdictions and knowledge about some provisions of the Gacaca law; for example, knowledge about the communal work scheme and guilty plea provision remained low.

The data indicate that the campaign helped to both foster participation in the Gacaca process and promote positive attitudes towards participation. In the communities where Gacaca jurisdictions have started their activities, the level of participation is relatively high. Among the respondents that have yet to participate in the activities of the jurisdictions, participation intentions are very high. There is a significant dose-response relationship between campaign exposure and such participation indicators as actual participation in the meetings of Gacaca jurisdictions, participation intentions, and personal advocacy in favour of participation. There also appears to be a positive link between campaign exposure and optimism about the future of the Rwandan society.