country profile – rwanda · of rapid development for the transformation of the lives of all...

Country profile – Rwanda October 11, 2017

In the framework of UNESCO-Sida programme: BUILDING AND MOBILIZING DEVELOPING COUNTRY CAPACITY TO PARTICIPATE EFFECTIVELY IN THE FUTURE EARTH INITIATIVE

Table of contents I. 1. .............. Political and Socio-economic environment 1

Historic and political background ............................................................................................ 1 1.1

Socio-economic background ................................................................................................... 3 1.2

Vision 2020 .............................................................................................................................. 6 1.3

Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy II ................................................... 8 1.4

The Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy (GGCRS) ............................................... 10 1.5

VISION 2050 ........................................................................................................................... 11 1.6

Sectorial Challenges .............................................................................................................. 12 1.7

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 16 1.8

II. 2. ..................... Rwanda’s participation in Future earth 18

National Strategy for Transformation one (NST-1) ............................................................... 18 2.1

The seven priority sectors ..................................................................................................... 20 2.2

Rationale for selecting the 7 priority sectors ........................................................................ 21 2.3

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 31 2.4

III. 3. ............................................. STI Policy and Governance 33

Historic policy background .................................................................................................... 33 3.1

The Republic of Rwanda’s Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation (2005)................ 34 3.2

Intellectual Property Policy (2009) ........................................................................................ 37 3.3

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 39 3.4

IV. 4. ........................................................................... STI System 40

The Science, technology and Innovation System .................................................................. 40 4.1

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of Rwanda’s STI System4.2 44

Research and Research Outputs ........................................................................................... 45 4.3

Human Capital for STI ............................................................................................................ 49 4.4

Education ............................................................................................................................... 52 4.5

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) .............................................................. 62 4.6

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 65 4.7

V. 5.Innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainability 66

Innovation ............................................................................................................................. 66 5.1

Entrepreneurship .................................................................................................................. 70 5.2

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 74 5.3

VI. 6. .............................................................................. ANNEXES 75

Legal framework on Education .............................................................................................. 75 6.1

Legal framework on Health ................................................................................................... 81 6.2

Legal framework on Environment ......................................................................................... 82 6.3

Legal framework on Energy ................................................................................................... 85 6.4

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of Rwanda’s STI System6.5 86

Rwanda’s National Industrial Policy (2011) ........................................................................... 94 6.6

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Policy (2010) ..................................... 95 6.7

Table of Figures

Figure 1 - Evolution of the Human Development Index .......................................................................... 3 Figure 2 - GDP Growth Rate .................................................................................................................... 4 Figure 3 - GGCRS 14 Programs of Action ............................................................................................... 10 Figure 4 - Overview of Integrated Innovation Framework Linkages ..................................................... 35 Figure 5 - Organizational chart showing Rwanda’s research and innovation system ........................... 40 Figure 6 - Rwanda's STI System SWOT Analysis .................................................................................... 45 Figure 11 - Percentage of Articles Published with international Collaboration .................................... 49 Figure 12 - Geographical Distribution of Rwanda's Co-Authorship ...................................................... 49 Figure 13 - Long-term evolution of FTE researchers and FTE researchers per million inhabitants. The dotted lines are the best fitting curves, 1965 – 2009 ........................................................................... 50 Figure 14 - Objectives and interventions at all levels of science and technology education and training ............................................................................................................................................................... 53 Figure 15 – Percentage of Gross Enrolment in Tertiary education classified in Total, female and male (1970–2012) .......................................................................................................................................... 59 Figure 16 - Total tertiary education enrolment (both sexes) per 100 000 inhabitants in several African (2012) .................................................................................................................................................... 60 Figure 17 - Evolution of internet users per 100 inhabitants ................................................................. 64 Figure 18 - Evolution of mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants .......................................... 65 Figure 16 - Evolution in patent applications in Rwanda by residents and non-residents (1967−2015) 66 Figure 17 - Evolution in patents granted in Rwanda by residents and non-residents (1964−2012)..... 67 Figure 18 - Patent applications in Rwanda by top field of technology (1998–2012) ............................ 67 Figure 19 - Evolution in the number of trademark applications in Rwanda, 1965−2012. .................... 68 Figure 20 - Industry's participation in curriculum development ........................................................... 70 Figure 21 - SME operators by sector ..................................................................................................... 71 Figure 22 - Rwanda would be a better place if more people were entrepreneurs............................... 73 Figure 23 - % of sample subgroups with entrepreneurship or job experience by 6 months after graduation ............................................................................................................................................. 73 Figure 24 - Obstacles to start a viable enterprise ................................................................................. 74

List of Tables

Table 1 - Basic facts about Rwanda ......................................................................................................... 2 Table 2 - Women in Parliament ............................................................................................................... 4 Table 3 - Composition of Rwanda's GDP (%) ........................................................................................... 5 Table 4 - EDPRS II Objectives and its corresponding Vision 2020 Targets .............................................. 8 Table 5 - Characteristics of R&D expenditures in agriculture sciences, 2005–2011 FTE ...................... 46 Table 6 - Historical data on FTE R&D personnel, several years between 1965 and 2009 Full .............. 51 Table 7 - Characteristics of FTE researchers in Agriculture sciences, 2005–2011 FTE .......................... 52 Table 8 - Primary profile from 2011 to 2015 ......................................................................................... 54 Table 9 - Secondary profile from 2011 to 2015 ..................................................................................... 55 Table 10 - Main achievements of TVET programs 2013/14 TVET ......................................................... 57 Table 11 - TVET profile from 2011 to 2015 ........................................................................................... 57 Table 12 - Profile of tertiary education students from 2011-2015 ....................................................... 60 Table 13 - Enrolment of students in tertiary education by academic level (2015) ............................... 61 Table 14 - Tertiary Students by Fields of Education (2015) .................................................................. 61 Table 15 - Entrepreneurial attitudes ..................................................................................................... 72

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1. Political and Socio-economic environment

Historic and political background 1.1Rwanda existed as a centralized monarchy under a succession of Tutsi kings, who ruled through cattle chiefs, land chiefs and military chiefs. The king was supreme but the rest of the population, Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, lived in symbiotic harmony. In 1899, Rwanda became a German colony and, in 1919, the system of indirect rule continued with Rwanda as a mandate territory of the League of Nations, under Belgium. From 1959, Tutsi were targeted, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and sending thousands of them into exile. The First Republic, under President Gregoire Kayibanda, and the second, under President Juvenal Habyarimana, institutionalized discrimination against Tutsi and subjected them to periods of massacres.

The Rwandese Alliance for National Unity (RANU) was formed in 1979 by Rwandan refugees in exile, to mobilize against divisive politics and genocide ideology, repeated massacres, statelessness and the lack of peaceful political exchange. In 1987, RANU became the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF). On 1 October 1990, the RPF launched an armed liberation struggle that ultimately ousted the dictatorship in 1994 and ended the genocide of more than one million Tutsi and massacres of moderate Hutu who opposed the genocide against Tutsi.

After Kigali fell to RPA (RPF’s armed wing) on 4 July 1994, RPF formed a Government of National Unity headed by President Pasteur Bizimungu, bringing parties that did not participate in the genocide against Tutsi together. In 2000, Parliament voted out President Pasteur Bizimungu and RPF appointed then Vice-President and Minister of Defense, Major General Paul Kagame as the President of the Republic to lead the coalition government. In 2003, President Paul Kagame was elected to serve a term of seven years. During those seven years, the country made unprecedented socio-economic and political progress and consolidated peace, stability as well as social cohesion among Rwandans. In 2010, President Paul Kagame was re-elected to serve a second term and on a platform of rapid development for the transformation of the lives of all Rwandans.

The last parliamentary elections held in September 2013 saw 64% of the seats taken by female candidates, and the Rwandan Patriotic Front maintain absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies. In December 2015, the Rwandan constitution was amended after more than 90% of the electorate asked for it and voted in a referendum to allow the president to run for a third seven year term in 2017. Kagame has now been re-elected president in the recently concluded presidential election with an overwhelming majority.

Geography of Rwanda

Rwanda is in the Great Lakes region of central Africa covering roughly 25,000 square kilometres of land and 1,400 square kilometres of water. Rwanda’s population is estimated at approximately 11,809,300 people according to the 2017 census. The current population growth rate is estimated at 2.37 percent for 2013 and it is estimated to decrease to 1.89 in 2032. Rwanda’s population density is the highest in Africa and it is estimated to be 467 people per square kilometre1.

Rwanda is a landlocked country, also known as ’The Land of a Thousand Hills’, Rwanda has five volcanoes, 23 lakes and numerous rivers, some forming the source of the River Nile. The country lies 75 miles south of the equator in the Tropic of Capricorn, 880 miles ’as the crow flies’ west of the

1 National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. (2014). Fourth Population and housing Census, Rwanda, 2014. Thematic Report: Population Projections.

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Indian Ocean and 1,250 miles east of the Atlantic Ocean - literally in the heart of Africa. Rwanda is bordered by Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west.

Anyone visiting ’The Land of a Thousand Hills’ is in for a multitude of surprises. The variety of the landscapes in this ’green country’ is dominated to the north by volcanoes and bordered by Lake Kivu to the west. In Rwanda the great animals of the wild are protected from poachers and roam free in the vast national parks. The Volcanoes National Park in the Virunga volcanic mountains with its high altitude forests is world famous for mountain gorillas - timid and passive family oriented giants. The Park is teeming with wildlife both large and small, while Lake Kivu to the west offers beautiful beaches, jutting peninsulas and an archipelago of islands.

Table 1 - Basic facts about Rwanda

Basic facts about Rwanda

GEOGRAPHICAL ITEM FACT ABOUT RWANDA Land Area 26,338 square Kilometres. Borders Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south and

Democratic Republic of Congo to the west. Population: 11,809,295 people according to the 2017 NISR annual updates The population is predominantly female;

6,100,930 are women corresponding to 51.8% of the total population according to the 2017 NISR annual updates

Kigali is the capital city of Rwanda

The city’s geo-coordinates are 157 S, 30 04

Kigali City population 1,318,000 people (EICV4-2015 )2 Time GMT +2 Rwanda has 4 official languages Kinyarwanda, English French and Kiswahili. Rwanda’s political system Republic; presidential, multiparty system. Rwanda’s National anthem “Rwanda Nziza” (Rwanda, Our Beautiful) Rwanda’s currency The Rwandan franc (RWF). In Rwanda, cars drive On the right hand side of the road. Rwanda’s demonym Rwandan, Rwandese. Rainfall: 750-850 mm/year. Rainfall: Rainy seasons March - May and October – November (Average of 110-200 mm. per

month). Average Temperature: 24.6 - 27.6ºc. Hottest months August, September. Altitude

Ranges from 1000-4500m above sea level. The highest point in Rwanda is Karisimbi (a volcano) which stands at 4,519 m and its lowest point is the Rusizi River at 950 m.

Main water bodies Lakes: Kivu, Muhazi, Ihema, Burera, Ruhondo, Mugesera, Sake, Rweru, Cyohoha, Cyambwe, Rwampanga and Rugezi wetland Rivers; Akagera, Nyabarongo, Akanyaru, Muvumba, Sebeya, Nyabugogo Warufu, Ngoma, Kagitumba, Pfunda, Koko, Kamiranzovu, Rusizi, Rubyiro, Ruhwa, Mbirurume, Rukarara, Mwogo, Satyinsyi, Mukungwa, and Mulindi,

Vegetation: Ranges from dense equatorial forest in the northwest of the country to tropical savannah in the east and Wetlands.

2 Source: The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), EICV4-2015

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Main National Parks/Animal Reserves:

• Akagera National Park was created in 1934. Area: 1080 square kilometers.

• Nyungwe Forest became a National Park in 2004. It has a total area of 1019 square kilometres.

• Virunga National Park was created on October 1st, 1925. Its total area is 160 square kilometers.

• Gishwati & Mukura Forest Reserve became a national park in 2015. It has a total area of 3,558 Ha.

Flora and Fauna species • Rwanda is home to 40 per cent of the African continent’s mammals with 402 different species. • Rwanda has a diversity of birds totalling 1,061 species. • Rwanda has 293 species of reptiles and amphibians. • Rwanda has 5,793 higher plant species.

Socio-economic background 1.2Rwanda met most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the end of 2015. Strong economic growth was accompanied by substantial improvements in living standards, evidenced by a two-thirds drop in child mortality and the attainment of near-universal primary school enrolment. A strong focus on homegrown policies and initiatives contributed to a significant improvement in access to services and in human development indicators. The poverty rate dropped from 44% in 2011 to 39% in 2014 while inequality measured by the Gini coefficient reduced from 0.49 in 2011 to 0.45 in 20143.

Rwanda’s 2014 HDI of 0.483 is below the average of 0.505 for countries in the low human development group and below the average of 0.518 for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Regardless it has experienced great progress, especially in Life expectancy at birth placed at 64.2 years (2014) above the sub-Saharan average of 58.5 and Low-HDI countries of 60.6. This also confirms the declining trend observed over the last decade in both inequality and poverty in Rwanda.

Figure 1 - Evolution of the Human Development Index

3 The World Bank. (n.d.). Rwanda Overview. Retrieved January 30, 2017, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/rwanda/overview

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0,1

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0,4

0,5

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1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014

Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Uganda Kenya

Ethiopia Rwanda Tanzania (United Republic of)

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Rwanda has also made big strides towards gender equality; 63.8% of parliamentarians are women, compared to just 22% worldwide, which has enabled women in the country to make economic advances. Women are now able to own land and girls can inherit from their parents.

Table 2 - Women in Parliament4

The Rwandan economy has experienced strong growth from 1995 to the present, allowing for a recovery from the major upheaval of the 1994 genocide. Annual economic growth averaged more than 10% in the decade after 1995 (though with occasional strong variations), and has continued to average just above 8% thereafter.

Figure 2 - GDP Growth Rate

4 IPU. (n.d.). Women in Parliaments: World Classification. Retrieved January 30, 2017, from http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

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Rwanda's economic growth since the late 1990s is, therefore, considered a success, with Rwanda situated among the top ten fastest growing countries in the world. However, while output in the services and agriculture sectors has doubled compared to late 1980s levels, manufacturing remains below pre-crisis levels. The reasons for this lie in the fact that agriculture benefited immediately from productivity gains as peace and stability returned to the country while services gained from an inflow of donor assistance and investment in basic infrastructure, such as telecommunications, finance, and tourism. Hence, both agriculture and services recorded growth immediately after the genocide, while manufacturing activity started to grow only five years later.

Table 3 - Composition of Rwanda's GDP (%)5

The services sector has experienced the strongest growth in the more recent period from 2006 to 2012, at 11.8%, which is similar to the industrial sector, which grew by 11.5% over the same period; 5 AfDB. (2014). Eastern Africa’s Manufacturing Sector - Rwanda Country Report. Second table from NISR

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meanwhile, agriculture output rose by 5.3%. The importance attributed to transforming Rwanda's economy from low productivity sectors like agriculture to high productivity sectors such as manufacturing stems from the realization that sustainable high growth and employment creation is almost always achieved through structural change. Rwanda has its own development strategy, entitled “Vision 2020”, which seeks to transform the country from a low-income agriculture-based economy to a knowledge-based, service-oriented economy with a middle-income country status by 2020.

Vision 2020 1.3VISION 2020 represents an ambitious plan to raise the people of Rwanda out of poverty and transform the country into a middle-income economy. The plans set the horizon for the implementation of policies as well as mobilization of resources to bring about the necessary transformation to achieve the Vision. This will require achieving annual per capita income of US$ 900 (US$ 718 today), a poverty rate of 30% (39% in 2015 census) and an average life expectance of 55 years (Rwanda has achieved 64.7 years today of life expectancy, this is above the Vision 2020 target)6.

Considering Rwanda’s extremely scarce resources, prioritisation and sequencing will be crucial. This section shows prioritisation in the short, medium and long run7. It acknowledges the interdependencies and complementarities between different policies and developments:

• The Short Term: Promotion of macroeconomic stability and wealth creation to reduce aid dependency.

Rwanda will put into place macroeconomic stabilization policies that are conducive for private sector development. This, together with expanding the domestic resource base and increasing exports, is the only way to lessen aid dependence.

• The Medium Term: Transforming from an agrarian to a knowledge-based economy

Transform Rwanda’s agriculture into a high value/high productivity sector, on its own, will not become a satisfactory engine of growth. There has to be an exit strategy from reliance on agriculture into secondary and tertiary sectors. However, it is not simple shift to a strategy based on agriculture, industry or services, but rather, identifying Rwanda’s comparative advantage and concentrating strategies towards it.

• Long Term: Creating a productive middle class and fostering entrepreneurship

The developmental process and capital formation cannot – in the long run – be achieved by the state or by donor funds alone. While both of these must contribute, the backbone of the process should be a middle class of Rwandan entrepreneurs. Productive entrepreneurship must be fostered to perform its traditional role of creating wealth, employment and vital innovations through opportunities for profit8.

The aspirations of VISION 2020 will be realized around six “Pillars” and will be interwoven with three cross-cutting issues.

6 Source: National Institute of Statistics (NISR) 7 Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. (2000). Rwanda Vision 2020. 8 Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. (2000). Rwanda Vision 2020.

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The Pillars of Vision 2020 1.3.1Good Governance and a Capable State The State will ensure good governance, which can be understood as accountability, transparency and efficiency in deploying scarce resources. But it also means a State respectful of democratic structures and processes and committed to the rule of law and the protection human rights in particular. The state is dedicated to the rights, unity and well-being of its people and will ensure the consolidation of the nation and its security.

Human Resource Development and a Knowledge-based economy Apart from raising the general welfare of the population, improvements in education and health services can be used to build a productive and efficient workforce.

• Education:

Educate and train people at all levels: primary, secondary and tertiary, with special attention paid to the quality of education. Major emphasis will be placed on vocational and technical training in the fields of technology, engineering and management. Similarly, paramount is to properly link education policies, with sector development and labour policies.

• Health and Population:

Regarding population, it is important to control demographic growth that is one of the major causes of the depletion of natural resources and the subsequent poverty and hunger. The objectives to be attained in the field of health within the next 20 years include: a reduction in the infant mortality rate from 107 to 50 per 1000 and the maternal mortality rate from 1070 to 200 per 100.000. Life expectancy will have increased from 49 to 55 years, malaria and other potential epidemic diseases will have been controlled and the AIDS prevalence will have been reduced from 11.2% to 8%.

Private Sector-led Development. For Rwanda’s development, the emergence of a viable private sector that can take over as the principle growth engine of the economy is key. Not only will such a development be conducive for economic growth, but it will also ensure the emergence of a vibrant middle class of entrepreneurs, which will help develop and embed the principles of democracy. Although foreign direct investment will be encouraged, a local-based business class remains a crucial component of development.

Infrastructure Development The rehabilitation and development of infrastructure is a crucial aspect in lowering the costs of doing business in Rwanda, which will attract domestic and foreign investment. This includes efforts in land use management; urban development; transport; communication and ICT; energy; water; and waste management.

Productive high value and market oriented agriculture Agricultural policy orientation will have to be overhauled, promoting intensification to increase productivity and achieve growth rates of 4.5 % to 5% per year. This can only happen through the production of high value crops and modern livestock management. The vision aims to replace subsistence farming by a fully monetized, commercial agricultural sector by 2020.

Regional and International Integration It is crucial to pursue an open, liberal trade regime, minimizing barriers to trade as well as implementing policies to encourage foreign direct investment. The vision of accessing larger regional markets will be accompanied through a program of investing in infrastructure to promote Rwanda as

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a communication and telecommunication hub. Furthermore, taking advantage of Rwanda’s comparative strategic position should be exploited in terms of entry point functions in trade and commerce.

Cross-cutting issues 1.3.2These issues will not only be affected by the economic transformation but will also play an important role in achieving the VISION’s development goals.

Gender Equality In order to achieve gender equality and equity, Rwanda will continuously update and adapt its laws on gender. It will support education for all, eradicate all forms of discrimination, fight against poverty and practice a positive discrimination policy in favor of women.

Natural Resources and the environment Rwanda’s environmental protection main issue is the imbalance between the population and the natural resources. The natural resources degradation is observed through massive deforestation, the depletion of bio-diversity, erosion and landslides, pollution of waterways and the degradation of fragile ecosystems, such as swamps and wetlands. Rwanda will implement adequate land and water management techniques, coupled with a sound biodiversity policy.

Science, Technology and ICT The rate of adoption and integration of science and technology in socio-economic life is very low and the shortage of technically qualified professionals is visible at all levels. From now until 2020, Rwanda projects to have adequate, highly skilled scientists and technicians to satisfy the needs of the national economy. There is a need to generate, disseminate and acquire scientific skills as well as technological innovations.

Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy II 1.4The second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2) outlines an overarching goal of growth acceleration and poverty reduction through four thematic areas: economic transformation, rural development, productivity and youth employment, and accountable governance.

The EDPRS 2 aims to achieve the following Table 4 objectives by 2018. Summarizing: raise gross domestic product (GDP) per capita to $1,000; have less than 30% of the population below the poverty line; and have less than 9% of the population living in extreme poverty.

Table 4 - EDPRS II Objectives and its corresponding Vision 2020 Targets

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Thematic Areas 1.4.1Economic Transformation This thematic area targets accelerated economic growth (11.5% average) and restructuring of the economy towards more services and industry as we move towards middle-income country status. The main targets relate to: strategic infrastructure investment for exports, increased private sector financing for increased exports coverage of imports, urbanisation and green economy approach for sustainability. Five priority areas will spearhead this thematic strategy. The priorities are:

• Priority 1: Increase the domestic interconnectivity of the Rwandan economy • Priority 2: Increase the external connectivity of Rwanda’s economy and boosting exports • Priority 3: Transform the private sector by increasing investment in priority sectors. • Priority 4: Transform the economic geography of Rwanda by facilitating urbanisation and • Priority 5: Pursue a ‘green economy’ approach to economic transformation.

