The US government has provided Rwanda Defense Force a field Catering Equipment worth 1.2 Million USD. The field catering equipment will be used by RDF peacekeepers in South Sudan.
The handover of this equipment took place May 15, 2013 at Kanombe Military barracks between US Ambassador to Rwanda, His Excellency Ambassador Donald Koran and the RDF Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Gen Charles Kayonga.
This was the first batch of major equipment to RDF under the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) with the second batch expected soon.
Ambassador Donald Koran stated that “United States remains committed to helping Rwanda Defence Force maintain the highest degree of professionalism and readiness that it is reknowned for.
Adding that”We are committed to continuing our support to the RDF as you continue your professional transformation and continue to execute combined global peacekeeping operations”.
The RDF Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Gen Charles Kayonga was grateful for the US continuous support to Rwanda that translates good relationship between the two countries. “On behalf of the Government of Rwanda, we thank the US Government for the support.
He said the ongoing peacekeeping missions by RDF will need more than the efforts of Rwanda. We will need the helping hand of International community and more particularly the US Government.
RDF continues to enjoy good military cooperation with the US Government especially in the field of peace support missions across the world.

Hon. Kalibata had offered to the World Organization for Animal Health for Rwanda to host the next Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Global Conference in 2014.
Foot and Mouth Disease threatens food security for livestock owners due to lost trade opportunities, a hindrance to human development, and is one of the most contagious animal diseases.
FMD can cause mortality in new-born animals, significantly lowered milk production, and the absence of weight gains in animals.

For the poorest farmers, who often depend on just a few animals, FMD means hunger and economic ruin as it strikes their only sources of income and protein.
Because of this, Rwanda is privileged to host the rest of the world when discussing global efforts addressing the FMD.

Minister Agnes Kalibata had assured Rwanda’s commitment and ability to hosting the conference. Rwanda has had similar past experiences, when hosting the Global AIDS conference in 2009.
With Rwanda’s growing tourism facilities, a now extensive line of flight companies available in the country, and friendly tourist environment, it has become much easier for foreigners to engage with Rwanda on all levels.

The OIE officials and the Ministry remain enthusiastic in light of their new collaboration, and both ensure their commitment and efforts to make the conference a success.

The 2014 Foot and Mouth Disease Conference will follow previous conferences held in Bangkok and Asuncion.

The need to fight animal diseases at global level led to the creation of the Office International des Epizooties through the international Agreement signed on January 25th 1924. In May 2003 the Office became the World Organisation for Animal Health but kept its historical acronym OIE.
The OIE is the intergovernmental organisation responsible for improving animal health worldwide.
It is recognised as a reference organisation by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and in 2011 had a total of 178 Member Countries. The OIE maintains permanent relations with 45 other international and region organization and has Regional and sub-regional offices on every continent.

Kamanzi made the remarks while opening the Global Environment Facility Expended Constituency Workshop, held in Kigali, from 14^th – 16^th May 2013.

GEF is an international workshop organized by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the largest public funder for projects to improve the global environment, especially projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants.

According to Mrs. Susan Matindi Waithaka, GEF country relations Officer in Sub-Saharan Africa, a lot of work has been done in terms of environmental protection but there is a need to do a lot more and to allocate more funds for the environment.

“We need to do a transformational change, we need to do business in a different way, more money needs to be allocated for the environment and countries also needs to work much closer with other agencies and the private sector in order to be able to address the challenges of the environment,” she said.

This workshop’s discussion focused on how country stakeholders  among them Rwanda, get involved in GEF, the GEF 2020 strategy, the new GEF fee policy and GEF procedures for Civil Society Participation in GEF programs and projects, among other subjects.

As noted by Dr. Rose Mukankomeje, Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority and GEF national focal point, Rwanda has been working with GEF to protect wetlands and forests.

“We have been working with GEF to protect wetlands so that water reserved in wetlands can be used in agriculture and energy production.”

“Most of you know how the Kamiranzovu and Rugezi wetlands were spoiled but with our funds and funds provided by GEF we solved these problems,” She noted.

