RWANDA: The International Development Achievement Award Winner: An Inspiration to All

When Odette Kayirere lost her husband in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, she felt angry and hopeless. But she stepped beyond her grief to work with her fellow widows, first to make a better life for herself and her children and then to help form an organisation for 4,000 women.

Now she has won the 2010 International Development Achievement Award, which is run by the Guardian in association with Marie Stopes International (MSI) and sponsored by MSI and the UK Department for International Development (DfID). It runs in conjunction with the Guardian's International Development Journalism Awards and is designed to recognise the "unsung heroes" who have made a considerable impact on poverty alleviation in the developing world.

"It is a deserved award for everyone," says Kayirere, 54, a founding member of the eastern branch of the Rwandan organisation Avega – the Association of Widows of the Genocide. "I am very excited and very proud of my work, my partners, my colleagues and beneficiaries. We work together."

A million people were killed in Rwanda between April and May 1994. Although Kayirere lost her husband and had six daughters to bring up, she went on to adopt several more orphans. Like so many other women in Rwanda, she struggled to come to terms with her loss and the violence she witnessed.

In 1995, Kayirere heard about a group of women who were trying to support each other through their trauma. "I realised that I wasn't the only one in pain. There were others suffering even more than me."

Within days, Kayirere had started Avega East, a widows' association based in Rwamagana, eastern Rwanda. Avega East now provides its 4,000 members with psychological support, training in trauma healing and counselling and paralegal skills, among other services. Many widows of the genocide have been able to assert their rights and pursue justice through the courts as a result of Avega East's work.

"The most important thing is that we built hope among our beneficiaries; we built self-esteem and self-reliance. They are able to continue to build their own lives. The consequences of the genocide are ever present, but we are trying to fight and we hope we can overcome the problems," Kayirere says.

She is particularly proud of the DfID-supported clinic in Rwamagana, which provides holistic antiretroviral treatment to more than 600 HIV-positive women who were raped and infected with the virus during the genocide.

Avega East also runs a 100-bed residential conference and banqueting centre, which contributes 30% of the organisation's core costs and gives many of its most vulnerable members the chance to work.

Kayirere was nominated for this award by David Russell from the Survivors Fund, an organisation that supports victims of the genocide who are still in Rwanda and assists survivors who are in the UK. "If the term 'unsung hero' exemplifies best practice in international development, Odette is a brilliant case of it," he says. "Everyone who meets her is immediately enamoured by her warmth and commitment."

The award is also important to her colleagues. "The situation of widows is not often taken up by the media, and this can highlight it," says Russell.

Award runners-up

The following people were also shortlisted. Emily Arnold-Fernandez, who is the founder and director of Asylum Access, an advocacy group for the rights of refugees in South America, Africa and Asia. The organisation helps refugees get jobs, combining legal representation with policy advocacy, strategic litigation and community human rights empowerment initiatives.

Keshwa Nand Tiwari is a community organiser and gender equality campaigner, who was a founding member of Disha Social Organisation, a civil society group which has been committed to fighting poverty in the northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal since 1984.

Lynne Patterson is the founder of Pro Mujer, a Bolivian women's development and microfinance organisation. It aims to empower women to lift themselves and their families out of poverty through the provision of small loans, training in business and healthcare to poor female entrepreneurs across Latin America.

Kees Waaldijk is a fistula surgeon and health activist who works in Nigeria and Niger. An obstetric fistula is a rupturing in or near the vagina, frequently caused by difficult childbirth, with a primary symptom being incontinence. Waaldijk has operated on at least 20,000 women and has established community centres where treatment is provided free of charge.