Rural Development This thematic area is focused on ensuring that poverty is reduced from 44.9% to below 30% by 2018. This will be achieved through focus on increased productivity of agriculture which engages the vast majority of the population and ensures sustainable poverty reduction. Enhanced linkages of social protection programs will also be developed with particular attention to increasing graduation. Four priority interventions will lead this strategy:

• Priority 1: Integrated Approach to Land Use and Human Settlements. • Priority 2: Increase the Productivity of Agriculture. • Priority 3: Enable Graduation from Extreme Poverty. • Priority 4: Connect Rural Communities to Economic Opportunity through Improved

Infrastructure.

Productivity and Youth Employment This thematic area is focused on ensuring that growth and rural development are underpinned by appropriate skills and productive employment, especially for the growing cohort of youth. The main objective is the creation of at least 200,000 new jobs annually. Four priority interventions will lead the way.

• Priority 1: Develop Skills and Attitudes. • Priority 2: Promote Technology. • Priority 3: Stimulate Entrepreneurship, Access to Finance and Business Development. • Priority 4: Labor Market Interventions.

Accountable Governance The objective of this thematic area is to improve the overall level of service delivery and ensure citizen satisfaction above 80%. It also focuses on increased citizen participation as a way of ensuring ownership and feedback for efficiency and sustainability. The following strategic priority areas for intervention have been identified:

• Priority 1: Strengthen Citizen Participation and Demand for Accountability. • Priority 2: Improve Service Delivery.

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The Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy (GGCRS) 1.5In 2011, the Cabinet approved Rwanda’s Green Growth and Climate Resilience National Strategy for Climate Change and Low Carbon Development (GGCR)9. It lays out a Vision for 2050, foreseeing Rwanda as a climate resilient, low carbon economy, with a strong services sector, low unemployment and low levels of poverty. The guiding principles include:

1. Economic growth and poverty reduction;

2. Good regional and global citizenship;

3. Sustainability of the environment and natural resources;

4. Gender equality and equity; and

5. Welfare and wellness of all citizens in a growing population.

The GGCR strategy’s strategic objectives are

1. To achieve energy security and a low carbon energy supply that supports the development of green industry and services;

2. To achieve sustainable land use and water resource management that results in food security, appropriate urban development and preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services; and

3. To achieve social protection, improved health and disaster risk reduction that reduces vulnerability to climate change.

Figure 3 - GGCRS 14 Programs of Action

The strategy’s 14 Programmes of Action are referred to in the relevant chapters of this report.

A special fund for environment and climate change called FONERWA supports the GGCR strategy. It provides technical and financial support to the best public and private projects that align with Rwanda’s commitment to a green economy10.

9 Republic of Rwanda. (2011). Green Growth and Climate Resilience. 10 Rwanda Environment Management Authority. (2015). Rwanda - State of Environment and Outlook Report. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.5148.6328

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VISION 2050 1.6

Vision 2050 aspires to take Rwanda beyond high income to high living standards by the middle of the century. Its Income Targets are to attain upper middle-income country status by 2035 and high-income status by 2050 with the intention of providing high quality livelihoods and living standards to Rwandans by mid-century.

Vision 2050 focuses on five priorities, which underpin the design, policies and actions of National Strategy for Transformation and Prosperity (NST-1):

1. High Quality and Standards of Life: Moving beyond meeting basic needs to ensuring a high standard of living to transform the lives of households and individuals. The focus is on sustained food security, universal access to water, sanitation, energy, education and health care, housing, financial services, social protection, and environmentally friendly surroundings and national security;

2. Developing Modern Infrastructure and livelihoods: Modernisation with SMART green cities, towns and rural settlements, well designed transport facilities and services, efficient public and private services;

3. Transformation for prosperity (developing high value and competitive jobs and sectors):- Improved productivity and competitiveness through diversified tourism, business and financial services, IT and technology, logistics and aviation, agro-processing, science and technology innovation, construction and extractive industries;

4. Values for Vision 2050:- The values underpinning economic and social progress are self-reliance and self-determination, dignity, unity and Rwandan identity, integrity, equity (including gender), transparency and openness, participation in the global community, good governance and accountability, community participation, local innovation and national stability

5. International cooperation and positioning:- Rwanda will forge its own place in the world in the context of regional integration, multi- and bi-lateral cooperation, freedom from aid dependency, Pan-Africanism and South-South Cooperation.

Fig 1.1: The Development Planning Framework for Vision 2050 and NST-1

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Sectorial Challenges 1.7This section presents a set of sectorial challenges related to Future Earth’s Knowledge Action Networks (KAN)11. The study of these challenges would provide a preliminary view on the opportunities in Rwanda for research activities framed in Future Earth’s KANs.

Agriculture and Natural Assets 1.7.1Rwanda’s growth among other factors also depends on the exploitation of natural resources, which are sometimes depleted. In 2014 the Natural Resources Depletion indicator was at 2.9 while in 2005 is at 6.1.

Biodiversity is lost or compromised with the disappearance, conversion, fragmentation, pollution or degradation of an area’s natural flora, fauna, land and water resources. The main pressures are activities such as mining, poaching, poisoning and illegal wildlife hunting, encroachment on protected areas, introduction of alien and invasive species, damming, water extraction, wetland draining and commercial fishing, among others.

There are improvements on total forest area cover with increases from 18% in 2014 to 29.6% in 2017 according to the Ministry of land and forestry.

The major drivers of deforestation and forest disturbance in Rwanda are high population densities, land fragmentation, limited jobs in non-agricultural sectors and high poverty levels, as well as climate change that might affect forest pests, for example. Pressures include the collection of firewood and other forest products, illegal logging, charcoal production, bush fires, mining and the invasive liana, among others.

11 Future Earth. (n.d.). Knowledge-Action Networks | Future Earth. Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://futureearth.org/knowledge-action-networks

Vision 2050

NSTP1 (7 years)

Annual plans and budgets

Sector Strategic Plans

(6 years)

District Development Strategies

(6 years)

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Biodiversity is lost or compromised with the disappearance, conversion, fragmentation, pollution or degradation of an area’s natural flora, fauna, land and water resources. The main pressures are activities such as mining, poaching, poisoning and illegal wildlife hunting, encroachment on protected areas, introduction of alien and invasive species, damming, water extraction, wetland draining and commercial fishing, among others.

Regarding agriculture, irrigation, chemical fertilizer and pesticide applications are pressures that can lead to impacts on soil and water quality, among other ecosystem services, and potentially impact human health. Unsustainable land- use practices related to agriculture that put pressure on the land include deforestation, expansion into fragile ecosystems, over-cultivation and overgrazing.

Health and sanitation 1.7.2Health care infrastructure was badly damaged during the early 1990s. It has since been rebuilt although the health status of Rwandans remains poor. Mental health problems, due largely to the horrors of the genocide and its aftermath, are prevalent in a society that is not equipped to deal with these problems. Preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria remain a burden on Rwandan economy both in terms of direct costs to the poor and vulnerable households and in terms12.

The child mortality rate is 198 per 1000; the infant mortality rate 55 per 1000, and the maternal mortality rate 1,071 deaths per 100,000 live births. These indicators are significantly worse than the average of Sub-Saharan Africa. Severe malnutrition is at 24%. Malaria is endemic is the first reason why people seek medical consultation.

Fertility is high in Rwanda on average a woman has six children. The rapid population growth is a major public health and development issue.

The country has not yet invested in collective urban waste-water and sanitation systems, except for three small sewerage systems in Kigali that serve about 700 households. Major hotels, hospitals, new real estate developments and some industries have installed their own treatment systems

Water supply and Water Pollution 1.7.3Rwanda’s water resource is generally still of relatively good quality. Industrial and agricultural inputs are not yet significant polluters however they are growing posing several threats driven by poor water resource management, population growth, urbanization, droughts and floods that will be exacerbated by climate change and a lack of education about safe water consumption. Some of the main pressures on water quality:

• Municipal effluents and untreated sewage, easily degradable matter from some food processing factories and some industrial activities that reduce the amount of available oxygen in water;

• Nutrients released by degrading organic matter and sewage (nitrogen and phosphate) modify the aquatic chemistry and biology of standing water or where water has a high residence time;

• Mining has local impacts on water quality with the potential for heavy metals (lead, cadmium, zinc, copper) to accumulate in soils and enter the food chain, especially in floodplains used for agriculture and irrigation

12 UNDP. (2008). Country Context. In Assessment of Development Results: Rwanda.

14

• Municipal effluents and untreated sewage, easily degradable matter from some food processing factories and some industrial activities that reduce the amount of available oxygen in water;

• Nutrients released by degrading organic matter and sewage (nitrogen and phosphate) modify the aquatic chemistry and biology of standing water or where water has a high residence time;

These pressures bring about issues such as high e. coli and coliform bacteria loads from untreated sewage; high organic loads, high biological oxygen demands and chemical oxygen demands resulting in low concentrations of oxygen; and very high sediment loads and turbidity. In addition to this, they compromise water quality for ecosystems and their services, the impacts of untreated sewage and wastewater include the risks to humans of water-borne disease.

Education 1.7.4The education level, in Rwanda, remains low despite implementation of the policies such as mandatory education for primary school (6 years) and lower secondary schooling (3 years) that is run by state schools. A Rwandan is expected to complete an average of 10.6 years of education. However, the mean number of years that a Rwandan spends on education is 3.3 years, which is lower than the expectation. Some of the main challenges are13:

• Limited implementation and monitoring capacity more especially at institutional level. • Insufficient recruitment of teachers combined with the increases in enrolment resulted in a

slightly worsening qualified teacher to pupil ratio of 68:1. • Inadequate quantitative and qualitative infrastructure and teaching/instructional materials. • Limited qualified staff i.e. inadequate qualification of teachers in STE because there are few

trained teachers to teach science and technology • Education system not well tailored to the labor market needs • Difficult conditions of teaching and learning because some schools are located in remote

areas. • Low proportion of girls in science and technology streams.

Energy 1.7.5Traditionally, hydropower has generated the bulk of electricity in Rwanda since the 1960s. Future domestic generation developments for the main grid are expected to continue from both hydropower sources and thermal. Rwanda has a significant potential to reduce both the cost and environmental impact of power generation by developing renewable energy generation sources such as hydro, geothermal and solar instead of relying on fossil fuels. This would have major benefits in terms of reducing the cost of meeting Rwanda’s development goals of increasing the population access to electricity that stands at 34.5%: 678,096 households (27.2%) have access to on grid and 181,989 Households (7.3%) are connected with off grid technologies14 (June 2017; Source MININFRA) and enabling greater economic growth as well as in achieving its green15ambitions.

Electricity sector emissions remain a relatively minor contribution to Rwanda’s GHG emissions, although the rising trend may be a concern over the longer term. Since biomass consumption (wood-

13 Fortune of Africa. (n.d.). Challenges facing Education sector in Rwanda - Fortune of Africa Rwanda. Retrieved January 31, 2017, from http://fortuneofafrica.com/rwanda/challenges-facing-education-sector-in-rwanda/ 14 19,8% in 2014 (NISR) 15 Rwanda Environment Management Authority. (2015). Rwanda - State of Environment and Outlook Report. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.5148.6328

15

energy and agricultural residues) remains the main source of domestic and small-scale commercial energy, the demand for wood for fuel is a major driver of forest degradation and subsequently the release of GHG emissions.

Hydropower has important interactions with water- system management. While hydro is not considered to be particularly consumptive of water (apart from evaporation from the reservoirs), it does affect downstream river-flow rates. Thus, combining the use of water for hydropower with alternative uses such as irrigation creates complex coordination challenges.

Regarding peat, the main impacts are likely to be on water systems, including potential eutrophication and increased run-off, and on flood control, soil erosion and groundwater supplies in neighbouring areas. Thus, developing peat resources needs to carefully weigh these risks, and in particular, coordinate these activities with water management strategies.

Transport 1.7.6Rwanda is becoming a more car dependent society. The number of cars is increasing rapidly along with vehicle-kilometres travelled. Serious traffic congestion is still confined to rush hour and is very localized, but it is expected that it will become much more widespread, with up to a four-fold increase on heavily congested roads by 2020.

Further challenges are 16:

• Rwanda has various hills and valleys that make it hard to construct roads in those areas. • There is no reliable local road transportation in place. • Road destruction due to landslides during the rainy seasons • The maintenance costs are high because of the climate which is brought about by intense

rainfall that washes away road surfaces hence requiring damage mitigation • Rwanda’s budget not big enough to meet the high financial expenditure on road construction

and maintenance • Lack of Rwandan professionals like civil engineers and surveyors to manage the sector • High road accidents due to poor driving and narrow roads.

Urban development 1.7.7The development of cities in Rwanda is very recent, but its current annual urban growth rate of 4.5 per cent far exceeds the worldwide average of 1.8 %. This brings about some challenges17:

• Insufficient coordination of planning and development management, and regulatory framework

• Insufficient economic activities in urban and urbanizing centers outside of Kigali • High housing demand with highest need among low income groups • Constraints in the elaboration and implementation of local development plans and detailed

layout plans • Insufficient and or inefficient monitoring and evaluation of development at all levels of

governance • Limited institutional and staff capacity • Little attention given to green building and innovation in construction industry

16 Fortune of Africa. (n.d.). Challenges with Road Transport Rwanda - Fortune of Africa Rwanda. Retrieved January 31, 2017, from http://fortuneofafrica.com/rwanda/challenges-with-road-transport-rwanda/ 17 Ministry of Infrastructure. (2012). Urbanization and Rural Settlement Sector Strategic Plan 2012/13 - 2017/2018.

16

• Lack of scientific research in the sector or missing assessment of best practices and lessons learned around the world

• High demand on RHA’s capacity in the administration and management of government projects and assets

Bibliography 1.8

AfDB. (2014). Eastern Africa’s Manufacturing Sector - Rwanda Country Report.

AfDB. (2013). State of Infrastructure in East Africa.

Bizoza, A. R. (2012). UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (RIO+20) National Report for Rwanda.

Deloitte. (2016). Rwanda Economic Review.

Embassy of the Republic of Rwanda - Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva. (n.d.). Brief History of Rwanda | Embassy of the Republic of Rwanda. Retrieved January 26, 2017, from https://rwandamission.ch/history/

Fortune of Africa. (n.d.). Challenges facing Education sector in Rwanda - Fortune of Africa Rwanda. Retrieved January 31, 2017, from http://fortuneofafrica.com/rwanda/challenges-facing-education-sector-in-rwanda/

Fortune of Africa. (n.d.). Challenges with Road Transport Rwanda - Fortune of Africa Rwanda. Retrieved January 31, 2017, from http://fortuneofafrica.com/rwanda/challenges-with-road-transport-rwanda/

IPU. (n.d.). Women in Parliaments: World Classification. Retrieved January 30, 2017, from http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. (2000). Rwanda Vision 2020.

Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. (2013). Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy II.

Ministry of Infrastructure. (2012). Urbanization and Rural Settlement Sector Strategic Plan 2012/13 - 2017/2018.

Republic of Rwanda. (2011). Green Growth and Climate Resilience.

Rwanda Environment Management Authority. (2015). Rwanda - State of Environment and Outlook Report. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.5148.6328

The World Bank. (n.d.). Rwanda Overview. Retrieved January 30, 2017, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/rwanda/overview

UNDP. (2008). Country Context. In Assessment of Development Results: Rwanda.

UNEP. (2009). RWANDA STATE OF ENVIRONMENT AND OUTLOOK.

https://rwandamission.ch/history/

http://fortuneofafrica.com/rwanda/challenges-facing-education-sector-in-rwanda/

http://fortuneofafrica.com/rwanda/challenges-facing-education-sector-in-rwanda/

http://fortuneofafrica.com/rwanda/challenges-with-road-transport-rwanda/

http://fortuneofafrica.com/rwanda/challenges-with-road-transport-rwanda/

17

UNICEF. (n.d.). UNICEF Rwanda - Overview - Political and economic context. Retrieved January 27, 2017, from https://www.unicef.org/rwanda/overview_19157.html

18

2. Rwanda’s participation in Future earth

National Strategy for Transformation one (NST-1) 2.1 Introduction 2.1.1

Rwanda's development since the genocide in 1994 is a unique story of social and economic progress based on resilience, AGACIRO (dignity), determination and hard work. During the genocide, one million people perished and three million were internally or externally displaced. The economy shrank by half with per capita income the second lowest in the world, four fifths of the population lived below the poverty line and life expectancy fell to below 30 years.

Post-genocide, the Government of National Unity was faced with the task of rebuilding a nation. This involved establishing national identity, unity and security in a volatile region; and rebuilding the economy's infrastructure, its agriculture, trade and business, and social service systems. Relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts were put in place. And national reconciliation was promoted through a dedicated Commission and harnessing of home-grown solutions such as the GACACA local courts. As a result, in the course of a decade, adversity was turned into hope and developmental progress.

In 1998-1999, the government launched national reflection sessions on Rwanda's future. In breaking the cycle of violence that had blighted Rwanda for 50 years and restoring peace and political stability, the Government wanted to give Rwandans the opportunity to start thinking about what kind of nation they wanted in the future. After country-wide consultations, the draft Vision 2020 was presented to a cross-section of Rwandan society by whom it was amended and validated. The Vision presented a long-term development pathway and ambitious targets to be reached by 2020.

The overall goal of Vision 2020 was for Rwanda to become a middle-income nation. It set demanding and far-reaching development targets across-the-board ensuring that Government could fulfil its basic functions of providing economic and social services.

The Vision identified six pillars to frame the Vision's policy and transformational thrust:

• Good Governance and a Capable State

• Human Resource Development and a Knowledge-based economy

• Private Sector-led Development

• Infrastructure Development

• Productive high value and market-oriented agriculture

• Regional and International Integration

The Vision's development concept took advantage of the nation's natural and environmental resources, and of its human resources strengthened by gender equality, of science, information and communication (ICT) and other technologies to develop its economic and social spheres,.

Early relief and recovery efforts proved effective. By the early 2000s, the post-genocide objectives of economic recovery and social and political stability had been sufficiently met to provide a platform for a succession of income and non-income poverty reduction and economic development strategies.

Three such strategies (PRSP 2002-7, EDPRS1 2008-2012, and EDPRS2 2013-18) have provided the policies and tools for attaining Vision 2020 aspirations.

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The performance record of Vision 2020 has been of substantial progress. Strong and inclusive growth, among the fastest in the world, was driven by a well calibrated and managed public investment programme supported by Development Partners (DPs). This growth performance has made the Vision target of becoming a lower middle-income country, close to achievable by the end of the Vision life span.

Severe food insecurity is now a thing of the past. And influenced by its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there have been impressive gains in poverty and extreme poverty reduction and on many social indicators including life expectancy, gender equality, child immunisation, maternal and child mortality, sanitation and literacy. On social indicators, Rwanda is now close to or exceeding the average for lower-middle-income (LMIC) countries and well ahead of its low-income (LIC) peers (Table 16).

Table 16: Progress on Social indicators

Indicators Initial condition

(1994, unless specified

otherwise)

Latest (2015, unless

specified otherwise)

LIC Average

(2015, unless specified

otherwise)

LMIC Average

(2015, unless

specified otherwise)

% of pop below national poverty line

80 39 (2014) .. 31

Immunization, measles (% of children ages 12-23 months)

76 (1996) 97 78 80

Improved sanitation facilities (% of population with access)

39 83 28 52

Improved water source (% of population with access)

62 85 66 90

Births attended by skilled health staff (% of total)

27 (2000) 91 49 (2012) 59 (2012)

Maternal mortality ratio (modelled estimate, per 100,000 live births)

1,270 210 496 251

Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births)

300 50 76 53

Life expectancy at birth, total (years)

29 66.6 (2017) 61 (2014) 67 (2014)

Sources: WDI and NISR.

Past success gives rise to bold ambitions. And for the future, the focus of development aspiration will be to accelerate to an even more demanding development trajectory through the National Strategy for Transformation (NST-1).

Rationale for a National Strategy for Transformation 2.1.2Vision 2020 finishes at the end of 2020. EDPRS2 and its respective Sector Strategic Plans (SSPs) and District Development Strategies (DDSs) end in June 2018. And a new 7 Year Government Plan is required for the mandate of the incoming government to cover the period from 2017 to 2024.

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The 13th National Dialogue (Umushyikirano) in 2015 requested the development of a new 30-year Vision for the period up to 2050. This was followed by a draft Vision 2050 blueprint presented in 2016. The blueprint outlines the strategic direction and execution pathways to guide medium- and long-term strategic planning in future decades. While drawing on and benchmarking against countries successful in rapid and sustainable development, moving forward Rwanda will adapt their lessons and experiences to its own unique history and circumstances, and to its values, aspirations and dynamism for creating transformational and sustainable solutions.

The implementation instrument for the remainder of Vision 2020 and for the first the four years of the journey under Vision 2050 will be the National Strategy for Transformation (NST-1). NST-1 will integrate far sighted, long-range global and regional commitments by embracing:

• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) consisting of 17 Goals with around 170 targets and indicators, across a range of economic, social and environmental issues.

• The Africa Union Agenda 2063 and its First 10-Year Implementation Plan 2014-2023 which is dedicated to the building of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena. The Agenda has eight planks spanning social and economic development, integration, democratic governance and peace and security.

• The East African Community (EAC) Vision 2050 focuses on initiatives for job creation and employment. It applies development enablers that will create jobs which are integral to long-term transformation, value addition and acceleration of sustained growth. These include infrastructure, transport networks, energy and information technology, and industrialisation.

NST-1 mainstreams these and other obligations including the COP 21 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, but its prime influence is the aspirations of Vision 2050. Further, NST-1 constitutes the Government Programme for 2017 - 2024 and combines the previous stand-alone 7YGP and the EDPRS into one plan.

Sector Strategic Plans (SSPs) and District Development Strategies (DDSs) are elaborated in the above context. Running in alignment and in parallel with NST-1, they cover the six year period starting July 2018. Vision 2020 catch-up plans will also be integrated under NST-1.

Both Vision 2050 and NST-1 planning and execution continue to use the existing tried and tested development planning and implementation frameworks structured around the Vision, the NST-1, Sector Strategic Plans and District Development Strategies.