The workshop brought together representatives from 14 countries mainly representatives from GEF secretariat based at Washington D.C, representatives from Civil Society and GEF agencies (UNDP, UNEP), GEF focal points from different African Countries, among others.

During this workshop session, participants had the opportunity to visit sites where project financed by GEF have been ran in order to see their achievements.

The sites included the Rweru-Bugesera Ecosystem complex done by the Integrated Management of Critical Ecosystems (IMCE) project, COOCEN (a women cooperative which produces “Briquettes”, in Nyarugenge District), just to say a few.

Established in 1991, the Global Environment facility (GEF) unites 182 countries (Rwanda included) in partnership with international institutions, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and the private sector to address global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives.

After the meeting, the two sides signed four documents including the minutes on the 7th session of the joint committee, the agreement on economic and trade cooperation with a grant of RMB 50 million provided by Chinese government to Rwandan government, the exchange of letter for technology cooperation on MINAFFET building and the exchange of letter for technical cooperation for Bamboo cultivation, processing and utilization.

The session was marked by discussions on the state of cooperation in different areas such as bilateral trade, Investment cooperation, Development cooperation as well as Contacted Projects.

The meeting was co- chaired by hon. Silas Lwakabamba, The minister of Infrastructure of The republic of Rwanda and Mr. Li Jinzao, the Vice- Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China.

The meeting commended the achievements made in the development cooperation between the two countries since the Sixth Session of the Joint Committee that took place in Beijing in 2009.

They expressed readiness to strengthen economic ties and further reaffirmed their commitment and determination to enhance bilateral cooperation in order to improve the living standards of the peoples of the two countries.

In his remarks, Hon. Silas Lwakabamba expressed Rwanda’s gratitude of bilateral cooperation between Rwanda and China and noted the importance of JCC between two countries.

“The Joint Commission between our two countries provides a good platform to develop strategies with a view to strengthening our bilateral relations.

It is a success that all projects of the 6th JCC are completed. – We appreciate the commitment by the Government of China to extend the Duty-free treatment to 95% of Rwandan products to the Chinese market. We want also to appreciate a significant presence of Chinese companies in Rwanda.

“The presence of these companies is a clear vote of confidence in our country’s investment climate,”says Lwakabamba, who also mentioned Rwandan Government commitment to conclude on-going discussions for the implementation of construction of the Government Administrative Office Complex and the Masaka-Kabuga Road.

He further stressed on the need to see the model cooperation between the two countries being shifted from a current ad hoc model to a strategic planed model to respond to the requirements of our Government’s Economic Development Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) II.

In his turn, Mr. Li Jinzao, the Vice- Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China welcomed the 7th session and saluted the rapid progress in economic and trade cooperation between China and Rwanda that was registered since the last session of JCC.

The Vice minister mentioned that in 2012, the bilateral trade value between the two countries has been doubled since 2009 and reached to USD 160 million.

“China and Rwanda are good friend and have good relation in international affairs. Chinese companies have been playing important role in the economic development of Rwanda and have undertaken the construction of roads, electricity facilities and water supply as well as investment in digital TV broadcasting in Rwanda. So, the future of the cooperation between Rwanda and China is promising” mentioned Mr. Li Jinzao.

After the meeting, the two sides signed four documents including the minutes on the 7th session of the joint committee, the agreement on economic and trade cooperation with a grant of RMB 50 million provided by Chinese government to Rwandan government, the exchange of letter for technology cooperation on MINAFFET building and the exchange of letter for technical cooperation for Bamboo cultivation, processing and utilization.

The Diplomatic relations between Rwanda and china have been established since November 1971 and the Government of China has been providing technical support in Agriculture; Health; Education and Infrastructure.

The completed projects with success include the Agriculture Technology Demonstration Center at Rubona; Two rural primary schools for 9-year basic education in Rulindo and Gatsibo; Masaka Polyclinic Hospital and the supplementary works; Technical cooperation for Bamboo cultivation and Craft Processing, Phase II; Kinamba-Gisozi Memorial site road; and others still in pipeline.

