Here in Rwanda, we have been focusing on how we prioritise SURF’s work over the year ahead, in consultation with our partners – survivor’s organisations with which we are currently, or may soon be, working.

There are two questions that we have been exploring: how can SURF serve as a more effective resource to our partners in Rwanda, and in which areas do they want us to focus our fundraising and advocacy efforts in the UK.

There are no straightforward answers. However, there is a view shared that SURF Rwanda should focus on Monitoring and Evaluation, for which the office here was originally established in 2003, and Mentoring.

Mentoring includes both capacity-building (enabling the partners to access more resources to do what they are already doing well) and organisational development (enabling those partners in need of support to work more effectively through access to training and technology).

We recognise that each partner has different needs, just as each partner has different priorities as determined by the survivors that they represent. This is the challenge for SURF, assessing how we prioritise our limited resources and add greatest value to our partner’s work.

Though the partners have many pressing priorities, there was a consensus that education, shelter, healthcare and income-generation were particularly important at this present time. Underpinning them all is the need for stronger advocacy.

To address those needs, SURF will continue to focus.