Course: Social and Religious Studies, Topic: UNIT 2:Complementarity and social cohesion in the society

General

UNIT 2:Complementarity and social cohesion in the society
Key Unit Competence: Explain complementarity and social cohesion in the society,
and their importance.

Attitudes and Values: Acknowledge the importance of complementarity in the society,
show respect for basic human rights and understand the importance of harmony.

Complementarity
People in our province perform different kinds of work that helps to maintain
peace and security in society. Everyone in the community has an important
role to play by working together with others, in order to maintain peace.

Complementarity is the way in which people work together to achieve a
common goal.

Complementarity comes from the word complement, which means a part
that combines to make something. People in our province have to work
together in order to achieve development, peace and security in our province.

2.1 The roles of different people in society

Different people in our province such as leaders, farmers, children, parents,
police officers and soldiers should work together to maintain peace.

Role of a school in maintaining peace

Teachers and other workers at school help to maintain peace in the following ways:
• Teaching good behaviour to children.
• Promoting unity and sharing among children.
• Teaching children how to keep peace.
• The school helps to promote children’s rights.
• The school encourages group work.
• Teach children to learn how to forgive each other.
• Setting school rules and regulations to be followed by all.
  Children being tought how to share.
Role of the security organs in maintaining peace
Security organs include police officers, soldiers and private security
companies. They help to maintain peace in our province by:
• Keeping law and order.
• Controlling traffic.
• Arresting criminals.
• Protecting important places.
Activity 2.1

1. Discuss the role of the school in maintaining peace.
2. What does complement mean?
Police helping school children to cross the road
Role of people in maintaining complementarity in the society
People help in maintaining complementarity by:
• Helping the needy, people like orphans, the poor, people
• with disabilities and the elderly.
• Respecting each other.
• Working together in cooperation.
• Reporting bad people to the police.
• Through dialogue.
• Sharing resources equally.
(Internet photo) Community members in a dialogue to maintain peace
Activity 2.2
1. Discuss how people in your area maintain peace.
2. Give three examples of people who need help in your area.
3. Mention three things that may affect peace in our province.
4. Why is it important for members of the community to promote complementarity?

Role of leaders in maintaining peace in our province

A leader addressing a public meeting
Leaders work at different levels in our province such as in cells,

sectors and districts, to help maintain peace by:
• Encouraging people to cooperate
• Providing social services to people
• Solving conflicts and misunderstandings
• Promoting gender equality
• Educating people on how to maintain peace

2.2 Indicators of complementarity in our province

In order to attain good development, people in our province should work together and support each other.
The following are some of the indicators of complementarity.
• Distribution of responsibilities.
• Reporting anti-social elements to the police.
• Participating in community work.
• Cooperation among members.
• Protecting community assets.
• Sharing among people.
• Educating both girls and boys child.

Different people working together to build at hous
Importance of complementarity
When people in our province work together as a group, it yields better results.
Complementarity is important because it
• brings about development.
• promotes gender equality.
• promotes harmony among people.
• maintains peace and unity.
• allows people to express their ideas freely.
• promotes respect for one another.
• reduces the crime rate.

2.3 Social cohesion and conflict management in our province
Social cohesion is the willingness of members of the society to cooperate with each other. It is an act of keeping together.
Conflict management is the practice of being able to identify and handle conflicts sensibly, fairly and efficiently. When people work together, they develop their sense of cooperation. This cooperation develops unity and peace and motivates people to handle conflict in a united way.

Social cohesion includes:
• Doing community work (umuganda)
• Building houses for the needy.
• Building schools.
• Maintaining peace by reporting criminals to the police.
• Protecting public assets.
People doing Umuganda
It is important to work together in the community in order to:
• Develop the economy of the country.
• Promote unity.
• Resolve conflicts peacefully.
• Maintain security.

2.4 Human rights and their importance in our society

Human rights are the moral principles that govern human behaviour. These are the rights, a person has, simply because are human. Human rights are universal and are held by all equally and forever. Nobody can take away these rights. These are freedoms that every person enjoys.
These come in the form of justice, respect, fairness and dignity. People must enjoy these rights no matter what race or nationality they belong to.

Examples of human rights

All human beings are born free, and are equal in dignity and have the same rights.
Therefore, they all deserve equal rights. Some important human rights are the:
• Right to life.
• Right to own property.
• Right to a fair trial in a court of law.
• Right to freedom of speech.
• Right to freedom of press.
• Right to form an association.
• Right to freedom of worship.
• Right to vote/elect leaders.

The organisations that help to promote and protect people’s rights in Rwanda
Every country has its own laws. Laws are made by the legislative body of the government, the National Assembly or the Parliament.
There are different bodies that help to protect human rights in our community. They inform people of their rights and help those whose rights have been abused. Some of the organizations that protect human rights in Rwanda are as follows:

• The Rwanda Human Rights Commission.
• The Imbuto Foundation.
• Amnesty International.
• The Ombudsman’s Office.
• The Rwanda Transparence.
Rwanda has been a witness to horrible human rights abuses in the form of genocide. Other forms of human rights abuse in Rwanda include:
• Corporal punishment.
• Child labour.
• Human trafficking.
Activity 2.3
1. Discuss other examples of human rights that are practised in your province.
2. Mention the different ways in which human rights are abused in your province.
3. State two organizations that protect human rights in Rwanda.