A delegation of six senior officers, doctors from Zambia Defence Forces arrived in Rwanda on May 11, 2013 to learn from Rwanda’s Prepex Circumcision technique, a method effective in reducing the risk of catching HIV/AIDS.

The delegation led by Brig Gen Dr AP Mulela started on the three-day training on May 13 at Rwanda Military Hospital.

Speaking on behalf of the delegation, Brig Gen Dr Mulela said, “We were excited when we learnt that Rwanda Defense Force is carrying out male circumcision without surgical means.”

“We got interested in it and decided to come and share experience with our colleagues so that we get the knowledge and consider how we can integrate it into our programmes,” he added.

The Prepex technique is used for male circumcision. The device, experimented and implemented in Rwanda three years ago, has proved to be easier and takes less time compared to surgical circumcision.

This was confirmed by Lt. Col. Dr Jean Paul Bitega who made the research on Prepex.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, May 06 2013 commended the government of Rwanda for its leadership in the national AIDS response. The country has made significant progress in its HIV response and is on track to meet national and
global HIV related goals.

With only 21 surgeons throughout the country, Rwanda launched a two-year campaign to circumcise two million males using the non-surgical circumcision.
RWANDA has stepped up efforts to prevent new HIV infections to achieve the 2015 global target of zero new infections.
According to Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, the Coordinator of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) Care and Treatment Department, at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, government has put in place several initiatives to ensure a 0% record of new infections by 2015.

Rwanda’s HIV/AIDS prevalence is 3% an equivalent of about 400,000 people.

In 2011, 2.5 million people worldwide were newly infected with HIV, according to UNAIDS. An estimated 1.7 million people died. That is 700 000 fewer new infections worldwide than ten years ago, and 600,000 fewer deaths than in 2005.

The PrePex method has attracted many countries that come to learn it at RMH to go and start using it in their own countries. These are Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya and now Zambia.

The European Union has contributed funds to commence the construction of power interconnector between Rwanda and Burundi.

The agreement to issue the funds was signed between Filiberto Sebregondi, the EU Ambassador to Tanzania and to the EAC, and Dr. Enos Bukuku, EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, on May 10, 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania.

Bukuku, who signed on behalf of the EAC Secretary General, thanked the EU for its support towards the project, which will take approximately three years to complete at a total cost of 37.7 million Euros.

Under the auspices of the East African Community, the project will enable the two countries share electricity using a transmission line.

The Rwanda–Burundi 220kV Interconnector is part of a larger ongoing multinational project to interconnect Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to the permanent secretary in the Ministry for Infrastructure, James Kamanzi the funds comes after determining a project’s viability.

We need the transmission lines such that if we get much power we can be able to sell to or in case of deficit, receive more from other regional countries,” he said.

He said that it becomes hard to tap electricity from other countries without linked transmission lines.

Kamanzi also said that the study was completed and procurement for supervision of construction of the transmission line that links us with Burundi is at an advanced stage.

He added that the entire project, if accomplished will reduce the energy costs, and become a major enabler for doing business within the region.

Out of that, the EU is providing €16 million through the European Development Fund, to finance the Burundian component.

KfW of Germany is providing €19.7 million out of which €16.7 million will finance the Rwandan section and €3 million the Burundian section.

The Governments of Burundi and Rwanda will each contribute €1 million.

The other components of the multinational interconnection project are financed by the African Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Government of Netherlands.

The project entails construction of a 143-kilometre 220kV transmission line from Kigoma, Rwanda to Gitega Burundi, via Huye, Rwanda, and Ngozi Burundi.