The seven priority sectors 2.2 General background 2.2.1

The six priority sectors are; Agriculture, Manufacturing, Energy, Mining, Urbanization, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions) and Transport & logistics contribute towards Rwanda’s Economic transformation.

Economic transformation matters because it significantly improves the quality of life for the average citizen. Transformation strategies put the citizen at the centre of the development agenda. With higher income levels, the reduction and eventual eradication of poverty are increasingly feasible targets. While effort needs to be made to ensure that the benefits of growth are shared broadly, in general countries with higher incomes tend to have significantly lower poverty levels. Rwanda’s ambitious economic growth target is therefore simultaneously an ambitious poverty-eradication strategy.

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Private investment has emerged as a key ingredient in a globalised world where innovation, technology and talent mobility have the potential to redefine drivers of economic transformation. The fourth industrial revolution, characterised by new technologies which connect across conventional boundaries, creates profound and unprecedented change. This revolution opens the door to new pathways to economic transformation. Rwanda will position itself to leverage these changes to accelerate its economic growth.

Factors that favour strong growth and structural transformation of the Rwandan economy include 1) a visionary and committed leadership that upholds high ethical standards, fosters innovation and provides security and stability, 2) a low starting income indicating great potential for rapid convergence with more prosperous economies, 3) favourable demographics with a youthful population (40% below working age), 4) membership of the EAC and other regional blocks allowing for stronger trade channels and 5) the potential for strong agriculture and livestock productivity.

Rationale for selecting the 7 priority sectors 2.3 AGRICULTURE 2.3.1

The Government of Rwanda (GoR) has identified Agriculture for export as one of the priority sectors to drive economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction and social wellbeing of Rwandans.

Agriculture in Rwanda accounts for a third of Rwanda’s GDP; it constitutes the main economic activity for the rural households (especially women) and remains their main source of income. The agricultural population is estimated to be a little less than 80% of the total population. The sector meets 90% of the national food needs and generates more than 70% of the country’s export revenues. The contribution of the agriculture sector to the GDP has consistently been estimated at about 30% while the average Real GDP growth of the sector for the past five years was estimated at 5%.

Commercializing the agricultural sector is considered by the GoR as key to achieving the national development objectives. According to the National Export Strategy (2011), increasing exports (in values and volumes) will boost the achievement of the intended socioeconomic goals as reflected in the national vision 2020 and EDPRS. In this regard, Coffee, Tea and Horticulture were identified as strategic for commercializing the Rwandan agriculture sector.

Horticulture Sub-Sector: -Rwanda has a great potential of exporting horticulture, fruits in particular. This is because the country produces variety of fruits and vegetables across the country

Coffee Sub-sector: -The development and promotion of Coffee is reflected in the third PSTA-3 strategic program, under its third sub-program, namely, the Development of Priority Value Chains: Export Crops. According to the PSTA-3, coffee is a cash crop for the about 450,000 families in Rwanda and a major source of export earnings. The Rwandan coffee sub-sector has the potential to increase yields by 2-3 times simply through improved crop and soil management (PSTA-3).

Tea Sub-sector: - Similar to coffee, the Government of Rwanda believes that increasing sales and income from tea depends upon improving quality and marketing. Over the past four years, the trends in values and volume show that there has been a slight increase in value and volume of Tea over the past four years.

It from the above context that the Capacity Development and Employment Services Board (CESB) contracted a team of Consultants from OWN and Associates to carry out a skills Audit in three Agriculture sub-Sectors namely Horticulture, Coffee and Tea. In horticulture, specifically the study covered vegetable and fruit crops with a high potential for export.

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MANUFACTURING 2.3.2

Rwanda achieved remarkable economic growth over the last two decades exceeding its real economic growth and poverty reduction targets. The country is committed to its Vision 2020 of transforming the country into a middle-income economy. The manufacturing sector is expected to play a significant role in this transformation process. Comprehensive human resources development is one of the Pillars of Vision 2020 and one of the core strategies for fast economic growth across various sectors. The country’s labour market is however, characterized by inadequate skills mix and competencies, this seriously affects the manufacturing sector.

The Manufacturing Value Added (MVA) and total manufacturing exports increased significantly between 2000 and 2012, however, the sector’s contribution to GDP declined . At the same time, the sector’s labour productivity (MVA/Employee) remained low and relatively unchanged. Furthermore, the sector is minimally diversified and is dominated by seven subsectors: food; beverages and tobacco; textiles and clothing; wood, paper and printing; chemicals, rubber and plastics; non-metallic minerals; and furniture and others. Of these, food, beverages, and tobacco products accounted for more than 70% of output in 2012 .

Rwanda’s manufacturing sector contributes around 5% of the GDP compared to 23% contribution by Malaysia and 8.14% for the East African region. Rwanda’s commitment to Manufacturing is rooted in the Vision 2020, which sets a target of 26% contribution towards GDP by the industrial sector. The sector is one of the high priority sectors in the country’s push to middle income countries through recapturing domestic market, increased foreign exchange reserves and sparing economic growth.

The Rwandan government has improved business environment and introduced the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), which unites all necessary services for investors under one roof, this contributed to improvement in manufacturing value addition. The sector still faces major challenges including access to finance, infrastructure gaps, costly trade logistics and skills gap especially technical qualifications .There are several policies supporting the manufacturing sector including the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy 2 (EDPRS 2), the Private Sector Development Strategy (PSDS), the Domestic Market Recapturing Strategy (DMRS),the National Industrial Policy (NIP) and the National Export Strategy (NES) .The DMRS (MINICOM, 2015) identifies a list of 21 products to be included in Rwanda’s import substitution campaign; these are classified within i. Construction materials, ii. Light manufacturing and iii. Agro-processing. The skills audit will focus on three subsectors including Cement, Textile and Dairy manufacturing in Rwanda.

Cement: - The subsector contributes significantly to Rwanda’s import bill accounting for 1/3 of the total DMRS import bill, increasing demand for cement and other construction materials. In terms of manufacturing, the cement industry is characterized with a monopoly market structure relying on CIMERWA as the only cement producer in the country, supported by imports from the region. With the current plant running at approximately 60% of capacity, the firm supplies 270,000tons per year to the local market. With the increased demand in the construction sector in Rwanda there are on-going efforts to expand domestic production. For example, increasing CIMERWA to supply 600,000 tons, while Kigali Cement acquired by Kenya’s Athi River Mining Limited is expected to increase production.

Textile and Garments: - In addition to contributing significantly to the import bill, the sector is largely viable for creation of off farm jobs and foreign exchange savings. The structure of the Rwandan textile manufacturing industry is particularly small with only one major manufacturer, UTEXRWA

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(which is functioning at 40% capacity) and knitting cooperatives producing mainly handmade clothes. Whereas the prospects of silk have been advanced, this subsector is still at its infancy stage with 4 provincial sericulture centers with a membership of approximately 2000 farmers. Generally, due to climate and soil type limitations, the sector depends on imported cotton from EAC countries and artificial fabrics from non-EAC countries namely South Africa, Taiwan, Korea and Indonesia.

Dairy Industry: The sub-Sector currently contributes to 6% of Rwanda’s GDP. The dairy export earnings increased from USD 85,000 in 2012 to USD 11,500,000 in 2016. Rwanda has a favorable climatic and environment condition for competitive dairy sector production. In addition, there is not only high demand for dairy products but also a culture of cattle rising. With the current 1.4m livestock expected to increase to 1.67 and 1.92 million in 2017 and 2020 respectively, from an estimated production level of 450,000,000 liters of milk in 2012, the subsector has a production target of 810,000,000 liters by 2017 if the 2020 target of 80 l/p/yr is be achieved.

The sector’s value addition and processing is fairly underdeveloped given that the dairy industry is relatively young. The country has five main milk-processing plants and about 25-30 small and medium scale processors of cheese and other dairy products. The largest milk processor is Inyange, which controls over 75% of the market share of processed milk and milk products in the country .In total, Rwanda is currently estimated to have about 280 MT/day milk processing capacity.

In addition to inadequate skills, the sector is also faces low and inconsistent supply of good quality milk, partly due to seasonality of milk production, poor organization of farmers for supply to MCC infrastructure and competition from the informal market who pay better prices; high cost of processing and packaging largely attributed to capacity under-utilization, cost of imported packaging materials, cost of power and inefficient processing technologies; and low product diversification and market penetration in the local and regional markets. The result is that although Rwanda now has large volumes of milk produced in the country, some of this milk is lost due to in ability to process it. Hence farmers incur major losses during April to June due to excess supply and limited processing ability.

ENERGY 2.3.3

The Government of Rwanda has identified off-grid18 energy as a priority area that contributes significantly to electricity access in the short to medium terms to achieve 70% connectivity by year 2018 and 100% connectivity by the year 2020. This will contribute towards the achievement of vision 2020. Furthermore, it will contribute directly towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The off-grid energy sector refers to public and private sector practitioners and institutions that provide energy services to individuals and enterprises that are not connected to a public utility energy grid. An energy utility grid refers to an interconnected network of energy generators, storage, transmission and distribution. The most common energy grids include electricity grid, gas grid and steam grid. The last two are common in developed countries. In Rwanda and most developing

18 The off-grid energy sector refers to public and private sector practitioners and institutions that provide energy services to individuals and enterprises that are not connected to a public utility energy grid. An energy utility grid refers to an interconnected network of energy generators, storage, transmission and distribution. The most common energy grids include electricity grid, gas grid and steam grid. The last two are common in developed countries. In Rwanda and most developing countries, off-grid energy is used to refer to all forms of energy that are used by individuals and facilities that are not connected to the national electricity grid.

24

countries, off-grid energy is used to refer to all forms of energy that are used by individuals and facilities that are not connected to the national electricity grid.

The Government’s strategy is to provide access to 52% of the population (approximately 1.2 million households) who may be out of the range of grid connection by 2018 through solar photovoltaic power systems (Solar PV) and micro-grids powered from micro-hydro and biomass power. 19In the Rural Electrification Strategy20 of 2016, the targets have been revised to about 70% connectivity through solar PV and micro grids by year 2018.

URBANIZATION 2.3.4The Government of Rwanda (GoR) has identified Urbanization as one of the priority sectors. Buoyed by the dynamic regional and international economic landscape, the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), prevailing political stability, comprehensive sector policies and legal frameworks, the GoR, the private sector and civil Society in the country are presented with unlimited opportunity to pursue the new development path through effective management and development of Urbanization Sector.

Rwanda has put an emphasis on urbanization as a key driver (hub) for economic growth and social progress as it seeks to exit from low-income status. Rapid economic growth, increased poverty reduction, more off-farm jobs, urbanization, reduced external dependency, and the private sector as the engine of growth are seen as the broad national targets to leading the country to a middle income status. The specific targets for urbanization include 35 percent urban population and 1.8 million new off-farm jobs by 2020.

To achieve the targets for urbanization, EDPRS II has specified the importance of developing secondary cities to act as poles of economic growth and transformation outside of the capital city. The secondary cities identified and chosen by the Government of Rwanda (GoR) are based on their respective strategic location, economic performance trends, uniqueness and potential to become regional economic hubs and unlock transformative economic opportunities, the urban cities include Huye, Muhanga, Musanze, Nyagatare, Rubavu, and Rusizi and Kigali City.

Urbanization in Rwanda is characterized by demographic growth and migration from rural to urban areas. The urban population has increased from 4.6% in 1978 to 16.5% in 2012 (NISR 2014). The Vision 2020 target, which needs effective planning, is 35% in 2020 (Figure 1.1). The average urban density surveyed in 2012 with 1,871 inhabitants per square kilometre has more than doubled since 2012. According to National Institute of Statistics Rwanda (NISR), the current annual growth rate of the urban population is 4.1%. Kigali - the capital city - accommodates about half of the urban population.The Challenges spilling off Urbanization and Rural Settlement in Rwanda include rapid growing demand for housing and other utilities like water and electricity, transport, recreational facilities and waste management.

19 Rwanda Energy Policy, 2015, EDPRS-2, 2013. 20 Rural Electrification Strategy, June 2016

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Figure 25: Key Urbanization Targets Towards Vision 2020 The current share of urban population in Rwanda is 17.3% (EICV 4). To accommodate the targeted urban growth, urban population should rapidly grow from the current 1.9 million to 4.4 million or 650,000 additional urban households in the next 5 years. Promoting rapid urbanization implies that more and coordinated initiatives shall be taken by all institutions at national and local government levels. As a 'Hub" Urbanization sector in Rwanda is expected to coordinate and effectively deliver on various initiative as depicted in Figure 26. Such fast growth requires coordination of initiatives at institutional level, proper planning and provision for food, land, housing, water, electricity, health and education services, sporting and cultural amenities, transport and telecommunication networks among others, to existing and new urban dwellers in the urban settlement.

17.3% of the population is urban

Vision 2020 target is 35% of urban

population

EDPRSII promotes the development of

secondary cities

• Centres of non-agricultural economic activities

• Sustainable economic development

• SDGs

• Increased access to basic facilities

• Increasing the average annual GDP to 11.5%, annual GDP per capita to USD 1,240

• Growing at 4.5%

annually

26

Figure 26: Urbanization Sector Services in Rwanda Human Settlements

HUMAN

SETTLEMENTS

Housing

Land Energy

Health Education

Security

Integrated Systems

Leisure

Revenue Generation

Arts and Culture

Commerce, Trade and Industry

Cultural Heritage

Water Service Delivery

Private Sector

Agriculture

Transport and Traffic

Environ-ment

Employ-ment

27

Table 17 shows the different scenarios that attempt to identify the demographic requirements needed to achieve the national urbanization targets in terms of number of people living in urban areas. Table 17: Population Projections Using Scenarios

Secondary City

Current Urban Pop

Normal Growth

(by 2020)

Reasonable

Growth

Scenario Urban

Population

Extreme Cases (+Extreme

Assumptions)

Additional Inhabitants

Rubavu 149 209 204 568

(5.4%)

211 656 (6%)

250 238

(9%)

330 327

(11%)

181 118

Musanze 102 082 122 767

(3.1%)

129 166 (4%)

159 310

(7.7%)

239 738

(9.5%)

137 656

Nyagatare 47 480 79 716

(9%)

71 225

(7%)

98 851

(13%)

142446

(16%)

94 966

Muhanga 50 608 58 952

(2.6%)

60 429

(3%)

66 284

(4.6%)

111 901

(9%)

61 293

Huye 52 768 56 830

(1.2%)

66 768

(4%)

74 430

(5.9%)

103655

(10%)

50 887

Rusizi 63 258 72 798

(2.4%)

84 772

(5%)

141 256(14.3%)

137315

(10%)

74 057

Kigali 859 332 1 339 393

(5.7%)

1 476 492 (7%)

2 198 373 (share)

2 198 373 (share)

1 339 041

Others 407 438 504 384

(2.4%)

516 130 (3%)

1 041 541

(R/cls)

1 120 000*

712 562

Total 1.732M (16.5%)

*

2.439M

(19.8%)

2.617M (20.7%)

4.03M

(30%)

4.4M

(35%)

Source: Rwanda Urbanization Strategic Roadmap, 2015 Against the forecast of population growth, demand for accompanying economic growth, climate change, environmental stresses, and long term opportunities for Rwanda to reinforce its leadership in urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa, the country is committed to accommodate urbanization growth in a well-managed manner and exert renewed energy towards the urban agenda.

The GoR with support from the Private Sector and Civil society organization have formulated National Urbanization Policy 2015, Urbanization and Rural Settlement Sector Strategic Plan 2012/2013-2017/2018; and National Urban Housing Policy (NUHP) 2008/2015 and a Law Governing Urban Planning and Building in Rwanda (2012). This is because the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the urbanization agenda, the strategic direction of African Union Agenda 6320, and the objectives of the East African Community uniformly emphasize the need for

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effective urban planning, innovations, skilled human capital, and equal access to quality services and controlled and sustainable urban development process.

Rwanda has also adopted a formal green growth and climate resilience strategy. This has placed the country at competitive edge for its low carbon economic development opportunities. The potential to integrate adaptation and climate mitigation actions in urban planning and urban strategic management advantages Rwanda to not only attract foreign direct investment (FDI) from and outside East Africa. This enhances the country’s capacity to confront the challenges of climate change and poverty reduction.

The growth and policy of urbanization in Rwanda requires a multi-sectoral and holistic approach involving various stakeholders from local administration units, MDAs, the private sector, civil society organization and development partners. And more critical, is the availability of the human capital across the urbanization value chain with strategic skills to support the implementation of the urbanization policy and strategic plans.

MINING 2.3.5The Government of Rwanda (GoR) has identified Mining sector as one of the priority sectors to drive economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction and social wellbeing of Rwandans. The Government of Rwanda envisions that the Mining sector can help achieve its 2017 poverty reduction target of 30% (from 45% in 2012) by increasing the number of miners from 34,000 (early 2014) to 60,000. Also this involves targeting to increase the mining sector’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product from 1.6% (2012) to 5.3%; increasing Foreign Direct Investment in the mining sector from $150 million (2012) to $500 million; and increasing mineral tax revenues to $30 million. Mining of electronics industry minerals (tin, tungsten and tantalum, or “3Ts”) is one of the most important elements of the Rwandan economy, accounting for 35% of the foreign revenue earnings in 2014. The Government of Rwanda has high hopes for the sector and has set the goal of increasing exports to $ 400 million by 2017. The government of Rwanda targets to increase Foreign Direct Investment in the mining sector from $150 million (2012) to $500 million, and increase mineral tax revenues to $30 million.

As articulated in the Rwanda Vision 2020, the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS), National Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation and the Education Sector Strategy Plan (ESSP) human capital development in Rwanda is envisioned as one of the core strategies for fast economic growth across various sectors. Situation analysis indicates that skills development is an urgent development issues in Rwanda across the sectors. The Education Sector Strategic Plan 2010 to 2015 and the 2012 skills audit noted that there are acute shortage of technician and professional levels skills in the mining sector. The Government of Rwanda, through National Institute of Statistics Rwanda and MIFOTRA, have also conducted Rwanda Manpower Survey in 2012 and launched a Labour Force Survey (Pilot) in February 2016. Although these studies are not skills audits (profiling of available skills and projecting required specialized skills) they indicate how skill development is a strategic issue in Rwanda.

The institutions and stakeholders that play key roles in the Mining sector in Rwanda are the Rwanda Government through various ministries and departments, the private sector and development partners. The key government institution that play key roles in the Mining sector is the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMPGB). RMPGB is also responsible for development of policy, legal and regulatory frameworks, strategies, resource mobilization and monitoring of implementation of sector strategies. The Government established a fully-fledged statutory body the

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Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMPGB). The mandate of the Board is to oversee and coordinate all the exploration and mining-related activities in the country. In 2016, the GoR also commissioned the incorporation of a limited private company called Ngali Mining Limited to lead in exploration, extraction, value addition and trade in minerals.

Rwanda hosts a large number of historical mineral occurrences and a few operating mines. The major commodities produced being Cassiterite (SnO2), Wolframite (Fe, Mn) WO4, Niobo-tantalite also called Colombo-tantalite or Coltan (Nb, Ta) 2O5. On-going exploration studies indicate that Rwanda has far more natural resources than previously thought. The ongoing airborne geophysics survey has found deposits of several new minerals in different parts of Rwanda, including rare earth elements, gemstones, cobalt, iron and lithium. 21Rare earth elements are essential in developing high-tech devises in the areas of communication, defense, alternative energy, among others. The ongoing exercise, which started in October 2016 and has just been completed. The study also established that Rwanda is endowed with more deposits of traditional minerals like gold than previously thought.

The role of the mining sub sector in the National Economy has been vital and fluctuating within 25.05% to 40.0%. In 2009 the world financial crisis negatively affected the minerals demand on international market especially for tungsten and tantalum; that situation caused the prices to fall significantly hence reduction in mineral receipts.

MEETINGS, INCENTIVES, CONVENTIONS AND EXHIBITIONS (MICE) 2.3.6Rwanda Government has identified Tourism Sector as a priority sector to facilitate the achievement of the country’s development goals as set out in the Vision 2020 and Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategies (EDPRS II) 2013-2018. The current main focus of the tourism sector is to develop the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) segment of tourism which is being pursued through MICE Strategy 2013.

In an attempt to become a MICE hub and thus a model for the entire region and across Africa, the country has established a Rwanda Convention Bureau (RCB) as per the MICE Strategy 2013 to organize and represent the Rwandan MICE sector. The Convention Bureau is designed to assist meeting and event planners with coordination of event logistics such as site selection and transportation needs. The Convention Bureau also promotes Kigali city and the entire country to MICE planners and also serves as main collection point for all stakeholders in the MICE segment.

As indicated in the Vision 2020, EDPRS 2 and other government and private sector documents, one of the key drivers for Rwanda to achieve the above objectives and targets is the quality and quantity of its human capital in both public and private sectors. The GoR takes cognizance of the fact that studies and experience from industrialized nations, and fast growing economies like those of Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius, and Botswana among others, indicate that the quality and quantity of human capital is fundamental for technological, economic and social advancements that Rwanda is aspiring to. These are countries who have witnessed dramatic transformation in some of the key sectors of their economies within a very short span of time. In the Rwandan context, the rapid development of human capital has been identified as one of the most pressing development challenges hindering the implementation of the national development priorities.

According to World Travel & Tourism Council (2015), Rwanda MICE sub-sector is on the development path with the following contributions:

21The New Times Published: February 13, 2017 quoted a senior official of the newly created Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board.

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• The total contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP was RWF478.4bn (9.1% of GDP) in 2014, and is forecast to rise by 6.6% in 2015, and to rise by 4.3% pa to RWF780.4bn (7.5% of GDP) in 2025.

• In 2014, the total contribution of Travel & Tourism to employment, including jobs indirectly supported by the industry, was 7.9% of total employment (176,000 jobs). This is expected to rise by 2.5% in 2015 to 180,500 jobs and rise by 0.9% pa to 198,000 jobs in 2025 (6.6% of total).

• Visitor exports generated RWF251.9bn (33.0% of total exports) in 2014. This is forecast to grow by 6.2% in 2015, and grow by 2.5% pa, from 2015-2025, to RWF343.4bn in 2025 (25.4% of total).

