Teenagers in Rwanda
Copyright© MO*, via flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0
Rwanda Pioneer in implementing the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement
The government is development oriented and is very much focused on achieving its ambitious goals with the aim of reforming the country. However, authoritarian government structures have become even more entrenched under President Paul Kagame.
Ethnic conflict between Hutus and Tutsis has been a recurrent theme in Rwanda's history. In 1994, it escalated and resulted in a genocide against the Tutsi minority that is thought to have cost up to one million lives in just 100 days. The genocide, the physical and mental trauma suffered by large parts of the population and the mass displacement and subsequent return of some 3.5 million refugees have had, and continue to have, a lasting impact on Rwanda and have thrown the country back considerably in its development.
Dealing with the aftermath of the genocide remains one of the major challenges for the country. Other challenges include the severe economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the poverty in rural areas, high population density and land scarcity, the impact of climate change and a huge demand for jobs compounded by a shortage of well-trained people. The current United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) ranks the east African country 165th out of 191 countries.
German development cooperation with Rwanda
Rwanda is one of the bilateral partner countries of Germany's Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The partnership incorporates key concerns of Rwanda’s own development strategies and of the G20 Compact with Africa (External link) initiative.
Under this G20 initiative, Germany has joined with other donors to support Rwanda in improving the environment for private investors. Under this framework, a German Business Desk has, for instance, been set up in Rwanda’s capital Kigali to promote investments in areas relevant to development. The BMZ is cooperating with the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and with German chambers of crafts with a view to fostering the SME sector and dual vocational training.
Germany’s bilateral development cooperation with Rwanda focuses on the following core areas:
- Sustainable economic development, training and employment
- Climate and energy, just transition
- Peaceful and inclusive societies
In addition, Germany is supporting the work of civil society organisations in the area of human rights in order to strengthen the rights of especially disadvantaged groups vis-à-vis public institutions (for example young people’s, women’s and health rights).
At the government negotiations in November 2020, Germany committed funding of 90.55 million euros to the Republic of Rwanda.
In 2021, the BMZ then made additional funds available for several purposes: addressing the COVID-19 pandemic; for the new climate and development partnership to support Rwanda’s implementation of its nationally determined contributions (NDC); to support climate-smart urban development and sustainable waste management and the circular economy; and for the special initiative on training and job creation.
As at: 23/02/2022