Innocent Musore is leading this project in direct follow up from the five (5 x 3 day) large Forum events we held in Rwanda from 2016 through 2018, attended by hundreds of participants; the 5 (5×3) Module Training programme we delivered to a group of 60 selected participants; and the ongoing community activities since that time.  

At the end of our Forum and Training in November 2018, we set up community facilitator groups, which continued meeting through 2019.  In 2020, during the pandemic, GER stayed in contact with these community facilitators, meeting in small groups or on WhatsApp. In 2021, with mentoring support from CFOR, Innocent Musore facilitated in-person forum meetings for youth in 3 Districts and continued to support the community facilitators in their projects. Far out!

Started in 2022, this ‘Far in Far out’ project, ‘Rwanda – Youth, Reconciliation and our Future’ is ongoing, focusing on young people and extending to 6 Districts. The project includes training, facilitation, mentoring and monitoring of their community projects, documentation, and dissemination of learning, within Rwanda and internationally.

Local authorities and government have given powerful feedback to the work of GER and CFOR. They expressed deep gratitude for the impact this work has contributed to the process of reconciliation in Rwanda over the last few years, and for this current project, focusing on youth in 6 districts.

Rwanda’s political will to reconcile is exceptional, and a model for this world of ours. But, it is one thing, to say “we are all Rwandans” and another to be able to have such difficult and profound conversations among survivors and perpetrators. Again and again, people say that they never dreamed such a thing could be possible. It’s been life-changing for many in our Forums.  One of the things that young people say – when asked – is that they are deeply concerned about how they, the grown children of survivors and the children of perpetrators, can work on their relationships and future.  They also talk about the stigma of those born from rape during the genocide.  They are urgent in their request to the elder generation to deepen the process of reconciliation, so to not pass it on to the next generation.  They are passionate about reaching across generations to their parents, showing a depth of compassion for how difficult it is, and the desire to contribute.

Innocent Musore is inspired and committed to his own development as a facilitator, exploring his own personal experiences during the genocide that inspired his vision of contributing to reconciliation in Rwanda and beyond.  A longer-term project involves not only expanding this work in Rwanda, but bringing it to the DRC.

Innocent Musore, the Founder and the Executive Director of GER, Peacebuilding activist in Rwanda and the region; with 10 years’ experience supporting the process of reconciliation and peace building in the region. He has been facilitating interactions, trainings and advocacy workshops to support existing reconciliation process, community recovery and the prevention of violence in Rwanda.

His activities engaged the healing of the post-genocide society and fighting the existing effects of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. He is interested in improving people’s relations and lives through development activities.

He will share the contribution of GER and CFOR to the reconciliation activities in Rwanda and highlight the existing conflicts situation in the region specifically Eastern DRC.

Innocent Musore holds a Bachelors Degree of Community Development and a Professional Certificate in Leadership and Facilitation: Community and Conflict Transformation issued by Process Work and CFOR.