I Matter Initiative has been working with young girls in different communities across the country at village level since 2019, with the aim of ending period poverty in Rwanda, through service, awareness and advocacy.

Considering the progress that has been made by I Matter Initiative, Bank of Kigali is joining hands with I Matter Initiative to impact more young girls by providing them with equal rights to menstrual hygiene supplies while creating a community of girls and women confident and aware of sexual reproductive health and rights-related issues.

Commenting on the development; Emmanuel Nkusi Batanage, the Head of Corporate Affairs at Bank of Kigali expressed delight for the partnership with I Matter Initiative.

‘‘We are very delighted to partner with I Matter Initiative for this positive cause. We believe that women empowerment is a key pillar in the development of our communities and every young girl deserves a right to healthy menstrual hygiene supplies to eradicate period poverty,” he said.

I Matter Initiative will carry out school visits and will be donating sanitary products.

Included in the donation package to the young girls will be pads, underwear and sanitary soap.

"I Matter Initiative has strived to support end period poverty, access to sanitary products and fight against stigma attached to menstruation through several patterns since 2019. Today, comes another opportunity for us to celebrate our partnership with Bank of Kigali enabling a life transformation for 1500 girls with free access to period protection products that they have not been able to afford,” said Divine Ingabire, I Matter Initiative Executive Director.

"On behalf of I matter Initiative, I would like to express my gratitude to the leadership and dedicated team of bank of Kigali, for their trust in our vision, investment in Rwandan girls’ life transformation and their voice added to ours to break the silence about girls and women’s sanitary need," she added.

About Bank of Kigali Plc

Bank of Kigali Plc. is the largest commercial bank in Rwanda, by total assets. In 2017, Global Credit Ratings affirmed Bank of Kigali’s long-term and short-term national scale ratings of AA-(RW) and A1+(RW) respectively with a stable outlook.

The Bank has won several back-to-back international and regional banking awards from Euromoney, The Banker, Global Finance Magazine, and EMEA Finance. Bank of Kigali has been recently awarded “Best Bank in Rwanda 2022” by Global Finance.

Emmanuel Nkusi Batanage, the Head of Corporate Affairs at Bank of Kigali expressed delight for the partnership with I Matter Initiative.

Divine Ingabire, I Matter Initiative Executive Director expressed gratitude for the donation.

I Matter Initiative has been working with young girls in different communities across the country.

BK team handing over a dummy cheque to I Matter Initiative expected to increase beneficiaries of sanitary pads.