• Travel & Tourism investment in 2014 was RWF107.4bn, or 9.0% of total investment. It should rise by 5.2% in 2015, and rise by 4.2% pa over the next ten years to RWF170.2bn in 2025 (7.2% of total).

The direct contribution of Travel and Tourism (T&T) to GDP was RWF 181.5billion (3.7% of total GDP) in 2013 while the total contribution to GDP was RWF 459.7 billion (9.3% of GDP).

The leading MICE destinations in Rwanda are Kigali City, Musanze, Gisenyi and Huye. Meeting and convention facilities are spread across the country with the landmark Kigali Convention Centre located in Kigali city. The convention centre has a multi-purpose fully flexible dome seating upto 2,600 people seated and 4,600 standing. (Refer to Annex 2 for other MICE facilities)

Success of the MICE industry in any country also hinges on the ease of access to the destination. Currently flights operating to Kigali include Rwanda Air, SN Brussels, Qatar Airways, KLM, Kenya Airways, Turkish Airline, Ethiopia Airways and Fly Dubai. Rwanda Government has heavily invested in Rwanda Air through expansion and modernization program while plans are underway to build an ultra modern international airport at Bugesera.

Professional Conference Organizers (PCOs) specialize in planning and managing congresses and conferences for associations that would like to hold a scheduled conference but do not wish to undertake the bulk of the work. Destination Management Companies (DMCs) provide consulting services, creative events and management of logistics based on an in-depth knowledge of the destination. According to the Rwanda Convention Bureau, there are 7 registered PCOs which help in driving the MICE agenda in the country.

Since the launch of national MICE strategy in 2013, Rwanda has had a success story with the hosting of high profile MICE events. Apart from the 36 key events lined up for 2017, the country has hosted the following key events bringing in large number of delegates from across the globe.

TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS 2.3.7The Government of Rwanda recognizes that more investment is needed to address existing constraints in the Transport and Logistics Sector, and to offset the geographical bottlenecks, which continue to drive the high transportation costs in Rwanda relative to the region. An efficient sector is central to achieving the objectives of Rwanda’s Vision 2020 (2050) and the nation's transformation agenda. 22The GoR is leading other stakeholders in developing of the Rwanda Vision 2050, a new blue print for the country's development. 23Transport and Logistics: airline, airport, drones, ports, etc. are among the key sectors for transformation of the country's economy and people's quality of life.

22 AfDB(2013), “Rwanda Transport Sector Review and Action Plan”, African Development Bank Group 23 Draft Vision 2050 is being crafted and stakeholders from the public and private sectors, SCOs, NGOs, academic, communities and development partners are being engaged to finalize the blue print.

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The 2017 skills audit within the Rwanda's Transport and Logistics Sector indicate that the Sector faces skills shortages and gaps (limited competencies) that present challenges for the growth, competitiveness and productivity of the Sector. The skills gaps cuts across the sector's Value Chain and are found in all modes of transportation: Highway (Road), Air, Inland Water Ways, Rail, Rope (cable Cars) and Multi-Model System. The gaps are big at the Project Management level and among professionals and technicians. The skills gaps issues create concerns for the GoR, Agencies within the Transport & Logistics Sector, the Private Sector, employers, training institutions and workforce planning/training agencies.

The identified skills shortages and gaps need to be addressed in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. The devloped Action Plan provides avenue for this.

Bibliography 2.4

Republic of Rwanda’s Vision 2020, EDPRS 2, 2013;.

Republic of Rwanda and One United Nations-Rwanda (2015): Joint Programme Document for Support to the Development and Implementation of Value Chains Programme in Rwanda.

RDB Skills Audit in priority sectors 2012.

The African Development Bank Group (2014). Eastern Africa’s Manufacturing Sector: Promoting Technology, Innovation, Productivity and Linkages - Rwanda Country Report.

African Development Bank (AfDB), Eastern Africa’s Manufacturing Sector: Promoting Technology, Innovation, Productivity and Linkages: Rwanda Country Report. AfDB, 2014

Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy 2013-2018: Shaping Our Development. Kigali: Government of Rwanda, 2013.

Education Development Center (2009). Rwanda Youth Employment Assessment Report

Florea, and Paul Nibasuba, “A Study on Sustainable Energy for Cement Industries in Rwanda,” Advances in Cement and Concrete Technology in Africa: Proceedings & Conference Contributions: 1169-1175.

Gathani, S and D. Stoelinga. Understanding Rwanda's Agribusiness and Manufacturing Sectors. London: International Growth Centre, 2013.

Government of Rwanda, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. Rwanda Vision 2020. Kigali: Government of Rwanda, July 2000.

Government of Rwanda, Ministry of Finance and economic Planning, 2013. EDPRS 2 2013-2018.

Government of Rwanda, Ministry of Trade and Industry. Rwanda Industrial Capacity & Performance. Vienna: UNIDO, 2009.

Government of Rwanda. Rwanda Private Sector Development Strategy: Unleashing the Private Sector in Rwanda, Draft Final Report. Kigali: Government of Rwanda, December 2012.

http://data.worldbank.org/country/rwanda. Accessed on 14th/ November/ 2016 at 12:00 noon.

http://data.worldbank.org/country/rwanda.%20Accessed%20on%2014th/%20November/%202016%20at%2012:00

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http://www.rdb.rw/rdb/manufacturing.html-RDB. Accessed on 14/November/2016 at 12:00 noon.

Kamarudeen, S. and Söderbom, M. Constraints and Opportunities in Rwanda's Industrial Sector. London: International Growth Centre, February 2013.

KPMG (2015). Sector Report: Manufacturing in Africa.

National Industrial Policy. Kigali: Government of Rwanda, April 2011.

National Institute of Statistics Rwanda (2011). EICV3 Thematic Report: Economic Activity, 2010/11.

Porter, M. and Miller, E. V.How Information gives you Competitive Advantage.Harvard Business Review Advantage, No. 85415, 1985:149-152

Porter, E. M and Kramer, M. R. (2011).Creating Shared Value. Harvard Business Review, 89(1/2), 62-77.https://hbr.org/2011/01/the-big-idea-creating-shared-value. Accessed on 20/12/2016.

Private Sector Federation. Rwanda Prosperity Ecosystem Survey 2013: Evaluating Rwanda's Business and Investment Climate. Kigali: PSF, 2013.

Rutamu, Innocent. Investment Opportunities in the Dairy Sub-sector of Rwanda: Final Report. The Hague: SNV and IFAD, 2008.

Rwanda Development Board, Rwanda Skills Survey 2012: Manufacturing Sector Report. Kigali: RDB, 2012.

Rwanda Industrial Capacity & Performance Kigali: Government of Rwanda, 2011

Rwanda Industrial Master Plan and Policy 2010-2020. Kigali: Government of Rwanda, 2010.

Rwanda Job Desk: Youth Forum 2015. Dallas, Texas.

Rwanda National Export Strategy. Kigali: Government of Rwanda, April 2011.

Rwanda Trade Policy. Kigali: Government of Rwanda, 2010.

Rwanda’s Vision 2020: Revised 2012.

Skills Area and Numbers of Priority Skills Required Across Rwanda: Five-Year Program for Priority Skills Development to Deliver EDPRS II (2013 - 2018). Kigali: Government of Rwanda, 2013.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Policy. Kigali: Government of Rwanda, June 2010.

Strategic Plan 2009-2012: Moving Up the Value Chain. Kigali: Government of Rwanda, August 2009.

Techno Serve Rwanda. The Dairy Value Chain in Rwanda. Little Rock, AR: Heifer International, East Africa Dairy Development, October 2008.

Understanding Rwanda's Export Sector. London: International Growth Centre, November 2012.

.

http://www.rdb.rw/rdb/manufacturing.html-RDB.%20Accessed%20on%2014/November/2016%20at%2012:00

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3. STI Policy and Governance

Historic policy background24 3.1After Independence, in 1962, the main scientific activities performed in the country were conducted within The Congolese National Institute of Agronomic Research (INEAC) and the Institute for Scientific Research in Central Africa (IRSAC), two research institutes started under the colonial administration. In 1964, the two research institutes were transferred to Rwandan authorities. By 1965, IRSAC was then transformed into the National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS) overseen by the Ministry of Education; and INEAC became the Rwanda Institute of Agricultural Sciences (ISAR) overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture.

In spite of its limited resources and competing priorities of an emerging nation, Rwanda was able to participate at the International Conference on the Organization of Research and Training in Africa in Relation to the Study, Conservation and Utilization of Natural Resources (1964) which was organized by UNESCO and UNECA. This was the first African Conference on SETI policies. A decade later Rwanda presented the first national report on SETI policies within the First Conference of Ministers of African Member States Responsible for the Application of Science and Technology to Development (CASTAFRICA I) held in Dakar in 1974.

According to the national report on SETI policies presented by Rwanda at CASTAFRICA I, by the end of 1973 the country had neither a coordinating unit on scientific and technological policies nor any SETI activities included in the national development plan.

In 1975, a Directorate of Higher Education and Scientific Research was created within the Ministry of Education. In 1981, UNESCO played an active role assisting the government of Rwanda and this specialised Institution on the development of STI policies. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MINESUPRES) was created. A scientific commission was put in place and nominated by then ruling party MRND to prepare the first national science and technology policy, which was submitted to the third National Congress of the MRND.

Thereafter, in accordance with the objectives of a new Five Year National Development Plan (1982–1986) of which the main priority was food self-sufficiency, the identified SETI priority areas were: (i) agriculture and animal husbandry, (ii) health (i.e. pharmacopoeia in research) and (iii) development of new alternative energy sources.

By the early eighties, the national structures for science and technology policy-making consisted of: the Central Committee of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND), which included a scientific commission, and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which included an Inter-ministerial Co-ordination Committee (CIC).

The scientific and technical structures of Rwanda in the late eighties had several weaknesses, which were due mainly to the lack of top-level personnel, adequate financial resources, appropriate national infrastructure for scientific and technical information and instrumentation, and maintenance services. Another important issue was the absence of any machinery for upgrading research, and absence of a national policy regarding the importation of technology

The SETI policy was focused on: (i) a reform of the higher education system; (ii) a re-organization of national research structures; (iii) improvement in the standard of research personnel; (iv) 24 UNESCO. (2015). Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda. (G. A. Lemarchand; A. Tash, Ed.).

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improvement in research programming methods; (v) development of the scientific and technological information sector; (vi) focusing research on the sectors of agriculture and fisheries, energy and medicine; and (vii) mobilizing youth to play a full part in solving national problems (UNESCO, 1987b).

During the early nineties, a subsequent political instability, the increase of internal conflicts and the extreme deterioration of the economy eroded completely all SETI initiatives. Finally, the Genocide stopped all Academic and R&D activity and destroyed much of the infrastructure in the country.

The Republic of Rwanda’s Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation (2005) 3.2In 1997-98 the Office of the President of the Republic of Rwanda took the initiative to organise discussion sessions on the future of Rwanda. Based on the ideas agreed at the discussions the Vision 2020 document was born and further developed to become a high-level vision of the future of Rwanda. In short, this vision for Rwanda’s future looks towards the achievement of “a modern and Prosperous Nation, strong and united, worthy and proud of its fundamental principles”25.

The development of Science and Technology capacity in Rwanda shall support the development of the people of Rwanda within a prosperous knowledge-based, technology-led economy. The science and technological knowledge attained shall contribute to the desire for, healthy, educated citizens, professionally qualified, who are eager to be informed and constituting real wealth for the country. The development of Science and Technology shall be in partnership with the growth of an innovative, modern and competitive Private Sector geared towards revival of industry and the service sector.

Consequently, the overarching objective of the policy is “To integrate Science, Technology, Scientific Research and Innovation in a framework that shall include capability building, technical transfer initiatives, and the promotion of innovation, in the context of the issues facing Rwanda. Science, Technology and Scientific Research shall be catalyst to underpin all public and private sector activities to enable Rwanda’s Vision 2020 to be realised” 26. The specific objectives are:

• To support the growth of the economy of Rwanda, specifically to support the Vision 2020 targets of a steady growth in GDP – 8% per year from 2010 to 2020;

• Advance the quality of life for all the citizens of Rwanda, specifically to support the Vision 2020 target of a GDP per inhabitant of 900$ by 2020;

• Improve skills and knowledge among the population, specifically to create a “knowledge-based” economy;

• Maintain viability and strategically choose to enhance opportunities for growth in rural areas; and

• Integrate Technical Education with commerce, industry and the private sector in general.

Policy Strategies 3.2.1In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above The Republic of Rwanda’s Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation proposes the following strategies and frameworks.

National Integrated Innovation Framework The National Integrated Innovation Framework for Rwanda as summarised below creates linkages between policy, capacity, and major country issues, and emphasises a cluster approach, not only to national policy and projects, but also to external relationships with donor community and the

25 UNU-IAS, & Republic of Rwanda’s Ministry of Science, T. and S. R. (2006). The Republic of Rwanda Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation. 26 UNU-IAS, & Republic of Rwanda’s Ministry of Science, T. and S. R. (2006). The Republic of Rwanda Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation.

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international community. The strength for Rwanda lies in clear articulation of integrated issues and priorities, and how these are then reflected in identified needs to build up the knowledge base through human resource capacity building, underpinned by well identified science and technology needs. This then creates a need for cluster approach to donors and strategic development of international partnerships to address national integrated issues.

Figure 4 - Overview of Integrated Innovation Framework Linkages

Government Reforms The general principles guiding the government reforms needed should be built around the following principles27:

• Foster a culture of partnership and strategic purpose among S&T training, research and employer institutions, and link their services to S&T providers, purchasers, users and consumers for meaningful added value goods and services.

• Promote a sense of commitment in public and private sector institutions and individuals toward research and technological innovation as basis for human development, business success, national wealth creation and international competitiveness.

• Secure an appropriate mix of resources and ensure that steady funding and priority is devoted to research, and for the engagement of science and technology in both public and private sectors.

• facilitate the development of Rwandan citizens and enterprises through the provision of up-to-date technical advice, business support, S&T extension

27 UNU-IAS, & Republic of Rwanda’s Ministry of Science, T. and S. R. (2006). The Republic of Rwanda Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation.

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• Every effort shall be made by government to support and motivate private sector development and innovation in S&T.

• Micro, small and medium scale enterprises are of particular interest for employment creation to develop indigenous entrepreneurs and advance inter-sectoral linkages.

• Micro and small enterprises shall have access to Innovation Centres, established through-out the country, to demonstrate appropriate technologies, either developed locally or imported and adapted to local needs

Public-Private Partnerships in Research and Development The Public and Private sector have different strengths such as the research skills of the public institution and the entrepreneurial, marketing and business skills of the private enterprise. It is important to recognize and reinforce these complementary strengths and ensure a link to bridge the gap between the public research institution and private enterprise through the engagement in scientific research and development specific to fulfil the needs of the private enterprise.

Intellectual Property An effective intellectual property management framework shall be established in Science and Technology Research and Development institutions and firms so as to create the capacity to support local researchers in protecting their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). If this is not done, research and technological developments will be at risk of premature disclosure, which could prejudice the rights of the inventor and invalidate a patent.

A legal framework shall also be established to protect Science and Technology Intellectual Property Rights. Areas of Intellectual Property become especially pertinent in the arena of biodiversity research in Rwanda. Systems shall be developed to harmonise working arrangements, with particular regard to this area, to safeguard Rwanda’s natural heritage.

Sectorial Policies 3.2.2The following details the policy statements about Science and Technology against all sectors of the economy.

Science and Technology Policy in Education The importance of science and technology at every level of human resource development shall be emphasised including primary, secondary and tertiary education.

Science and Technology Policy in Health A scientific approach to health issues shall be promoted, focusing heavily on infectious disease vaccines and clinical treatments

Science and Technology Policies in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Scientific techniques shall be used to improve land yield and productivity which is key to optimizing the use of Rwanda’s limited land resource;

Scientific techniques shall be applied for the promotion and development of specific commodities with a view to transformation of agriculture and animal husbandry with particular emphasis on the promotion of exports.

Science and Technology Policy in Biotechnology The development of biotechnology shall be supported to increase productivity both in terms of crop yield and animal husbandry and to assist with the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

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Science and Technology Policy in Environment Scientific techniques shall be applied for the sustainable management of natural resources including biodiversity, water and soil conservation, marshlands improvement and issues related to climate change.

Science and Technology Policies in Water and Sanitation Science and technology interventions to achieve sustainable and integrated water resources development and management to enable access nationally to effective sanitation systems and clean drinking water.

Science and Technology Policy in Energy Promote scientific and technological activities that will increase access to electricity and provide good quality, cost-effective service, including the development of capacity in all areas of energy research, development and implementation, with particular regard to renewable energy and the protection of the environment.

Science and Technology Policy in Transport Develop local Rwandan capacity in the design and construction of transport infrastructure, including bridges, viaducts and culverts.

Science and Technology Policy in ICT A focus shall be applied to information technology, especially in the fields of intelligence systems and decision making.

Science and Technology Policy in Geo-Information Advanced Geographical Information / Remote Sensing Systems (GIS/RS) shall be developed, covering the whole country, to enable spatial databases to be developed and maintained to maximize knowledge and understanding of the country.

Science and Technology Policy in Tourism Scientific and Technological processes shall be developed in support of the application of science to Eco environmental tourism with a view to supporting the development of the tourism sector in Rwanda.

Science and Technology Policy in Industry The application of Science and Technology shall be promoted in support of the growth of the Industrial sector with a focus on light industry within a diversified economy, competitive and oriented towards exports.

Science and Technology Policy in the Private Sector The Science and Technology policy objective for the private sector is to focus on technological and innovative advancements in support of the emergence of a healthy private sector that will lead economic growth in Rwanda.

Intellectual Property Policy (2009) 3.3In 2009, the Government of Rwanda proposed the first explicit policy on intellectual property28. This policy has the purpose developing a guiding road map to ensure that the intellectual property laws,

28 Republic of Rwanda. (2009). Law on the Protection of Intellectual Property. Retrieved from http://www.minicom.gov.rw/fileadmin/minicom_publications/law_and_regurations/Law_on_the_protection_of_intellectual_property.pdf

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practices and strategies in Rwanda support and facilitate the achievement of the country’s high-level vision and targets.

For Rwanda, the key strategy is to facilitate technological learning. The implementation of the policy will require a conducive national and international environment. Consequently, this Intellectual Property Policy is based on the following six interrelated objectives29:

1. Increasing technological literacy and advanced scientific and technological skills that in turn would increase the innovation capacity.

2. Promotion of innovation and creativity including minor and incremental innovations to provide an opportunity for the largest number of individuals and firms to participate in innovation.

3. Increasing access to foreign and local technology by local firms and research institutions. 4. Improving access to IP-based essential goods and services especially health and food 5. Facilitating investments in innovative and creative activities. 6. Enhance the protection of traditional knowledge and facilitate equitable access to genetic

resources and benefit-sharing. 7. The 2009 Rwanda Intellectual Property Policy proposed to enable disclosure of patent

applications and information on use exceptions, to support the firms and research institutions accessing technologies, especially as part of individuals’ accessing essential goods and services. In this regard, the 2009 Rwanda Intellectual Property Policy suggests:

o The exclusion of pharmaceutical products from patentability in accordance with the WTO decision providing a transition period for Least Developed Countries until, at least, 2016.

o Consider retaining patent examiners to enforce the requirements of enabling disclosure under the IP law in key sectors such as agriculture even though Rwanda does not intend to have routine examination of all patent applications. This will promote technology transfer and dissemination.

o The research and experimental use exception, including for commercial purposes and for public not-for-profit use as contemplated under the IP Law should be encouraged in both public and private sector institutions. Restricting the exception to not-for-profit entities or activities would be counter-productive. The exception should be aimed at facilitating a broader set of technological activities related to the application of knowledge to particular problems.

o To support transfer of technology, specialists should be retained to scrupulously examine the terms and conditions of licensing agreements to ensure that such licenses do not restrict competition or negatively affect the government’s effort to boost technology transfer and that there are no prohibited clauses as stipulated in IP Law. Such specialists, who should also perform surveillance functions, could be attached to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Rwanda Development Board or the Rwanda Science and Research Council. Continuous monitoring of the behaviour of parties is important since parties might present legally a permissible contract to the authorities but later enter into side agreements that defeat government objectives.

29 UNESCO. (2015). Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda. (G. A. Lemarchand; A. Tash, Ed.).

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o Where applicable, and in appropriate cases, compulsory licenses should also be considered in cases of dependant patents and to remedy abuse and enforce competition regulations.

The need to develop a special legislative and institutional framework for the protection of traditional knowledge and to ensure prior-informed consent and benefit-sharing for access to genetic resources in Rwanda was emphasized as a priority need by various stakeholders in Rwanda29. Therefore, It is important to highlight that Rwanda’s Intellectual Property Law requires the development of a special law on traditional knowledge and genetic resources.

Bibliography 3.4UNESCO. (2015). Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda. (G. A. Lemarchand; A. Tash, Ed.).

UNU-IAS, & Republic of Rwanda’s Ministry of Science, T. and S. R. (2006). The Republic of Rwanda Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation.

Republic of Rwanda. (2009). Law on the Protection of Intellectual Property. Retrieved from http://www.minicom.gov.rw/fileadmin/minicom_publications/law_and_regurations/Law_on_the_protection_of_intellectual_property.pdf

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4. STI System

The Science, technology and Innovation System 4.1The organizational chart shows the distribution of responsibility for implementing a given policy. In the organisational chart, there are five distinct levels: (1) the policy-planning level (policy design); (2) the promotional level (funding); (3) the performance level (scientific research, technological development and productive innovation); (4) all science and technology services, and (5) the assessment/ evaluation level 30.

Figure 5 - Organizational chart showing Rwanda’s research and innovation system

UNESCO in its publication Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda presents an inventory of the SETI institutions in Rwanda that conforms the chart presented in Figure 5. The three main implementing Units have been established to oversee the development of Science, Technology and Research in Rwanda namely:


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1. National Commission for Science and Technology (NCST) established under Law Number 80/2013 of 11 September 2013.