Human rights abuse
This is when people are not given the freedom to enjoy their rights. When
people are denied the freedom they need to have in life, it means that their
rights have been abused or not respected.
Forms of human rights abuse
Below are some of the ways in which human rights may be abused in our communities.
• Denial of fair judgment in a court of law.
• Mistreating a person in an unjust way.
• Denial of freedom of movement.
• Denial of freedom of speech.
• Denial of freedom of worship.
Importance of human rights
Human rights abuses are a negative indicator of a country’s development.
Abuses create conflict and tension and disturb peace and unity. We should always stand up against human rights abuses.
It is important to respect human rights in order to:
• Avoid harsh punishment.
• Show respect for gender.
• Promote peace and harmony.
• Promote justice.
• Give people freedom of speech and movement.
Activity 2.4
1. Discuss other reasons why it is important to respect human rights.
2. Name any two forms of human rights abuse.

2.5 Conflict management in the society
Conflict arises when there is a misunderstanding between two or more people
in an area. However, conflict management helps to solve misunderstandings
among people.

Conflict being resolved by people in the community
Activity 2.5
Discuss other ways of solving conflicts in our province and explain each of them.

There are many ways in which we can solve conflicts in our province peacefully.
These are:
• Respecting human rights.
• Treating people equally.
• Respecting each other.
• Through dialogue.
• Equal distribution of resources

2.6 Importance of peace in our society
When we have peace in our province it helps us to:
Promote unity. When people have peace, they always work together with the love of one another.

Avoid conflict. When people have peace they always love and forgive one another in case of mistakes.

Promotes friendship. When people have peace they help one another in problems.

Promotes trade. There is good environment for people to sell, buy and transport their goods when there is peace in an area

Ensures security. People can easily identify and report a wrong person in the community when there is peace among them

Provide adequate social service. When there is peace in the society, people work together in building, maintaining social service centers like schools, water sources and hospitals.

Develop an area. It makes it easy to bring development in an area because of good understanding and togetherness among people in an area Role of family in maintaining peace and harmony Family plays a major role in maintaining peace and harmony in our province.
Parents are responsible for teaching good behaviour to children such as:
• Forgiveness.
• Respecting elders and other people.
• Sharing roles and responsibilities.
• Showing good behaviour.
• Helping others face their problems.
• Sharing what they have with others.
• Teaching good morals.
• Helping to preserve our culture.

Parents teaching children how to solve a conflict
Activity 2.6
Discuss other ways in which a family can maintain peace and harmony in their province.

2.7 Harmony and disharmony in our province
Disharmony is misunderstanding between two or more people.
When there is disharmony in an area, there is no peace, as people always engage in bad behaviour such as:
• Fighting.
• Stealing.
• Quarrelling.
• Being physically abusive.
• Disobeying.
• Disrespect of others.

A man and a woman quarrelling
Activity 2.7
1. What is taking place in the picture above?
2. In groups, discuss the causes of disharmony in our province.

2.8 Causes of disharmony in the province
Disharmony is a condition or situation in which there is disagreement
among people.

There are many causes of disharmony in our province such as:
• Religious difference. Some people may not live peacefully with their neighbours because of their religions
• Lack of respect of human rights. Some leaders use their powers wrongly on people without respecting their rights.

• Political differences. Many political parties in an area may create misunderstanding among the members because of different political wills and ideology.

• Corruption. This leads to unequal distribution of resource by the government officials to the beneficiaries.

• Theft and misunderstanding among people. Some people still the assets of their neighbours which makes them not to live in peace in the community.

2.9 Consequences are bad results brought about by disharmony in an area.
When there is disharmony, people are affected in many ways such as:

• Loss of life (death). When there is disharmony people can kill one another.
• Lack of peace. When people are not living in harmony they do bad acts like fighting, quarreling, stealing among others

• No unity among people. Once there is disharmony, people never love one another and they can’t work together to achieve their common goal.
• Human right abuses. People tend not to respect one  another leading to human right abuses like rape, corporal punishment , unfair judgment among others.

• Domestic violence. When there is disharmony, families also don’t have peace because of misunderstanding among the family members. It can cause fighting, quarreling and can also lead to divorce

• Low development in an area. Disharmony makes people not to work together in order to get good development. This brings about low or under development because people do not have a common understanding among themselves.

• Being bias. When people are bias there will be no fair prejudice or justice in the community . people tend to judge unfairly against some one they don’t like.

Activity 2.8
1. Why is it important to work together as a team to maintain peace in our province?
2. Define the term conflict.
3. Mention three ways in which we can avoid conflict in our province.

Revision Exercise
1. What is complementarity?
2. Discuss the roles of the school in maintaining peace.
3. How do police help to keep peace in our province?
4. Explain the roles of community in maintaining peace.
5. List down four indicators of complementarity.
6. List four examples of human right.
7. Why is it important to respect human right?
8. State the importance of having peace in our province
9. Give three roles of a family in maintaining peace.
10. Define
a). Harmony
b). Disharmony
11. List effects of disharmony in our province
12. Which of these is not a way of maintain peace
a) Forgiving one another
b) Respecting one another
c) Fighting your friends
d) Loving your friends
13. Mention any 2 national or international organizations that advocate for human rights.

Social and Religious Studies

General

UNIT 2:Complementarity and social cohesion in the society

UNIT 2:Complementarity and social cohesion in the society

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