The main functions are:

• To advise the Government on policies, legislation and regulation in the fields of science, technology, research and innovation and monitor the implementation of such policies and legislation;

• To collaborate with competent organs with intention to advise the Government on educating and training people in matters relating to national needs in the fields of science and technology and to make a follow up on the organization and productivity of such training;

• To ensure that people who are educated or trained in Rwanda or abroad in the fields of science and technology are facilitated to enter the labour market in order to work professionally and stay productive for the benefit of their country;

• To examine, identify and support new initiatives that may be useful for the country in the fields of science and technology through investment in people’s potential;

• To carry out an analysis of the nature and effective use of national resources and infrastructure in order to support science and technology as well as their innovative use in a sustainable manner;

• To establish, update and disseminate specific database of skills available and those needed in the country in the fields of science and technology;

• To cooperate and collaborate with other advanced regional and international institutions of excellence with similar mission;

• To prepare and disseminate annual report on the state of science and technology.

2. Science, Technology, Innovation and Research (STIR) Unit of the Ministry of Education.


• To advise the Minister of Education on policies and strategies for science and technology as they relate to programmes in the education sector.

• To coordinate programmes in the education sector strategy which relate to science and technology knowledge acquisition, knowledge creation, and knowledge transfer, as well as the promotion of an innovation culture within the national education system.

• To initiate and oversee the implementation of programmes that strengthen scientific research capacity at all levels of the national education sector, including both formal and informal educations.

• To promote the adoption of suitable and improved technologies and support the development of technological innovation and problem-solving capacity within the education sector.

• To support in coordinating and following up partnerships and collaboration between the Ministry of Education and relevant national and international organizations operating in the areas of science, technology, research and innovation.

3. National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA) established under Law

Number 51/2013 of 28th June 2013.


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• To implement the national industrial development policy, patent inventions and traditional knowledge in relation to industrial development and promote the trade of research products;

• To carry out industrial and technology development research through the establishment of technology incubation centres and pilot plants and rural industrialisation;

• To contribute to establishment of trade companies of research products; • To train business entrepreneurs who wish to invest in new or improved industrial

research products; • To establish and develop industrial research and development partnership with

international, regional and national institutions, whether private or public; • To facilitate the vertical growth of small and medium enterprises for them to enter new

markets and increase new improved products; • To advise the Government on the national industrial research and development policy if

necessary; • To build the capacity of small and medium enterprises by providing prototype

development, reverse engineering, manufacturing facilities and business incubation.

Other relevant institutions with mandates related to environment and sustainability that participate in the STI system are31:

1. Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA)


• to implement Government environmental policy; • to advise the Government on policies, strategies and legislation related to the

management of the environment as well as the implementation of environment related international conventions, whenever deemed necessary;

• to conduct thorough inspection of environmental management in order to prepare a report on the status of environment in Rwanda that shall be published every two (2) years;

• to put in place measures designed to prevent climate change and cope with its impacts; • to conduct studies, research, investigations and other relevant activities in the field of

environment and publish the findings; • to closely monitor and assess development programs to ensure compliance with the laws

on environment during their preparation and implementation; • to participate in the preparation of activities strategies designed to prevent risks and

other phenomena which may cause environmental degradation and propose remedial measures;

• to provide, where it is necessary, advice and technical support to individuals or entities engaged in natural resources management and environmental conservation;

• to prepare, publish and disseminate education materials relating to guidelines and laws relating to environmental management and protection and reduce environmental degradation risks;


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• to monitor and supervise impact assessment, environmental audit, strategic environmental assessment and any other environmental study. REMA may authorize in writing, any other person to analyse and approve these studies.

2. Rwanda Agriculture Board Directorate Of Research (RAB)

The RAB Directorate of Research is responsible for overall coordination of countrywide agricultural research activities and driving science-based technology generation for sustainable agriculture development. Agricultural research has been recognized as the engine driving agricultural growth in Rwanda and a critical tool in the fight against hunger and poverty. The Research focuses mainly on the following areas:

• forestry-based research, • animal-based Research, • crop-based Program and • soil-based research.

3. National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR)

NISR is the primary data producer, involved in mandatory statistics such as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Producers Price Index (PPI), external trade figures, population statistics and other special purpose statistics from surveys such as the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), Household Living Conditions Survey (Enquête Intégrale sur les Condition de vie des ménages or EICV in French), Census and others. It also conducts specific studies such as the Agriculture Survey or the Service Provision Assessment Survey in partnership with other institutions. The mission of the institute is to assume the leading role in improving capacity to use information for evidence-based decision making by coordinating the national effort to collect and archive reliable data, to analyse, document and disseminate data within an integrated and sustainable framework.

4. Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) The main functions are: • to establish and publish national standards; • to disseminate information on standards, technical regulations relating to standards and

conformity assessment; • to raise awareness and promote the importance of standards and quality; • to offer services and tools to improve market access technology transfer and sustainable

development; • to carry out research in the areas of standards and metrology for the setting up of

measurement standards and reference materials in the field of chemical metrology; • to participate in monitoring standardization at national, regional and international level; • to participate in putting in place technical regulations relating to standards; • to provide products and quality service certifications and monitor conformity for issued

certifications; • provide legal, scientific and industrial metrology services; • to represent the country at the regional and international standardization organizations; • to establish laboratories capable of conducting tests and offering testing services; • to act as reference laboratory in the quality domain;

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• to carry out measurement and comparison of proficiency with same level regional and international institutions;

• to organize training programs in the area of standardization, metrology and conformity assessment;

• to advise the Government on defining, devising and implementing the standardization policy; and

• to establish and develop relations and collaboration with other institutions at national, regional and international levels with similar mandate, whether public or private.

5. University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology (UR/CST); In line with the Government’s commitment to achieve the goals and objectives clearly set out in the country’s EDPRS 2/NST 1 and the Vision 2020, the College of Science and Technology (CST) is one of the six specialized colleges that are under the University of Rwanda, CST therefore plays a key role in teaching and research, outreaching to the community and supporting the private sector with highly skilled labour The main functions are: • To equip students in the School of engineering with advanced skills with a view to

increasing manpower and capacity for national development. • To promote research, based on the disciplines offered in Engineering School. • To disseminate the results of research through teaching, seminars, conferences, public

lectures, publications and other appropriate means. • To provide consultancy services to government, industry, the private sector and the

community at large. • To engage in income-generating activities with a view to creating awareness of lucrative

investment. • To collaborate with other academic, professional, technical and research

Schools/faculties in and outside Rwanda for educational and technological development. • To develop and promote close collaboration with the private sector and the community

so as to enrich engineering's programmes. • To make provision for the advancement, transmission and preservation of knowledge

and to sustain intellectual life in Rwanda. • To contribute to the cultural, civic and moral training of its students and to participate

actively in the economic and socio-cultural de • It also establishes and develops relations and collaboration with other institutions at

national, regional and international levels with similar mandate, whether public or private.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of 4.2Rwanda’s STI System

The Go-SPIN report for Rwanda 32 delivered a SWOT analysis for Rwanda’s STI System. This analysis helped uncover opportunities that the country is well-placed to exploit and by understanding the country’s weaknesses, it is possible to manage and eliminate threats that would be otherwise unexpected. Figure 6 presents the results of the SWOT analysis and Annex 5.5 elaborates on each of the points listed in the figure.


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Figure 6 - Rwanda's STI System SWOT Analysis

Research and Research Outputs 4.3The gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) is one of the most common and most often quoted R&D indicators, indicating how much a country spends on research and experimental development as a percentage of GDP. Currently Rwanda does not have comprehensive data on GERD, however in 2015, the Government of Rwanda started conducting R&D surveys through the Directorate of Science, Technology and Research under the Ministry of Education and the National Statistical Office.

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Figure 7- Historical series of R&D expenditures in Rwanda, several years between 1963 and 1995 (UNESCO Statistical Yearbook).

Figure 6 shows a set of data collected in UNESCO Statistical Yearbook where it illustrates the effects of the genocide. Thanks to surveys made by Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI), the agriculture research sector is the only one with recent data on R&D expenditures, Table 5 shows the indicators.

Table 5 - Characteristics of R&D expenditures in agriculture sciences, 2005–2011 FTE

Table 5 shows an increment in expenditure in agricultural of approximately 50% from 2005 to 2011. It also displays the reliance on international donors to develop the agricultural R&D Agenda with approximately 40% of the total funding. Although still incipient it is important the contribution of sales of goods and services to the R&D expenditure with 5.4 % in 2011.

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General data (output and impact) 4.3.1The information presented in this section is the result of a bibliometric study conducted by the UNESCO-Sida Future Earth Capacity Programme using the information found in the Scopus Database from 1995 to 2016.

Cited documents by year Rwanda’s share of publications in international peer reviewed journals is no the rise since 1995. An interesting percentage of articles published have been cited by other authors, which suggests relevance of the research conducted as well as the interest of fellow researchers. However, the total amount of publications is still very low, reaching only 320 articles in 2016.

Figure 8 - Cited Documents by Year

Top institutions by academic production Figure 8 shows the top 20 institutions in Rwanda according to their number of publications registered in the Scopus database from 1995 to 2016. By far the institution with most publications is the University of Rwanda with three times more publications than the second in the list, the Ministry of Health of Rwanda. Here it is important to notice that, as it will be explained in section 3.4.3, various institutions merged into one, The University of Rwanda since 2013, therefore older publications may be associated with the former institution. This figure shows a great unbalance in the international academic output of Rwanda’s Institutions.

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Figure 9 – Rwanda’s Top 20 Institutions by articles published

The authors with most publications who are associated with Institutions in Rwanda are shown in Figure 9. The majority of authors belong to the University of Rwanda with the top authors being Binagwaho Agnes with more than two times the amount of publications from the second in the list Kyamanywa Patrick. The top three is completed with Ngabo Fidele.

Figure 10 – Rwanda’s Top 20 Authors in local Institutions by articles published

International collaboration represented by articles co-authorship in Rwanda has stabilized in around 90% (Figure 10) from almost 100% in 1996.This is encouraging since suggest more independent research. The United States of America is the country that co-publishes the most articles with Rwanda followed by the United Kingdom and South Africa. The neighbouring countries that collaborate with Rwanda are Kenya and Uganda. For details, see Figure 11.

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Figure 7 - Percentage of Articles Published with international Collaboration

Figure 8 - Geographical Distribution of Rwanda's Co-Authorship

Human Capital for STI 4.4Figure 12 presents the evolution of the number of FTE researchers and FTE researchers per million inhabitants between 1965 and 2009 using the data from UNESCO Statistical Yearbook. The dotted lines are the best fitting curves and their shape show a total correspondence with the evolution of other related indicators within the same period. In all the cases, their trends show an abrupt slope-change between 2000 and 2005. This is interpreted as consequence of important improvements in the country STI governance.

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Figure 9 - Long-term evolution of FTE researchers and FTE researchers per million inhabitants. The dotted lines are the best fitting curves, 1965 – 2009

Table 6 shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers and technicians engaged in R&D activities in Rwanda for several years between 1965 and 2009. Data corresponding to the years between 1965 and 1995 were published at the UNESCO Statistical Yearbook. Data corresponding to years 2008 and 2009 were estimated for the study Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda33 based on: data about researchers within the higher education sector, published by UIS, and data on the public sector provided by the Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) initiative (see Table 7). These values have an uncertainty of +/- 15%.


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Table 6 - Historical data on FTE R&D personnel, several years between 1965 and 2009 Full

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Table 7 - Characteristics of FTE researchers in Agriculture sciences, 2005–2011 FTE

Since agriculture is a driving sector for Rwanda, Table 7 can be a good proxy to define that the gender representation in sciences is still incipient with only a representation of 24%. This dynamic goes against the great role women play in parliament (see Table 2) and other sectors. Similarly the distribution according to academic level shows that from 2007 Rwanda started an increase for researchers with MSc level, reaching 52% in 2011. The number of researchers with PhD has remained constant at around 12% what suggests that since 2007 BSc students interested in research, acquired the motivation to further their studies.

Table 7 also displays how within the agriculture sector the focus is on crops while leaving the rest (livestock, fisheries, forestry, natural resources) mostly unattended. To tackle Rwanda’s sectorial challenges described in section 1.7 will require to build capacity equally on all specialities.

Education 4.5In Rwanda, the education system is composed of four main levels: (i) pre-primary, (ii) primary, (iii) secondary, and (iv) higher education, with a significant technical vocational education and training (TVET) stream at both secondary and higher education levels. In addition, there is non-formal education, or Adult Basic Education (ABE) as it is now more commonly referred to. Compulsory

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education spans the nine years from age 7 to age 15, covering primary and lower secondary education, and is commonly known as Nine Years Basic Education (9YBE)34.

One of the most important objectives of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (see section 2.2) is the promotion of knowledge acquisition. The policy proposes different types of interventions according to the different education levels, from primary schools to higher education. Figure 13 presents a graphical description of the education system’s structure with a brief description of different objectives and proposed policy interventions.

Figure 10 - Objectives and interventions at all levels of science and technology education and training

Primary and Secondary Education 4.5.1Primary Rwanda has progressed since 2000 in extending access to basic education to as many of its children as possible. The challenge going forward is to target the hardest-to-reach to ensure that all children of the official primary age group are accessing schooling.

Since the introduction of 9 years basic education in 2009, primary education in Rwanda is fee-free. Since 2011, there has been an expansion to 12 years basic education. This has positively impacted on


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increasing the number of enrolled pupils in this part of the education. Table 8 shows a list with the most relevant indicators on primary education in Rwanda. The number of pupils, teachers and schools increased over time. However, despite the increase on classrooms the pupil to classroom ration remained constant at around 80 pupils. Similarly, the number of students per teacher is still very high.

Table 8 - Primary profile from 2011 to 201535

Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total (pupils) 2,341,146 2,394,674 2,402,164 2,399,439 2,450,705 Boys 1,150,205 1,180,484 1,183,306 1,181,715 1,214,019 Girls 1,190,941 1,214,190 1,218,858 1,217,724 1,236,686 % of Boys 49.1% 49.3% 49.3% 49.2% 49.5% % of Girls 50.9% 50.7% 50.7% 50.8% 50.5% Net Enrolment Rate 95.9% 96.5% 96.6% 96.8% 96.9% Boys 94.3% 95.0% 95.7% 96.2% 96.3% Girls 97.5% 98.0% 97.5% 97.3% 97.4% Completion Rate 78.6% 72.7% 69.0% 61.3% 60.4% Boys 75.1% 67.5% 63.8% 56.4% 55.3% Girls 81.8% 77.7% 74.1% 66.1% 65.5% School staff 40,299 40,397 40,159 41,192 42,005 Male 19,513 19,066 18,830 19,257 19,529 Female 20,786 21,331 21,329 21,935 22,476 % of Male 48.4% 47.2% 46.9% 46.7% 46.5% Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 % of Female 51.6% 52.8% 53.1% 53.3% 53.5% Qualified Teachers 39,665 38,603 38,233 39,370 39,453 Qualified Male Teachers 19,033 18,523 17,891 18,341 18,226 Qualified Female Teachers 20,632 20,080 20,342 21,029 21,227 % of Qualified Teachers 98.4% 95.6% 95.2% 95.6% 93.9% % of Qualified Male teachers 97.5% 97.2% 95.0% 95.2% 93.3% % Qualified Female teachers 99.3% 94.1% 95.4% 95.9% 94.4% Pupils: Teacher Ratio 58:1 59:1 60:1 58:1 58:1 Pupils: Qualified Teacher Ratio 59:1 62:1 63:1 61:1 62:1 Schools 2,543 2,594 2,650 2,711 2,752 Used Classrooms 28,817 28,914 29,367 30,011 30,477 Pupils Classroom ratio 81 83 82 80 80 Number of Classes 43,586 55,647 55,914 56,898 57,409 Pupils per class 54 43 43 42 43

Regarding gender parity Table 8 displays that the trend of more girls enrolling in primary education is balancing to an almost equal level. The completion rates still favour girls averaging a rate of completing 9% higher than boys. The distribution of gender in the teaching staff is balanced although with a slightly inclined towards female teaching staff.

35 National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. (2016). Statistical Yearbook.

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SETI in Primary Education The achievements in the area of strengthened performance in SETI in primary education include36:

• The total number of laptops in primary schools increased from 226 500 in 2012/13 to 269 478 in 2013/14. As the original target was 245 756 laptops, the Ministry of Education has surpassed not only that target, but has also gone beyond the 2014/15 target of 259,252 laptops; an increase of 19% was achieved in only one year, as compared to the targeted 8.50% increase planned for two years.

• The share of primary schools with internet connectivity was 4% in the fiscal year 2013/14. This value is lower than the projected target (6.9%). This implies that more effort needs to extend internet connectivity, especially in view of the 2014/15 target of 7.7%.

• The percentage of primary schools with required science facilities (science kits) was 39% in the FY 2013/14. The predicted target for that year was 33%, and that for 2014/15 was 37%.

• In terms of other science equipment, the percentage of primary schools with required science corners was 3% in the FY 2013/14. The predicted target for 2013/14 was 5.6%. Since the target was not met, more needs to be done with regard to science corners provision in order to meet the target of 8.2% for the FY 2014/15.

Secondary The education level, in Rwanda, remains low despite implementation of the policies such as mandatory education for primary school (6 years) and lower secondary schooling (3 years) that is run by state schools. From 2011 to 2014, the improvements in access to secondary education in Rwanda were notable, but during 2015 it suffered a decline of approximately 4% (see Table 9). Despite this condition, the academic staff has been growing which in turn improved the students to teacher ratio.

Table 9 - Secondary profile from 2011 to 201537

Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total students 486,437 534,712 566,370 565,312 543,936 Male 235,750 255,503 268,581 266,579 256,634 Female 250,687 279,209 297,789 298,733 287,302 % of Male 48.5% 47.8% 47.4% 47.2% 47.2% % of Female 51.5% 52.2% 52.6% 52.9% 52.8% Lower secondary students 341,742 352,796 361,522 349,692 336,442 Male 162,320 164,362 167,201 161,577 156,350 Female 179,422 188,434 194,321 188,115 180,092 Upper secondary students 144,695 181,916 204,848 215,620 207,494 Male 73,430 91,141 101,380 105,002 100,284 Female 71,265 90,775 103,468 110,618 107,210 Net Enrolment Rate 25.7% 28.0% 36.4% 35.7% 28.3% Male 24.2% 26.0% 34.1% 33.6% 26.4% Female 27.2% 30.0% 38.5% 37.7% 30.0% School staff 20,522 23,335 25,532 27,116 27,644

36 UNESCO. (2015). Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda. (G. A. Lemarchand; A. Tash, Ed.). 37 National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. (2016). Statistical Yearbook.

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Male Staff 14,818 16,936 18,250 19,196 19,387 Female Staff 5,704 6,399 7,282 7,920 8,257 % of Male Staff 72.2% 72.6% 71.5% 70.8% 70.1% % of Female Staff 27.8% 27.4% 28.5% 29.2% 29.9% Qualified Teachers 13,206 15,748 17,698 18,593 18,764 % of qualified Teachers 64.40% 67.50% 69.30% 68.60% 67.88% Qualified Male Teachers 10,000 12,051 13,076 13,569 13,607 % of qualified Male Teachers 67.50% 71.20% 71.60% 70.70% 70.19% Qualified Female Teachers 3,206 3,697 4622 5,024 5,157 % of qualified Female Teachers 56.20% 57.80% 63.50% 63.40% 62.46% Students: teacher ratio 24:1 23:1 22:1 21:1 20:01 Students: Qualified teacher ratio 37:1 34:1 32:1 30:1 29:01 Schools 1,362 1,466 1,502 1,521 1,543 Used Classrooms 11,497 13,490 15,087 16,296 16,408 Pupil Classroom ratio 42 40 38 35 33

Regarding gender parity Table 9 displays a constant behaviour where approximately 5% more girls enrol to secondary education. The distribution of gender in the teaching staff varies greatly compared to primary education; in secondary education, the percentage of male staff is high with at 70.1% in 2015 with only a small reduction from 72.2% in 2011.

SETI in Secondary Education The percentage of secondary schools with internet connectivity was only 14% in 2013/14, imposing severe restrictions to achieve the projected target for 2014/15, which is 45%. On the other hand, the percentage of secondary schools with access to computers was 76% in 2013/14.

Moving on to the discussion of science facilities in secondary schools, it should be noted that the percentage of secondary schools with required science kits was 71% in 2013/14. The growth in the percentage of secondary schools with required science corners was less successful than in the case of science kits. This value stood at 7% in 2013/14, while only 17% of the schools had science laboratories.

The proportion of students enrolled in science and technology fields at upper secondary level increased from 41% in 2012/13 to 59% in 2013/14.

Technical vocational education and training (TVET) 4.5.2As identified in the country’s Vision 2020, one of the pillars of continued growth is human resource development. In order to provide a strategic response to the challenges to skills development across all sectors of the economy, the Government of Rwanda has created the Workforce Development Authority (WDA), an institutional framework working under the Ministry of Education (Rep. of Rwanda, 2014c). The main mission of WDA is to promote and guide the development and upgrading of skills and competencies of the Rwandan workforce, in order to enhance its competitiveness and the employability of its participants through Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

In the process of ensuring and improving the quality of TVET delivery, the WDA has put in place training standards and specific requirements for training facilities. Furthermore, at least 200 TVET schools have been inspected for quality assurance. In terms of strengthening the relevance of education and training to meet labour market demands, private sector/industry involvement in

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curricula development and TVET skills delivery have been crucial. The ongoing up-scaling of Industrial Attachment Practice to all 340 TVET schools is helping TVET graduates to make their skills more relevant to the labour market.

EDPRS II proposed the establishment of Sector Skills Councils to provide a forum for feedback and discussion to ensure that employers’ voices are heard throughout the policy-making process for skills and TVET policy. Since it started in 2013, seven councils are in place thus far, bringing private sector on board for the task of making TVET more demand-driven. Table 10 and Table 11 provides an overview of the main achievements of TVET programmes.

Table 10 - Main achievements of TVET programs 2013/14 TVET

Table 11 shows the increase in the number of students enrolling on TVET programmes, despite this. The growth did not counteract the unbalance between male and female students since female participation remained almost constant at approximately 39%. The efforts in TVET has been supported by an increase in staff which despite of being gender unbalanced has been able to keep a pupil to trainer ratio of 15:1 in 2015.

Table 11 - TVET profile from 2011 to 201538

Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total number of students 11,315 13,557 15,592 21,566 20,937 Male 6,920 8,224 10,058 12,265 13,024 Female 4,395 5,333 5,534 9,301 7,913

38 National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. (2016). Statistical Yearbook.

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% Males 61.2% 60.7% 64,5% 56.9% 62.2% % Females 38.8% 39.3% 35,5% 43.1% 37.8% Total number of staff 851 1,075 1,332 1,796 1,914 Male 550 703 887 1,183 1,285 Female 301 372 445 613 629 % Male 65% 65% 67% 66% 67% % Female 35% 35% 33% 34% 33% Teaching staff (Trainer) 605 780 943 1,302 1,367 Male 402 529 664 895 964 Female 203 251 279 407 403 % Male 66.4% 67.8% 70.4% 68.7% 70.5% % Female 34.0% 32.0% 29.6% 31.3% 29.5% Administrative staff 246 295 389 494 547 Male 148 174 223 288 321 Female 98 121 166 206 226 % Male 60.2% 59.0% 57.3% 58.3% 58.7% % Female 40.0% 41.0% 42.7% 41.7% 41.3% Pupils: Trainer Ratio 19:1 17:1 17:1 17:1 15:1 Centers 98 116 132 174 183 Classrooms 482 599 647 851 890 Pupils: Classroom Ratio 23:1 23:1 24:1 25:1 24:1 VTC Graduates 7,547 9,734 12,737 16,350 Male 4,915 6,150 7,848 10,102 Female 2,632 3,584 4,889 6,248

Tertiary Education 4.5.3Both public and private institutions provide higher education. Most institutions fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education. There is a total of five types institutions39:

• University of Rwanda • Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centers • Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD) • Nursing Schools • Private Higher Learning Institutions

The University of Rwanda was established in 2013 as the result of a merger between Rwanda's public universities, of which the National University of Rwanda (NUR) was the largest. The new institution also absorbed the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Kigali Institute of Education (KIE), Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (ISAE), School of Finance and Banking (SFB), Higher Institute of Umutara Polytechnic (UP) and Kigali Health Institute (KHI) 40.

The University of Rwanda consists of six departments:

• UR - College of Arts and Social Sciences

39 EP-Nuffic. (2015). The Rwandan education system described and compared with the Dutch System. 40 EP-Nuffic. (2015). The Rwandan education system described and compared with the Dutch System.

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• UR - College of Education • UR- College of Sciences and Technology • UR- College of Medicine and Health Sciences • UR- College of Business and Economics • UR - College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine

Figure 14 presents the evolution of the higher education enrolment represented as a percentage of the gross, between 1970 and 2013. It represents the long-term evolution of the population’s access to higher education. It is possible to distinguish two different periods: from Independence (c. 1962) to Genocide (c. 1994), with a very restricted access to higher education and a quasi-exponential explosion after the Genocide.

Figure 11 – Percentage of Gross Enrolment in Tertiary education classified in Total, female and male (1970–2012)41

In spite of the exponential growth shown in the tertiary enrolment, the present value is still low compared with other developing regions or with countries of the African continent. The critical mass needed to trigger a knowledge economy is probably ten times the present value. Rwanda still has eleven times less students per capita than Japan, South Korea or USA; ten times less than Argentina, Chile, Cuba or Mongolia; five times less than Tunisia, Mauritius or Algeria, four times less than Cape Verde, Egypt or India, etc. Figure 16 shows the higher education enrolment per 100 000 inhabitants in several African nations for the year 2012.

Despite the exponential growth seen in tertiary enrolment (Figure 15), other developing regions or African countries still rank above Rwanda. Figure 16 shows enrolment in higher education per 100,000 population in several African countries.


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Figure 12 - Total tertiary education enrolment (both sexes) per 100 000 inhabitants in several African (2012)42

Table 12 displays the total enrolment in absolute numbers and the participation of men and women. It is interesting to explore the division between public and private institutions where both type of organisations contribute similar numbers to the total population of tertiary students however gender is more balanced in private organisations with 52% representation of women in 2015 versus 31.9% in public organisations during the same year.

Table 12 - Profile of tertiary education students from 2011-2015

STATUS Gender 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Public Male 25,023 25,081 26,839 25,376 24,919 Female 12,879 12,551 13,892 12,383 11,508 % Male 66.0% 66.6% 65.9% 67.2% 68.4% % Female 34.0% 33.4% 34.1% 32.8% 31.9% Sub-Total 37,902 37,632 40,731 37,759 36,427 Private Male 16,852 17,669 20,381 22,491 23,949 Female 18,920 21,328 23,336 26,763 25,939 % Male 47.1% 45.3% 46.6% 45.7% 48.0% % Female 52.9% 54.7% 53.4% 54.3% 52.0% Sub-Total 35,772 38,997 43,717 49,254 49,888 Public and Male 41,875 42,750 47,220 47,867 48,868


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Private

Female 31,799 33,879 37,228 39,146 37,447 % Male 56.8% 55.8% 55.9% 55.0% 56.6% % Female 43.2% 44.2% 44.1% 45.0% 43.4%

Total 73,674 76,629 84,448 87,013 86,315

The increase in tertiary education is mainly concentrated at the BSc level with 77% in 2015 (see Table 13). There are very few PhD students with 0.2%, which makes difficult to sustain growth in the research sector. The data in Table 13 suggests that an academic career is not promoted nor pursued, situation that is aggravated for women where the enrolment drops at 18% for PhD compared to a 47% for a certificate.

Table 13 - Enrolment of students in tertiary education by academic level (2015)

Exit awards Number Percentage by sex Percentage by Exit award

Male Female Total Male Female Certificate 661 598 1,259 52.5% 47.5% 1.5% Diploma/Advanced Diploma

8,266 4,893 13,159 62.8% 37.2% 15.1%

Bachelor's degree 36,330 30,189 66,519 54.6% 45.4% 77.1% Post-graduate Certificate 40 17 57 70.2% 29.8% 0.1% Post-graduate Diploma 808 396 1,204 67.1% 32.9% 1.4% Master's 2,625 1,323 3,948 66.5% 33.5% 4.6% PhD 138 31 169 81.7% 18.3% 0.2% TOTAL 48,868 37,447 86,315 56.6% 43.4% 100%

The sector that enrols more students in Rwanda is Social Sciences, Business and Law with 44% in 2015 (see Table 14). This number is extremely high, especially considering that the country is still driven by the agricultural sector, which only recruits 5.4% of the tertiary education students. The Sciences are also not very popular for students in Rwanda, with only 11% of the participation what makes unsustainable the work in research organisations work on the sectorial challenges described in section 1.7.

The great representation in the Social Sciences, Business and Law sector is driven by female students with 54.6% of the female students. There is great gender disparity in the following fields Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction with 3.3% female students; Agriculture with 3.8% female students; and Science with 8.1% female students.

Table 14 - Tertiary Students by Fields of Education (2015)

Field of education

Number of Students Percentage by Sex Percentage by Field of Education

M F Total M F Total M F Total

Education 9,006 5,375 14,381 62.6% 37.4% 100% 18.4% 14.4% 16.7%

Humanities and arts 2,607 1,042 3,649 71.4% 28.6% 100% 5.3% 2.8% 4.2%

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Social sciences, Business and law

17,506 20,433 37,939 46.1% 53.9% 100% 35.8% 54.6% 44.0%

Science 6,577 3,038 9,615 68.4% 31.6% 100% 13.5% 8.1% 11.1% Engineering, manufacturing and construction

5,462 1,249 6,711 81.4% 18.6% 100% 11.2% 3.3% 7.8%

Agriculture 3,253 1,430 4,683 69.5% 30.5% 100% 6.7% 3.8% 5.4% Health and welfare 3,355 3,350 6,705 50.0% 50.0% 100% 6.9% 8.9% 7.8%

Services 1,102 1,530 2,632 41.9% 58.1% 100% 2.3% 4.1% 3.0%

TOTAL 48,868 37,447 86,315 56.6% 43.4% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Supportive infrastructure 4.5.4According to the Report on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions in Rwanda43, the supportive physical and academic infrastructure present the following characteristics

• Only 38% HEIs have Built-up area of 10000 square meters or more. • Only 24% HEIs have an auditorium. • 79% HEIs have hall. • 21% institutes have open-air theatre. • 52% HEIs have hostel on campus. • 34% HEIs have more than 10000 books in their library. • 38% HEIs have added more than 1000 books in the library during the year 2014. • 76% HEIs have national journals and international journals in their library. • 59% Institutions have E-journals. • 86% institutions have internet facility in their campus. • 24% institutes have Laboratory inside the campus, sponsored by industry. • Institutes average student –computer ratio is quite less i.e. 1:0.15 • Faculty computer ratio is 1:0.71 • 66% Institutes have facilities wher emails or online. • 38% HEIs have implemented ERP.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) 4.6

Background 4.6.1Rwanda’s National Information and Communications Infrastructure (NICI) Plan started in 1998 with the first phase concentrated on a comprehensive ICT-led Integrated Socio-Economic Development Framework. This was followed by the development of an Integrated ICT-led Integrated Socio-

43 Higher Education Council of Rwanda. (2016). Final Report on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions in Rwanda.

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economic Policy for Rwanda in 2000, aimed at facilitating the country’s transformation into an information-rich, knowledge based society and economy within twenty years44.

The third phase of the NICI plan, which covers the period 2011–2015, builds on the two previous phases to accelerate Rwanda to the final phase of the NICI process. In this phase, emphasis has been placed on service development across five focus areas:

• e-Government, • Community development, • Private sector development, • Cyber security • Skills development.

SMART Rwanda Master Plan 2015–2020 4.6.2Strategic national ICT projects are implemented and managed by the ICT Department in the Rwanda Development Board. However, the Rwanda Information Society Agency (RISA) is the proposed new structure for the governance, management and delivery of the goals and objectives of the new national ICT strategy, the SMART12 Rwanda Master Plan 2015–202045. The objectives are to bring about increased accountability and transparency; to reduce duplication, and to place greater emphasis on performance in order to bring about the desired efficiencies, improve effectiveness, and increase return on investment44. The key deliverables of the new SMART Rwanda Master Plan are:

• 24-hour self-service government: all government services will be online by 2018. • Cashless and paperless government: all government financial transactions will be made

electronically and via mobile devices by 2018. • Over US$50 million saved through efficiency gains: savings through outsourcing and

reduction of future wage bill by foregoing recruitment of additional Government of Rwanda ICT staff.

• Almost US$1 billion value of opportunities for the private sector: this is the approximate value of projects to be implemented by SMART Rwanda Master Plan, mostly through the public-private partnership model.

• SMART Rwanda contributes 10% to GDP: broadband access and other ICT infrastructure projects offer a platform for economic growth.

• Close to 100 000 jobs are created by investment due to the SMART Rwanda Master Plan: foster an enabling environment for private investments to drive job creation, productivity and competitiveness supported by technology and innovation.

ICT status 4.6.3The successful policies implemented in Rwanda have enabled the number of telecom network operators to increase from 1 in 2005 to 3 in 2013. ICT composite network coverage increased from 75% to 90% during the same period.

Rwanda has participated in several collaboration initiatives to improve its ICT capacity. Rwanda engaged with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Melon University to upgrade the capacity of ICT instruction and develop critical ICT skills to support the country’s 44 UNESCO. (2015). Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda. (G. A. Lemarchand; A. Tash, Ed.).

45 Republic of Rwanda. (2014). SMART Rwanda Master Plan 2015-2020: A prosperous and knowledgeable society through SMART ICT.

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contribution to ICT global value chains. Likewise Rwanda’s agreed on a joint venture to, among other things, deploy and operate a high-speed 4G broadband network, which will cover 95% of the population and expand the country’s online services capability, and the improve nation’s capabilities to undertake an unlimited range of online economic and social activities.

These partnerships will allow Rwanda to explore niches in ICT-enabled high-value shared services, in the financial sector and in business process outsourcing, for examples. Rwanda announced the completion of the nationwide 2 300 kilometre fibre-optic cable in early 2011. The cable, which covers the entire country, connects with the Seacom undersea cable along the east coast of Africa and has seven regional links to neighbouring countries.

Figure 13 - Evolution of internet users per 100 inhabitants46

Figure 17 shows the increase of internet users since the late 90’s; the growth sparks in 2005 demonstrating the improvement of supportive infrastructure for online activities. The growth of internet users is supported by the increasing penetration of cellular subscriptions (Figure 18) from 2006. The improved access to cellular lines catalysed the development of other IT Services such as Mobile Money that in 2016 had 7663199 users and access to internet in 487 Buses in Kigali47


47 Ministry of Youth and ICT. (2016). Presentation: Smart Rwanda Master Plan. Retrieved from https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Session-4.2-SRMP_Mineacom.pdf

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Figure 14 - Evolution of mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants48

Bibliography 4.7

EP-Nuffic. (2015). The Rwandan education system described and compared with the Dutch System.

Higher Education Council of Rwanda. (2016). Final Report on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions in Rwanda.

Ministry of Youth and ICT. (2016). Presentation: Smart Rwanda Master Plan. Retrieved from https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Session-4.2-SRMP_Mineacom.pdf

National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. (2016). Statistical Yearbook.

Republic of Rwanda. (2014). SMART Rwanda Master Plan 2015-2020: A prosperous and knowledgeable society through SMART ICT.

UNESCO. (2015). Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda. (G. A. Lemarchand; A. Tash, Ed.).


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5. Innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainability

Innovation 5.1 Patents 5.1.1

Measuring the link between publications and patents has been a subject of academic research in recent decades. It helps us to understand the intensity and orientation of research, as well as the relation between science and technology. A measurable relation allows us to investigate knowledge transfers and potential spill overs to reveal an ongoing innovation process (from research to technology then on to commercialisation).

In 2006, within the republic of Rwanda’s Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation property rights were mentioned as part of sector policy statements and strategies, Figure 15 shows the evolution in patent applications, disaggregated by residents and non-residents of Rwanda, between 1967−2013. Figure 16 shows the evolution patent grants, disaggregated by residents and non-residents, between 1964–2012. Historically the number of patent applications and patent grants has been very small compared with other countries of the region. Only in recent years, these numbers have increased. Rwanda presented only two patent applications at the United States Patents and Trademark Office, between 1991 and 201049.

Figure 15 - Evolution in patent applications in Rwanda by residents and non-residents (1967−2015)


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Figure 16 - Evolution in patents granted in Rwanda by residents and non-residents (1964−2012)

These data are consistent with trends in the local productive sector, the lack of endogenous industrial innovation and the absence of incentives for entrepreneurship and commercialization of research results during twentieth century.

Figure 17 - Patent applications in Rwanda by top field of technology (1998–2012)

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According to WIPO Figure 17 shows the distribution of patent application by top field of technology for recent years.

Trademarks 5.1.2Recently, trademark data have also been used to convey information on two key aspects of innovation, which are not usually covered by traditional indicators: marketing innovation and innovation in the services sector. Trademark numbers at the firm level have been found to correlate positively with innovation as reflected in responses to innovation surveys, with R&D (for certain industries), with patents, and with the number of new product launches. This correlation is particularly high in knowledge-intensive services and in high-tech sectors like the pharmaceutical industry. A further advantage of trademarks as a source of data is their broad availability and relatively easy accessibility50.

Figure 18 - Evolution in the number of trademark applications in Rwanda, 1965−2012.

Figure 18 shows the evolution in trademark applications by residents and non-residents between 1965 and 2012. The vertical axis has a logarithmic scale. The non-resident applications’ trend shows three decades with a relatively constant number of applications (1965–1995) followed by an exponential growth after the Genocide (c. 1994). However, the resident applications’ trend shows an oscillatory erratic behaviour with a strong drop during the Genocide.

Knowledge Transfer 5.1.3The 2011 National Industrial Policy (see summary in Annex 5.6) incorporates Technology, Research and innovation as means to achieve its overarching objective of transform Rwanda to a “competitive


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industrial and advanced services sectors producing over $1.5 billion of exports by 2020, while increasing the number of off farm jobs.”

Regarding technology, research and innovation it aims at creating an enabling environment for knowledge transfer leading into industrial growth. It recognizes the need to build and acquire appropriate science, technology, innovation-entrepreneurial, engineering, and technical/vocational capacity to produce more value added goods and services.

Some of the policy actions are51:

• Increase funding to research institutions and higher-level academia to lead research into requirements for desirable targeted industrial sectors.

• Restructure and expand the Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (IRST) to become the National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NRDA) to facilitate the transfer of innovative technologies, to carry out industrial research and to stimulate national and international partnerships.

• NIRDA enables partnerships between Rwandan firms and international firms and institutions in providing technological solutions.

• Put in place tax incentives for research and development (R&D) expenditure. • Establish Technology Demonstration Centres (TDCs) in industrial parks. • Implement NICI Plan III business related applications of ICT.

Private Sector Innovation through ICT The SMART Rwanda Master Plan 2015–202052 identified a series of ambitious goals to promote innovation in the private sector. In each case, at least one project was proposed, such as53:

• Cultivate new local ICT enterprises: Identify technically innovative and entrepreneurial talent from the earliest education level, primary school and then to track that through high school to college, university and beyond. The goals are: to establish 100 innovation studios in primary and high schools; have 200 supported new projects in universities, colleges; 1000 students placed in world class technology universities; and US$ 100 million invested by new venture funds to support the tech entrepreneurs.

• Grow existing indigenous ICT companies: Develop a competitiveness index project that will look at the investment readiness of indigenous companies, under a flagship project Rwanda ICT Business Investment Readiness Index. The goals are: 50 stock market list-able companies; 100 indigenous companies with market capitalization of US$ 100 million; US$ 10 million in new annual local investments, and 10 000 advanced technology-jobs created.

• Improve business and industry productivity and efficiency: ICT’s contribution to economic development can come in three broad categories both to private and public organizations: (i) reducing costs, (ii) Improving service delivery and (iii)

51 Ministry of Trade and Industry of Rwanda. (2011). National Industry Policy. 52 Republic of Rwanda. (2014). SMART Rwanda Master Plan 2015-2020: A prosperous and knowledgeable society through SMART ICT. 53 UNESCO. (2015). Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda. (G. A. Lemarchand; A. Tash, Ed.).

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creating new revenue streams. A project will aim to assess ICT’s added value to business and industry, and to track it, in order to maximize it. The goals are: 500 000 farmers trained and tracked to assess ICT-impact on their business; 500 000 businesses using ICT in their business; and 1 000 000 new ICT jobs.

• Expand exports and foreign direct investment: Expand ICT export potential and attractiveness for foreign direct investment. The goals are: US$ 100 million in new export revenue; 50 exporting companies; US$ 1 billion in operational foreign direct investments; and 100 000 export-related jobs created.

Higher Education Institutions and Industry Interface 5.1.4The interface with the industry is incipient as suggested by the Final Report on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions in Rwanda54 where only 17% HEIs provide placement assistance to students and only 14% HEIs have mentioned the salary offered to the students and 48% HEIs invite industry personnel to interact with their students. Figure 19 shows that the role of the industry on shaping the HEIs is immature where only 34% introduces new courses and 59% uses inputs from the industry to update the curriculums.

Figure 2019 - Industry's participation in curriculum development

Entrepreneurship 5.2 General background 5.2.1

There are no comprehensive surveys about the entrepreneurial environment in Rwanda. However, there are studies about the SME sector which can be used as proxy to explore the status of entrepreneurship and its challenges. Figure 20 shows that most of the SME belong to the Commerce and Service sector, which suggest that even when Rwanda’s economy is driven by agriculture; it is mainly concentrated in big enterprises. Similarly, the shift to a knowledge economy is not supported by the creation of enterprises in those sectors.

54 Higher Education Council of Rwanda. (2016). Final Report on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions in Rwanda.

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Figure 20 - SME operators by sector

The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Policy 55 states that there are three main challenges

• Lack of entrepreneurial culture

The unstructured environment in which SMEs operate and their inability to be open to new or innovative ideas presents a major challenge to the development of the SME sector. The 2008 PSF Capacity Needs Assessment of SMEs, which surveyed 2100 SMEs operating in Rwanda, indicated that the need for a greater entrepreneurial culture is a major priority for SMEs in terms of building human capacity and supporting potential growth. This was further reinforced by key stakeholder interviews. Stakeholders expressed the need to develop an entrepreneurial mindset in Rwandan educational institutions as well as the need to support existing entrepreneurs. Most SMEs duplicate business ideas until the market is saturated with copycat enterprises (mostly in trade or services), which also require lower input costs than value-addition activities, and are therefore lower risk. This means they are not taking advantage of potential business opportunities or even entering into business activities at all.

• Limited technical and business skills

Many SMEs suffer from lack of technical and business skills. SMEs themselves identify a variety of skills gaps in areas including ICT, technical and industrial knowledge, finance, accounting and management. Many SMEs have rudimentary production facilities, low quality products and underutilize appropriate technologies. There is also limited innovation and competitiveness in the SME sector caused by a lack of technical and managerial skill.

• Limited Business Development Services (BDS)

SMEs face a lack of good quality business development services tailored to their needs. PSF's efforts thus far have been forced to scale back due to resource and capacity constraints, meaning many businesses have not received the skills they need to succeed. Studies indicate that while many institutions exist to provide BDS services, the quality of these services varies greatly,

55 Ministry of Trade and Industry of Rwanda. (2010). Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Policy.

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making SMEs wary of taking advantage of them. Furthermore, the previous lack of private sector involvement means that the private sector does not need to commit to these services and interventions may be inappropriate to the needs of SMEs.

On the other hand, the Rwanda Development Board56 states that the strengths of the entrepreneurial environment are: raised an awareness for entrepreneurship; undeveloped formal sector enables small business to pursue their opportunities without being blocked by larger companies; and Easy registration of business. Similarly, the opportunities of entrepreneurship to Rwandan society are: Contribution to skills development and service delivery and contribution to job creation and uplifting the living conditions.

Entrepreneurship in Education 5.2.2The Final Report on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions in Rwanda57 explores the HEI efforts to promote Entrepreneurship in their education system. The main findings are that 24% Institutes produce entrepreneurs and 31% Institutes have Incubation centers.

Table 15 - Entrepreneurial attitudes

A study on Rwanda’s policy of entrepreneurship education58 states that the country has moderately positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship where the perception of the entrepreneurial planning Is strongly positive (See Table 15 and Figure 21 - Rwanda would be a better place if more people were ).

56 Rwanda Development Board. (2014). Entrepreneurship Impact Assessment Report. 57 Higher Education Council of Rwanda. (2016). Final Report on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions in Rwanda. 58 Honeyman, C. (2014). Entrepreneurship Education in Rwanda: A Summary of Research on Curriculum, Classrooms, and Life after Graduation.

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Figure 21 - Rwanda would be a better place if more people were entrepreneurs

Figure 22 shows about one-third of the economically active graduates had gained entrepreneurial experience during the six month tracer study or at some time before, while two-thirds had carried out some kind of wage employment. The Senior 6 graduates sampled, and particularly the male graduates, had a slightly higher rate of experience in entrepreneurial activities, and a much higher rate of job experience than their younger peers graduating from Senior 3. While entrepreneurship experience was a little higher among graduates from rural areas than urban areas, the two populations were roughly equal in terms of employment. Significantly, the highest rates of entrepreneurship and employment, in turn, were among orphaned or abandoned graduates and those from the poorest backgrounds.

Figure 22 - % of sample subgroups with entrepreneurship or job experience by 6 months after graduation

As Figure 23 shows, the majority of study participants agreed or strongly agreed that registration, licensing, and taxes all present an obstacle to entrepreneurship in Rwanda. The requirements for starting a formal business may include having a fixed place of business (which often involves paying rent), as well as paying a yearly licensing fee, monthly taxes at the sector level, local fees for

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sanitation and security, and other required contributions to local funds and special events. These start-up taxes and fees represent a significant burden for those who would like to initiate more formalized activities outside of the agricultural sector, such as small-scale trading, food processing, hairdressing, or mobile phone repair.

Figure 23 - Obstacles to start a viable enterprise

Bibliography 5.3

Babson-Rwanda Entrepreneurship Center. (2011). Entrepreneurship Development Landscape.

Higher Education Council of Rwanda. (2016). Final Report on Ranking of Higher Education Institutions in Rwanda.

Honeyman, C. (2014). Entrepreneurship Education in Rwanda: A Summary of Research on Curriculum, Classrooms, and Life after Graduation.

Ministry of Trade and Industry of Rwanda. (2011). National Industry Policy.

Ministry of Trade and Industry of Rwanda. (2010). Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Policy.

Republic of Rwanda. (2014). SMART Rwanda Master Plan 2015-2020: A prosperous and knowledgeable society through SMART ICT.

Rwanda Development Board. (2014). Entrepreneurship Impact Assessment Report.

UNESCO. (2015). Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda. (G. A. Lemarchand; A. Tash, Ed.).

WIPO. (n.d.). Statistical Country Profiles. Retrieved March 3, 2017, from http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/country_profile/profile.jsp?code=RW

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6. ANNEXES

Legal framework on Education59 6.1 Rwanda National Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (2007) 6.1.1

The Framework sets out the requirement for the awards of the higher education institutions in Rwanda. Rwanda Higher education institutions’ are running the Credit Accumulation and Modular Scheme (CAMS) System. The Framework enables awards to be benchmarked to internationally recognised standards. The Framework provides academic quality assurance systems to be put in place to ensure that all programmes are developed and delivered in conformity with this Framework. Two measures are used to locate qualifications within the Qualifications Framework: the level of learning outcomes to be achieved, and the volume of the programmes in terms of student credit. The Framework has seven levels. Changes in level are marked by changes in descriptors such as: knowledge and understanding (complexity and depth); professional practice (the range and sophistication of applied knowledge and understanding and the extent to which it can be applied in unfamiliar circumstances); generic cognitive skills (e.g. analysis, evaluation and critical skills); communication, numeracy and IT skills; and autonomy, self-reliance, the ability to take responsibility, the ability to work with others and the ability to judge and take action to satisfy one’s further learning needs. Level 1 corresponds to the first year of a full-time undergraduate course; Level 2 to the second year; Levels 3 and 4 cover the third year; Level 5 corresponds to the fourth and final year of a full-time undergraduate course; Level 6 is Masters-level work; and Level 7 is doctoral level.

National Policy on Academic Workload Planning (2007) 6.1.2This Policy regulates the academic staff workload in relation to all academic activities that are related to professional duties and responsibilities. The areas of regulation include: contact time and notional time for preparation for lecture delivery; lectures & tutorials, assessments (coursework, final exams, deliberations of exams); supervising laboratory classes/excursions/practical; distance education- face-to- face sessions; school or clinical practice/internship/supervision of placements; module writing/programmes development/short courses; research project supervision; research; service activities (professional consultancy, delivery of workshops/seminars and conferences, participation on various institute standing and ad hoc committees, leadership in professional and civic organizations etc.); guidance and counselling and partaking in Leadership/administrative responsibilities/academic administration. In addition, the Policy allows time for personal and professional maintenance – answering emails and correspondence, talking to colleagues, filing, talking to students, professional reading and web browsing.

Code of Practice: The Conduct of Examinations (2007) 6.1.3The Code outlines minimum standards for the handling of examination papers and the conduct of examinations. The Code is implemented together with the Higher Education Council’s Assessment and Conduct of Examinations Section’s General Academic Regulations.

Code of Practice: Cross-Border/Transnational Provision (2007) 6.1.4Foreign institutions offering higher education programmes in Rwanda must fulfil requirements of the Rwanda Higher Education Council. Rwandan higher education institutions operating outside Rwanda 59 UNESCO. (2015). Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda. (G. A. Lemarchand; A. Tash, Ed.).

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must fulfil the Rwanda Higher Education Council requirements and requirements of the countries in which they are operating. This Code of Practice is designed to:

(i) encourage international co-operation in the provision of higher education in Rwanda; (ii) protect students and other stakeholders in Rwanda from low-quality and ensure that

qualifications awarded in Rwanda are benchmarked to the Rwandan national qualifications framework for higher education;

(iii) facilitate the recognition of qualifications awarded through transnational arrangements in Rwanda;

(iv) ensure that all higher education delivered in Rwanda is subject to Higher Education Council requirements;

(v) ensure that higher education delivered in Rwanda meets the social, economic and cultural needs of Rwanda;

(vi) ensure that Rwandan higher education institutions who deliver award bearing qualifications abroad meet the requirements of the quality assurance agency of the country in which they operate as well as the requirements of Higher Education Council; and

(vii) protect the reputation of Rwandan higher education and the standing of its awards.

Code of Practice for Operating Private Higher Education Institutions (2007) 6.1.5The Code provides clear guidance to private higher education institutions as to the expectations of the Government about how they should operate in order to ensure they conform to the law of Rwanda, the requirements of the Ministry of Education and the Rwanda Higher Education Council, and provide clear and honest information to potential and actual students. This Code forms part of the Code of Practice for Higher Education in Rwanda and unless otherwise indicated the precepts are mandatory. This Code does not cover the requirements for cross border higher education, which is presented in a separate code. This Code incorporates statutory requirements as set out in Law No 20/2005 of the 10 October 2005 governing the Organisation and Functioning of Higher Education and Law No 23/2006 of 28 April 2006 governing the Higher Education Council. It should be read in conjunction with these laws and the Qualifications Framework for Higher Education, (ii) the Code of Practice for Higher Education, (iii) the Handbook for Academic Quality Assurance and Enhancement, and (iv) the maintenance of standards in higher education.

Higher Education Policy (2008) 6.1.6The Higher Education Policy guides the transformation of higher education to establish a higher education sector that meets development needs of Rwanda for an educated and trained workforce, research and knowledge transfer to support social and economic development and which is internationally competitive. The Policy points in the direction of establishing a stable, underlying structure that will enable institutions to develop their strategies for supporting the realization of Rwanda ambitions for higher education.

Higher Education Institutional Infrastructure and Academic Standards (2007) 6.1.7These Standards are designed to provide guidance to institutions on what is likely to be judged acceptable by the Higher Education Council for the granting of provisional and definitive operating licences to private providers in terms of physical and institutional resources. It also provides a guide to the minimum expected quality and standard of academic delivery. The Standards also provide broad guidelines on the level of infrastructure likely to be necessary to meet the requirements of institutional audit and subject reviews for all providers. The Standards should be read in conjunction with the Institutional Audit and Subject Review Handbooks.

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National equality and diversity policy for higher education (2007) 6.1.8The Policy seeks to eradicate unfair and discriminatory practices whenever they occur, and to actively promote a culture of equality and diversity, where all staff and students may contribute as fully as possible. This policy has a role in shaping and informing all activities, and as such should not be viewed as a stand-alone policy.

National Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy (2010) 6.1.9The Policy provides a broad framework within which all Rwandan higher education institutions can guide the support and continued enhancement of the learning experience they provide. It aims to ensure support and enhancement of student learning across Rwandan higher education institutions. It provides broad strategies in Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA), which will work to inform individual institutional strategies according to their priorities. It covers the support and development of staff that are involved in teaching, the support of students learning and the development of student skills. Central to the Policy are the principles of the relationship between research and teaching and the promotion of equality through the development of an inclusive learning culture.

National Staff Development Policy for Higher Education (2007) 6.1.10The Policy commits Rwandan higher education institutions to support the development of their entire staff and to ensure continuous staff training. The higher education institutions have to give their staff the opportunity to participate in staff development that will enable them to improve the skills and competencies necessary to carry out their role and, as agreed with their line manager, to develop themselves for promotion. Staff training and staff development include all activities aimed at the improvement of skills and knowledge to enhance the institution’s capacity to be a centre of excellence. The policy recognizes that staff development can be offered and undertaken in a number of ways, including but not limited to taking academic qualifications, attending seminars, conferences and workshops, learning in post (work-based learning), by ‘acting up’ and by role swap. There is a need in all higher education systems for staff development. This paper sets out the Staff Development Policy for Public Sector Higher Education Institutions. The Policy stipulates four types of staff development:

(i) opportunities for academic and other staff to take accredited higher education programmes;

(ii) early career academic staff development for teaching and learning and research and, continuing professional development for academic staff;

(iii) management training for senior staff; and (iv) generic development to build staff capacity to enable them to improve performance and

build capacity. The policy provides for funding mechanisms for postgraduate training of staff to attain PhDs and Masters Degrees.

Recruitment, Selection and Appointment Policy and Procedures (2007) 6.1.11The Policy regulates recruitment and selection activities so that they are carried out in a fair, effective, consistent and professional manner. The policy aims to provide managers and employees with information on procedural requirements. The policy stipulates how the operation of the procedure will provide a fair, systematic and effective process for recruitment and selection; it (i) ensures the appointment of the best candidate for the post on the basis of objective criteria which include qualifications, competencies, skills, knowledge and experience; (ii) enables the filling of vacancies within agreed timescales in a cost- effective manner; (iii) eliminates discrimination and (iv) recognises internal redeployment requirements.

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Education Sector Strategic Plan 2013/14 – 2017/18 (2013) 6.1.12 The Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2013 – 2018 is an update of the ESSP 2010–2015 and alignment of plans for Rwanda’s education sector in line with the 2013 – 2018 Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II). The Plan is focusing on expanding access to education at all levels, improving the quality of education and training, and strengthening the relevance of education and training to meet labour market demands. The planned ten outcomes include increased equitable access to: (i) nine years of basic education for all children, (ii) education for students with special educational needs, (iii) relevant, high quality, demand-driven TVET programmes, and (iv) affordable, relevant, academically excellent higher education that also delivers quality research outputs. Others are (v) expanding access to 12 years of basic education, (vi) improved quality and learning outcomes across primary and secondary education, (vii) qualified, suitably-skilled and motivated teachers and trainers to meet the demands of expanding education access, and (vii) expanded access to three-years of early learning for four-to-six-year olds. (viii) strengthened performance in science, technology and innovation at all levels of education, and application of science, technology and innovation in relevant sectors of the economy, (ix) increased access to Adult Basic Education to improve adult literacy and numeracy, and (x) improved administrative and management support services, including the management of policy, information, finances, and human resources across the education sector.

Framework and Regulations for Higher Degrees by Research and Regulations 6.1.13on Cheating and Plagiarism in Research Degrees (2014)

The Framework regulates the Awards of Doctor of Philosophy and Masters by research; conditions for registration for higher degrees by research, examinations, ethics issues, transfer of registration from Masters to PhD and from PhD to Master of Philosophy (MPhil). The Framework also regulates the supervision, procedures for examinations, and the types and formats of theses. Furthermore, the framework includes rules and regulations on plagiarism and cheating in research degrees as well as preparation and conduct of a formal hearing.

General Academic Regulations for Undergraduate Programmes (2014) 6.1.14The General Academic Regulations and Programmes provide rules for the following: application procedures, general admission criteria, midway admissions and transfer of credits, procedures for registration, documents required for registration, change of names, withdrawal/cancellation of registration, and suspension of registration. The regulations also stipulate rules and conditions for Academic Programmes, modules, module credits, module coding, and delivery of modules. They also provide for assessment, continuous assessment, final examination, internal and external moderation, conflict of interest, registration for examinations, and conduct of examinations. The regulations have rules or the use of unauthorized materials in an examination room, cheating and other examination irregularities, failure to sit for an examination, and the management of special examinations.

General Academic Regulations for Open and Distance Learning Programmes 6.1.15(2014)

The General Academic Regulations for open and distance learning Programmes provide rules for the following: application procedures, general admission criteria, midway admissions and transfer of credits, procedures for registration, documents required for registration, change of names, withdrawal/cancellation of registration, and suspension of registration. The regulations also stipulate rules and conditions for Academic Programmes, modules, module credits, module coding, and delivery of modules. They also provide for assessment, continuous assessment, final examination, internal and external moderation, conflict of interest, registration for examinations,

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and conduct of examinations. The regulations have rules or the use of unauthorized materials in an examination room, cheating and other examination irregularities, failure to sit for an examination, and the management of special examinations.

University of Rwanda (UR) Framework and Regulations for Higher Degrees by 6.1.16Research and Regulations on Cheating and Plagiarism in Research Degrees

This Framework is a modification, to suit the UR context, of the national Framework and Regulations for Higher Degrees by Research and the national Regulations on Cheating and Plagiarism in Research Degrees. The Framework regulates the Awards of Doctor of Philosophy and Masters by research; conditions for registration for higher degrees by research, examinations, ethics issues, transfer of registration from Masters to PhD and from PhD to Master of Philosophy (MPhil). In addition, the Framework regulates the supervision, procedures for examinations, and types and formats of theses. Furthermore, the Framework includes rules and regulations on plagiarism and cheating in research degrees as well as on the preparation and conduct of a formal hearing.

Law Governing Organisation and Functioning of Higher Education (2013) 6.1.17This Law governs the organisation and functioning of higher education in Rwanda. It stipulates the types of higher education institutions; their powers, autonomy and responsibilities, form and internal organization; higher education institutions; and the property and finance of each institution. The Law provides for the following three types of institutions of higher learning with distinct forms of management:

(i) Public institutions of higher learning: these will be established by law, and the Government shall be responsible for their organisation, functioning and management. Furthermore, public institutions of higher learning shall have a supervising public authority specified by the law establishing it.

(ii) Government subsidized institutions of higher learning: these shall be established in accordance with the agreement between the Government and its private partner and shall be given legal personality by an Order of the Minister in charge of higher education and they shall be managed in accordance with the agreement between the Government and its private partners.

(iii) Private institutions of higher learning: these are established by an individual or a private legal entity. The legal status of each private institution of higher learning shall be determined by its owner in accordance with relevant laws. An accreditation to a private institution of higher learning shall be granted by an Order of the Minister in charge of higher education basing upon the report by the Rwanda Higher Education council.

Law Establishing Higher Education Council and Determining Its 6.1.18Responsibilities, Organisation and Functioning (2013)

The Law establishes the Higher Education Council and it determines its responsibilities, organization and functioning. It provides that the Higher Education Council has a legal personality, administrative and financial autonomy that is governed in accordance with legal provisions governing public institutions. The Law stipulates the missions of the Higher Education Council to be:

(i) to enhance education and research in the higher learning institutions; (ii) to improve the organization and functioning of higher learning institutions; (iii) to advise the Government in all matters related to higher education policy and

strategies; (iv) to set norms and standards for accrediting private higher learning institutions; (v) to monitor the adherence of norms and standards in higher learning institutions;

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(vi) to compare, evaluate and give equivalence to degrees and certificates of higher education level delivered by foreign institutions and those delivered in Rwanda that need authentication including those awarded through distance learning; and

(vii) to coordinate and follow up all activities.

Law Establishing the University of Rwanda and Determining Its Mission, 6.1.19Powers, Organisation and Functioning (2013)

The Law establishes the University of Rwanda, abbreviated as “UR” which is created from seven Rwandan public Institutions of Higher Learning: NUR, KIST, KIE, ISAE, SFB, UP and KHI. It also determines its mission, powers, organization and functioning. UR shall be a special organ, which shall have legal personality, administrative, teaching, research and financial autonomy and shall be governed in accordance with the Law governing organisation and functioning of higher education. In addition, the Law stipulates that UR shall be comprised of the following colleges:

(i) College of Education; (ii) College of Science and Technology; (iii) College of Arts and Social Sciences; (iv) College of Business and Economics; (v) College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine; and (vi) College of Medicine and Health Sciences. The Law de-establishes the seven former

institutions.

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Legal framework on Health60 6.2 Trust Fund for Health Results Innovation (2010) 6.2.1

The Law authorises the ratification of the Grant Agreement Nº TF096936 signed in Kigali, Rwanda, on 25 June 2010, between the Republic of Rwanda and the International Development Association (IDA) acting as Administrator of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Health Results Innovation, Relating to the Grant of Four Million American Dollars (USD 4 000 000) for the Co-Financing of the Second Community Living Standards Grant.


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Legal framework on Environment61 6.3 Rwanda Environmental Policy (2003) 6.3.1

This Policy governs improved management of the environment, at central and local government’s level. It sets out institutional and legal reforms for coordination of sector and crosscutting environmental policies. The Policy gives a provision for the establishment of a Rwanda Environment Management Authority and setting-up of committees responsible for environmental protection at the decentralized levels – province, district, and town. Furthermore, the Policy previews the enactment of a legal framework for improved management of the environment, and the principles for citizens’ participation in environmental protection. Included in this Policy are policy statements and strategic options with regard to population and land-use management, management and utilization of natural resources, and management of other socio-economic matters, as well as the necessary arrangements for the implementation of the Policy itself. In addition, while ensuring quality of life and environment the Policy aligns with poverty reduction policies it provides a framework for reconciling environmental, social, and economic aspects of issues.

Organic Law Determining the Modalities of Protection, Conservation and 6.3.2Promotion of Environment in Rwanda (2005)

This Organic Law determines the modalities of protecting, conserving and promoting the environment in Rwanda with the aim of conserving the environment, people and their habitats. It provides fundamental principles related to protection of environment, with the intention of promoting natural resources, and to discourage any hazardous and destructive activity that may degrade the environment. In addition, the Law provides ways of promoting the social welfare of the population considering equal distribution of the existing wealth; considering the durability of the resources with an emphasis especially on equal rights of present and future generations; and a guarantee to all Rwandans of sustainable development that does not harm the environment and the citizens’ social welfare. Furthermore, the Law provides for the setting up of strategies for protecting and reducing negative effects on the environment and for restoring the degraded environment.

Law Determining the Organization, Functioning and Mission Of the National 6.3.3Fund for Environment (Fonerwa) (2012)

This Law provides for mobilization and management of (i) resources used in activities aiming at protecting environment and natural resources and (ii) funds to be used in the fight against the climate changes and its impacts. The Law also sets out to support public institutions, associations and individuals to carry put activities to protect the environment, conduct research and manage climate change.

Law of Governing Biodiversity in Rwanda (2013) 6.3.4This Law determines modalities for management and conservation of biological diversity within Rwanda. In order to promote biodiversity, the law stipulates that competent authority shall conduct research on the protection and conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use.


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Law Relating To the Prohibition of Manufacturing, Importation, Use and Sale of 6.3.5Polythene Bags in Rwanda (2008)

This Law prohibits the manufacturing, using, importing and selling of polythene bags in Rwanda. An Order of the Prime Minister shall establish a list of polythene bags necessary to be used in exceptional cases in Rwanda. The list shall be up dated at any time where it is deemed necessary. Any person who requires to manufacture, to use, to import and to sell polythene bags shall apply for a written authorisation from Rwanda Environment Management Authority, indicating the reasons for the request and the ways through which he or she will manage the polythene waste. Institutions in charge of controlling the use of polythene bags are Judicial Police, Custom office Rwanda Environment Management Authority staff, Rwanda Bureau of Standards staff, Security Organs, Local Authorities and other necessary personnel authorized by an Order of the Minister in charge of justice. The Law provides a heavy penalty for any person or company that contravenes its terms.

Other related Laws & Regulations: 6.3.6• Prime Minister’s Instructions preventing air pollution (N°005/03OF27/12/2013, Official

Gazette No. 3 of 20 January 2014). • Law determining the mission, organization and functioning of Rwanda Environment

Management Authority (REMA) (Law N°63/2013 of 27 August 2013), Law n°16/2006 of 3 April 2006 and other prior legal provisions inconsistent with this law are repealed.

• Law relating to the prohibition of manufacturing, importation, use and sale of polythene bags in Rwanda.

• Law determining the use and management of land in Rwanda (Organic Law No. 08/2005 of 14 July 2005, Gazette Year 44 No. 18 of 15 September 2005);

• Law determining the organisation, functioning and responsibilities of National Forests Authority (2006).

• Law establishing Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA) and determining its mission, organisation and functioning (Law No. 53/2010 of 25 January 2011, Gazette No. 10 of 7 March 2011).

• Ministerial Order relating to the requirements and procedure for Environmental Impact Assessment.

• Ministerial Order establishing modalities of inspecting companies or activities that pollute the Environment.

• Ministerial Order determining the length of land on shores of lakes and rivers transferred to public property.

• Ministerial Order regulating the importation and exportation of ozone layer depleting substances products and equipment containing such substances.

• Ministerial Order establishing the list of protected animal and plant species. • Ministerial Order preventing activities that pollute the atmosphere; Ministerial Order

determining the list of chemicals and other prohibited pollutants. • Ministerial Order on the establishment of the National Man and Biosphere Committee. • Law No 10/2010 of 20 April 2010 authorising the ratification of the grant Agreement Nº

TF94928-RW signed in Kigali, Rwanda, on 8 February 2010, between the Republic of Rwanda and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) acting as an Implementing Agency of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) relating to the grant.

• Law No 50/2011 of 5 December 2011 authorising the ratification of the financing agreement nº 4973-RW signed in Kigali, Rwanda, on 2 September 2011, between the Republic of

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Rwanda and the International Development Association (IDA) relating to the credit of nine million three hundred thousand Special Drawing Rights (SDR 9 300 000) for the Lake.

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Legal framework on Energy62 6.4 Law Governing Electricity in Rwanda (2011) 6.4.1

This Law governs all activities of electric power production, transmission, distribution and trading within or outside the national territory of the Republic of Rwanda. It specifies the activities in electricity sector that are subject to license, and provides the requirements and procedures for granting licenses, as well as the rights and responsibilities of the license holders provisioning the electricity market. The Law also governs the determination of tariffs and illustrates rights and responsibilities of electricity customers63.

Law Establishing Rwanda Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority (2010) 6.4.2This Law establishes the Rwanda Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA) and determines its responsibilities, organization and functioning64.

Statute Establishing the International Renewable Energy Agency (2011) 6.4.3This Statute ratified the Convention establishing the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) signed in Bonn on January 26th, 2009.

Statute Establishing the International Atomic Energy Agency (2011) 6.4.4This Statute ratification of the Convention establishing the International Atomic Energy Agency signed in New York on 23 October 1956.

Agreement Nº Tf95444 (2010) 6.4.5The Statute ratified the grant Agreement Nº TF95444 signed in Kigali, Rwanda, on 8 February 2010, between the Republic of Rwanda and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA) acting as an administrator of the Africa Renewable Energy Access Trust Fund (AFREATF) relating to the grant of three million eight hundred thousand American Dollars (USD 3,800,000) for the Sustainable Energy Development Project.

62 UNESCO. (2015). Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Rwanda. (G. A. Lemarchand; A. Tash, Ed.). 63 Link: http://www.mininfra.gov.rw/uploads/media/Electricity_Law.pdf 64 Link: http://itegeko.com/en/

http://www.mininfra.gov.rw/uploads/media/Electricity_Law.pdf

http://itegeko.com/en/

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Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of 6.5Rwanda’s STI System65

Strengths 6.5.1

• Strong improvements of governance indicators: During the period after the genocide against Tutsi, an explicit political will and efforts for reconciliation were established to improve the governability of the country. Several social innovations were implemented, such as the incorporation of indigenous values and systems to solve conflicts, policy dialogues and interuniversity debates and the consolidation of Rwanda Vision 2020 through EDPRS I and EDPRS II. During the period after the genocide against Tutsi, the political stability and the government effectiveness indicators have evolved favourably, particularly over the past decade, but the indicators still show negative values for the last entire period. The Corruption Perception Index places Rwanda more than 55th worldwide over the same period.

• Positive long-term trends in human development indicators since 1994: Life expectancy at birth has increased from 26.7 years in 1993 to 63.5 years in 2012. The Human Development Index has progressed in a quasi-parabolic fashion over decades increasing their value from 0.23 (1995) to 0.483 (2014). Enrolment in primary and secondary education has risen almost exponentially. Primary school has a net enrolment rate of 96.6% (2013) and the secondary school of 41.1% (2013). The secondary school enrolment was almost doubled between 2008 and 2013.The proportion of students enrolled in science and technology fields in the upper secondary level reached 59% in 2013/2014. The public expenditure in education is 4.8% of the GDP.

• Good environment for doing business: The country has made big strides in becoming very business-friendly. In 2015, Rwanda was included within the top-3 countries in Africa where it is easy for doing business. It has also implemented some specific policy instruments to promote credit for SMEs.

• SETI as a cross-cutting pillar for sustainable development: In 2000, through Rwanda Vision 2020 SETI became a crosscutting pillar to achieve a knowledge economy by 2020. When the Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan (2002–2005) was in place, the Government formulated the 2005 National STI Policy. The text of EDPRS I (2008–2013) included a great variety of specific policy interventions on scientific and technological research, science education, promotion of innovation and transference of technology to the private sector.

• Boost to research and innovation: In 2013, by introducing a series of regulatory and institutional reforms, the Government gave a new boost to research and innovation activities in Rwanda. Among these measures taken are: (i) the introduction of EDPRS II; (ii) ICT SMART Rwanda Master Plan; (iv) the creation of the University of Rwanda by merging a group of higher education institutions (see section 3.5.3); (v) the creation of the National Science and Technology Commission as a SETI think


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tank; (vi) the creation of the National Industrial Research Agency to focus on the promotion of innovation in the private sector ); (vii) the creation of the National Standards Board; (viii) the implementation of the Innovation Endowment Fund and (ix) the implementation of the Environmental and Climate Change Fund.

• Expansion of the tertiary education: After three decades of almost zero growth, the enrolment in tertiary education is passing through an exponential expansion, both as a fraction of gross and as a percentage of the whole population. Rwanda is reaching a value of 8% of the gross and a rate of 913 higher education students per 100 000 inhabitants.

• Expansion of ICT infrastructure: Rwanda began to develop its ICT in 2000 after it adopted the National Information Communications Infrastructure policy and created a long-term plan to achieve full digitization in four five-year stages. In the last years, Rwanda registered one of the highest internet user growth rates in Africa (8.9%) compared with the continent’s growth rate of 2.4%. Another relevant element is the One Laptop per Child programme—an ambitious plan launched in 2008 to distribute laptops and electronic tablets in primary schools. By late 2012, about 115,000 laptops had been distributed to primary school children across the country. Since 2011, the national fibre-optic backbone network, which connects to an undersea network, already has links to all 30 districts of the country and nine border posts. The Government also negotiated with three fibre-optic submarine cable companies SEACOM, TEAMS and the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) to finance the extension of fibre-optic cables to every part of the country and to increase fibre bandwidth capacity to benefit schools, health centres and other institutions.

• Trilingual: In 2008, the Rwandan government ordered education to be provided in English. In 2009, Rwanda joined the Commonwealth of Nations and opened itself not only to Western Anglophone economies but also to economically stable geographic neighbours like Tanzania and Uganda.

Weaknesses 6.5.2

• Small economy and inequality: Taking into consideration all the countries in the world with populations around +/-10% the population of Rwanda (10.5 million in 2012), Rwanda and Guinea have the smallest real GDP within this group of countries. The gap with the rest of sub-Saharan Africa remained constant over the past two decades. In 1985, the Gini coefficient of Rwanda was 0.29. Two decades later (c. 2006) the value was 0.53 (presenting Rwanda as one of the most uneven societies in the world). The last measurement taken in 2014 showed a Gini coefficient of 0.447.

• SETI policy coordination and implementation: The fact that in 2009 the Ministry of Science, Technology and Scientific Research was dissolved and its mandate transferred to the Directorate of Science, Technology and Research within the Ministry of Education, diminished the power for policy coordination

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among different line ministries that perform R&D and scientific and technological services (e.g. Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Trade and Industry, etc.) This fact had direct consequences on the SETI policy implementation. The GO-SPIN analysis of the 2014 Revised National STI Policy also showed the absence of important items than any SETI policy should include. The Policy contains no policy mission, no policy goals, no normative planning strategies (there are no explicit SETI goals to be achieve in any specific time in the future), no policy-interventions to address the SETI supply side (there is neither a funding plan nor a human resources plan for R&D), no policy interventions to create incentives for R&D within the private sector; no gender policy, and no policy for international and regional cooperation.

• A small pool of researchers: Rwanda has an estimated 35 FTE researchers per million population. In other to achieve the Vision 2020 goal of transforming the country into a knowledge-based economy, it should be a priority to drastically increase this number. From a global perspective, the critical mass, which triggers innovation on a national scale, is at least 1200 FTE researchers per million population (i.e. Brazil, China, Malaysia, etc.). For Rwanda, this critical value is 35 times the present one. No formal system of government scholarships is in place for completing PhDs in science and engineering, nor any other incentive or policy instrument guaranteeing the career promotion by performing research and innovation activities. No explicit SETI human resources policy is mentioned in the 2005 National STI Policy.

• Absence of a SETI gender policy: Despite the fact that only around 20% of researchers are women today, there is no single mention to any gender issue neither within the 2005 National STI Policy. Few policy interventions had been explicitly planned to change this situation. There is no single operational policy instrument to promote gender equality within scientific and technological research activities nor specific incentives (i.e. scholarships). In 2015, the female tertiary enrolment at public universities was only 31.9% while within the private universities it was 52% (see Table 12).

• Absence of any explicit human resources policy for science and engineering: There are no specific targets for increasing the number of scientists and engineers to achieve the Vision 2020 goals, nor any targets concerning the staffing requirements of industry and other productive sectors. Research and innovation are dependent on having the requisite stock of human capital, defined as the knowledge, skills, competencies and attributes that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic wellbeing. Policy measures can be designed to ensure a healthy supply of human resources to SETI, such as through incentives like fellowships for poor students to increase student enrolment in scientific, technological and engineering disciplines at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

• Low research and innovation productivity: Although Rwandan researchers published 320 scientific articles in mainstream journals in 2016, this represents a low amount of articles per FTE. The number of articles per million population has been increasing in a constant way since 2004 (when Vision 2020 and EDPRS I were already in operation), reaching 16 in 2013, but the starting point was very low. This is at least two order of magnitude smaller than the productivity of Switzerland or the Czech Republic, one order of magnitude smaller than Tunisia or Botswana and two times smaller

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than that of Kenya or Ghana. The past decade has seen a positive trend: an extraordinary increase in the number of co-publications with foreign countries, which now represent 75−90% of all Rwandan scientific articles (see Figure 12). As for patents, during the past five decades the number of applications by residents (and non-residents) was extremely low even compared to other sub-Saharan countries.

• A small SETI demand pull: Macro-economic conditions today hamper research and innovation demand in the business and industry sector. In developed and emerging economies, the business sector provides between 50% and 70% of GERD. In other words, the SETI demand-side tracks the type of research done by governmental research centres and higher education institutions (SETI supply side). In spite of that the 2006 National STI Policy, EDPRS I and EDPRS II sought to promote public−private partnerships, there is no operational policy instrument in place to foster networking among the business, government and university sectors.

• Low participation of the business/enterprise sector in R&D: Within the historical R&D surveys conducted by UNESCO (see section 2.1) it was never possible to detect any R&D activity performed by the business/enterprise sector. In emerging economies such as China or the Republic of Korea, the business sector employs more than 60% of national researchers. Linkages between universities, R&D centres and the business/enterprise sector in Rwanda are very weak. New policy instruments are in place to promote innovation (i.e. Rwanda Innovation Endowment Fund and some incentives to promote FDI are in place) but there is an absence of appropriate policy instruments to stimulate strong interaction between the SETI supply and demand sides. In spite of what it is explicitly said in EDPRS II, there is a need for capacity building and a stronger human capital policy to support innovation and entrepreneurship in the business sector.

• Inadequate set of SETI operational policy instruments and funding mechanisms: The GO-SPIN survey has identified only three operational policy instruments in Rwanda. A country the size of Rwanda should have between 10 and 20 times more, of a diverse nature and adequately funded. The absence of some policy instruments impinges on research and innovation. There are no policy instruments in place promoting linkages between the SETI demand and supply, nor any funding mechanism addressing the research priorities set by the 2014 Revised National STI Policy (see pages 140–141). Only the Innovation Endowment Fund is in place (see Box 6 and pages 48–49). The National Research Fund, a proposal originally formulated in the eighties, was included in the 2005 National STI Policy, but unfortunately was never implemented.

• Indigenous knowledge remains largely disregarded: Indigenous knowledge can play a central role in transforming and modifying technologies to suit local conditions and the local context, as well as in developing indigenous homegrown technologies. To play these roles, indigenous knowledge needs to be documented, protected and efficiently managed. Rwanda needs to incorporate indigenous knowledge in the formulation of R&D strategies. There is scant input from indigenous knowledge in the present SETI policies and within research programmes.

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• Erratic energy supply is derailing progress in SETI: A small fraction of the population has access to electricity. Power cuts which occur in the middle of a scientific experiment or new technological development, or when a critical innovation is being implemented in a factory, can disrupt activity and erode the morale of scientists and entrepreneurs.

Opportunities 6.5.3

• Improve synergism and policy coherence through new institutional framework: The new set of SETI institutions created in recent years (i.e. NSTC, NIRDA, UR, RAB, RSB, etc.) have the opportunity to coordinate its activities and policies in order to promote coherence among the different research and innovation policies proposed at different Ministries, such as Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of ICT and Youth, and Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. NSCT will work as a think tank, having an advising role is planning to create some sort of inter-ministerial council to consolidate the different approaches on research and innovation activities taken by the different ministries. At present, this coordination role is missing. NIRDA is planning to implement a series of mechanisms to boost innovation within the private sector. New institutions like RAB are also coordinating R&D with extension services, in the agriculture and agribusiness sector. These new institutions have the opportunity to develop a coherent set of operational policy instruments to achieve the Vision 2020 and EDPRS II goals.

• Human capital development in science and engineering: Rwanda’s population is dominated by youth (43% of the population is less than 14 years old. Following the guidance of Rwanda Vision 2020 and the policies taken by the Ministry of Education to improve the education of science and mathematics at all levels, there is an opportunity to expand the training of young people in science and engineering. An explicit human resources policy to expand the number of scientists and engineers for promoting research and innovation is indispensable. SETI human capital development should be tailored to the country’s strategic development projects defined the EPDRS II and the National STI Policy. For doing so, adequate SETI policy instruments to provide incentives are required, for examples: scholarship programmes to encourage students to embark on PhDs and a system of competitive grants for young researchers in fields that national policies prioritize.

• Improve gender equality in science and engineering: It will be possible to improve the participation of women in science and engineering by introducing appropriate SETI policy instruments and incentives in both the education system (from primary school to postgraduate studies) and in the terms of reference of advertised posts or calls for research and innovation proposals. A specific policy for gender equality within the higher education sector and the research and innovation system, setting specific targets and activities should be formulated. Specific operational policy instruments must be in place to guarantee the implementation of these strategies.

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• National Research Fund: The 2006 National STI Policy proposed the creation of a National Research Fund (NRF) and it was suggested that the Government should allocate 0.5% of the total national budget to the NRF. The Government of Rwanda agreed to the Decision of the Assembly of the African Union 8th ordinary session in 2007, which recommended allocating at least 1% of the national GDP to R&D activities. The fund still lacks an operational manual, as well as an adequate set of operational policy instruments to determine, strategically, towards which missions the fund will be oriented.

• Availability of special external funding mechanisms for environmental R&D: EPDRS II defined environment and climate change as a cross cutting priority issue. In addition, EPDRS II proposed the creation of a Centre of Excellence on Green Urbanisation to support research and skills development and another Centre for Environment and Climate Change Innovation. Rwanda has already put into operation the Environment and Climate Change Fund. The country has also access to external funding in support of environmental projects (e.g. the Global Environment Facility) and several NGOs and research groups in Rwanda promoting a series of projects on environmental management, waste recycling and value addition to waste.

• Networking at national, regional and international levels: Rwanda has a long tradition of successful international scientific. Based on this experience, appropriate policy instruments and special mechanisms can be designed to promote synergies and networking among national laboratories, universities and the manufacture sector. Other policy instruments should improve the participation of the diaspora in strategic research and innovation projects in Rwanda, in tandem with an amelioration of national networking between public and private research institutions and enterprises.

• Interconnectivity initiatives for educational institutions: Opportunities may be created by linking the National ICT and youth policies or by linking strategies applied by the Ministry of Education to improve ICT facilities at all education levels and recent national and regional initiatives to expand the diffusion of endogenous R&D and regional co-operation.

• R&D and value-addition: Value-addition across all sectors in Rwanda remains low. Rwanda is still a net exporter of raw materials. There is a wide margin of manoeuvre for using SETI to add value across sectors and for using innovation to add value to Rwanda’s agribusiness, tourism, and other natural resources.

• Legal instruments to protect indigenous knowledge: The 2006 National STI Policy did not address indigenous knowledge systems and their need for protection. Intellectual property rights law, which adequately covers the body of knowledge that may generally be classified as ‘Western’ today in Rwanda is weak when it comes to protecting indigenous knowledge, in part because the latter is owned collectively (by extended families, clans and communities) and because substantial parts of indigenous knowledge are transmitted orally.

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Threats 6.5.4

• Limited human carrying capacity: The annual average population growth rate in Rwanda over the past five decades has been around 3% and total fertility (4.6 children per woman c. 2013) remain high, constraining poverty reduction efforts. The strategic options for reducing population growth proposed by Vision 2020 have so far failed to slow the growth rate. Unless this trend can be reversed, rapid population growth will sap Rwanda’s efforts to reach long-term sustainability.

• Adverse effects of climate change: Rwanda’s vulnerability to climate change will increase most rapidly between now and 2050 but socio-economic development may begin to offset the country’s growing exposure to climate change in the second quarter of the century. This implies an urgent need for international assistance to finance adaptation. Policy interventions are needed to mitigate potential disasters by building SETI capacity and promoting the use of appropriate technologies.

• Overdependence on foreign consultants to design domestic SETI policies: Since the early seventies all domestic SETI policies were designed systematically by a series of foreign consultants (see section 2.1) sponsored by international organizations and foreign development organizations. The results were not always positive, promoting the lack of internal coherence within the proposed policies or external agendas from donors may not be the most appropriate for the country. The experience of new emerging economies indicates that they were able to transform the reality of their countries only when strategies and paths were designed by their own people.

• The plethora of SETI strategic priorities dilutes policy effectiveness: The National STI Policy reveals that there are, in fact, thirteen different sectoral strategic priorities and several associated policies. Combined with a lack of common strategies with new foreign investment policies and funding mechanisms (i.e. Rwanda Innovation Endowment Fund), the absence of adequate operational policy instruments, the scarce funding allocation, and the multiplication of sectoral priorities may endanger the smooth implementation and effectiveness of the proposed policy interventions.

• Regional competition: The East African region has been leading the charge in collaborative regional infrastructure planning and execution. One of the outcomes of the joint cooperative strategies is access to a bigger market. To compete, smaller nations such as Rwanda are compelled to negotiate with neighbours like Kenya and Uganda, in order to harmonise immigration and infrastructure plans so as to help investors view the East African region as an economic hub of some 100 million people. However, there still are major infrastructure deficits and geographical disadvantages. Access to the ocean gives Kenya and Tanzania a big trade advantages over landlocked countries like Uganda and Rwanda, which have recently openly spoken about their frustration with the ports and the high cost of transporting goods across the region’s borders. Rwanda’s lack of an explicit policy to supply new generations of

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engineers who could solve these logistic and infrastructure problems put the country in a weak position for regional negotiations. At regional level, Kenya and Tanzania have been implementing very strong policies to support entrepreneurship and innovation in comparison with Rwanda.

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Rwanda’s National Industrial Policy (2011)66 6.6

The vision of the 2011 National Industrial Policy 67 is for Rwanda to have a “competitive industrial and advanced services sectors producing over $1.5 billion of exports by 2020, while increasing the number of off farm jobs.” To achieve this vision it has three objectives: increasing domestic production for local consumption, improving export competitiveness and creating an enabling environment for Rwanda’s industrialization.

Regarding technology, research and innovation it aims at creating an enabling environment for industrial growth, it recognizes the need to build and acquire appropriate science, technology, innovation-entrepreneurial, engineering, and technical/vocational capacity to produce more value added goods and services. The identified measures to promote technology, research and innovation include:

• Restructuring and expanding the Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (IRST) to become the Industrial Research and Development Agency (IRDA) to facilitate the transfer of innovative technologies, to carry out industrial research and to stimulate national and international partnership,

• Establishing appropriate technology dissemination centres in industrial parks, and • Increasing funding to research and higher learning institutions to support desirable targeted

industrial sectors.

66 WIPO. (2014). Integrating Intellectual Property into Innovation Policy Formulation in Rwanda. 67 Ministry of Trade and Industry of Rwanda. (2011). National Industry Policy.

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Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Policy (2010) 6.7

According to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Policy issued in 2010, the definition of SMEs includes micro enterprises and refers to enterprises that meet two of the following three criteria: have net capital investments of below 75m RwF68, annual turnover of less than 50m Rwf and has less than 100 employees. Its vision is to create a critical mass of viable and dynamic SMEs significantly contributing to national economic development. The high-level objective of the policy is to foster job creation and increase the tax and export base through the promotion of competitive new and existing SMEs mainly in value added sectors. In order to achieve this objective, the policy outlined specific objectives that will help to address both the structural and resource challenges faced by previous government initiatives and challenges encountered by SMEs.

The identified key policy objectives are:

• Promote a culture of entrepreneurship among Rwandans; • Facilitate SME access to services including business development services; access to local,

regional and international markets and market information; and promote innovation and technological capacity of SMEs for competitiveness;

• Put in place mechanisms for SMEs to access appropriate business financing; • Simplify the fiscal and regulatory framework for SME growth; and • Develop an appropriate institutional framework for SME development.

The policy refers to the Intellectual Property Policy of 2010 as a policy supportive of the SME Development policy.

68 1 USD = 820 RwF (21/02/2017)