Rwanda has been awarded with WSIS Project Prizes 2013 organized by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) where the Africa Digital Media Academy was voted as the best project in media category.
This was announced on the 13th May 2013, in Geneva during the WSIS Forum focusing on post-2015 development agenda.
The WSIS Project Prizes is an annual contest, which recognizes excellence in the implementation of projects and initiatives which further the WSIS goals of improving connectivity to information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Africa Digital media Academy (ADMA), located in the city of Kigali, a vocational training program initiated in March 2012 by Workforce Development Authority (WDA) together with Pixel Corps Ltd, provides students with skills necessary to work in all areas of the digital media industry.
This center prepares its students for production work needed in digital media.
Through live, hands-on learning in the computer lab and production studio, with distance learning from television experts in the U.S, students are given instructions to proceed at their own pace with support from the instructors.
The emphasis is on student collaboration with the community as the foundation for effective learning.
“ADMA is the first of its kind in Africa to provide students with the skills necessary to work in all areas of the digital media industry,” said the Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana.
He observed that this will add on another step for Rwanda to be on the forefront in using ICT, especially for edutainment and infotainment to create jobs, especially for Rwanda youth.
More than 280 projects from 64 countries have participated in the contest. During the voting phase, more than 3500 registered users voted for the projects according to the rules and instruction of the contest. 18 winners announced and awarded a prize at the WSIS Prize Ceremony 2013.
The Director General of the Workforce Authority (WDA) Jerome Gasana, said the school will provide up to 5 levels of professionalism which if covered continuously can last for a period of 3 years”.
He stressed that the current intakes are mainly of level 1 trainees who are those individuals that have been in the multimedia business for some time. A total of 100 students are expected to be enrolled in a given academic year.
“For the past years, the government of Rwanda has invested in well-targeted development of ICT,” said Gasana.
He went on explaining that such a thrust of growth is evidenced by fibre optic cables inter-linking all Rwandan districts.
“With such a poise of the ICT infrastructure and ADMA’s experts, this school guarantees high quality multimedia skills.”
The Africa Digital Media Academy is remarkable opportunity for Rwanda. With it Rwanda has effectively embraced information technology and its entire related infrastructure.
It enables the country to embark on the phase of tremendously increasing innovation through content and application development.
Such a drive relies a lot on the elected development a workforce with every capacity to complement the efforts of the Government of Rwanda to bridge the digital divide and empower Rwandans to participate in promoting and ensuring good governance.

Ethiopian Airline has launched cargo flights Congo Brazzaville to cater for Rwanda farmers experiencing difficulties in finding Market for their products.

Launched during May 2013 the initiative will see traders and Crop growers exporting products including meat, fruits, vegetables, flour and milk to Congo Brazzaville

“This will enable us reach larger markets,” said Lilian Karigirwa who before the launch, exported only one ton of meat to Congo-Brazaville.

Local farmers are sometimes forced to sell their produce at give away prices during surplus times for lack of access to available markets in the region.

The cargo flight initiative is an outcome of a trade mission to Braz­zaville two years ago to explore trade opportunities between Rwanda and Congo.

“RwandAir was supposed to take exporters products to the central African country, but an increase in the number of passengers on the route made it impossible, ” said the minister of Trade and In­dustry, Francois Kanimba.

We therefore decided to negotiate with other companies that have cargo planes and concluded a deal with Ethiopian Airline.

For now, Ethiopian Airlines is able to carry only 30 tons per week but will eventually increase to 60.

The search for markets has also taken Rwandan officials to Gabon and Burundi. Rwandan business people have also been facilitated to attend regional trade fairs in Tanzania and Uganda.

Kanimba says Turkey, Qatar and the Middle East in general will be the next targeted as the country’s search for new markets. The target is to increase exports by at least 28% every year.

“We really still have a long way to go to balance exports and imports, but that’s our priority,” Kanimba said.

“This is a big target, but experience from the recent past in expanding our markets indicates that it can be achieved. The remaining concern is to entice Rwandans to work hard so that we can get enough products for export,” he said.

This is in line with the government commitment to increase exports so as to narrow the existing trade imbalance. Last year, imports were valued at $2.2 billion against exports of just $800 million.

Rwanda existed as a nation founded on a common history of its people, shared values, a single language and culture, extending well beyond the current boarders of the country.

In the Rwandan society before the inception of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), girls received education from their mothers on how to do house chores including learning obedience, respect, politeness, submission and resignation.

Boys on the other hand had different tasks such as defending the interests of the family, the nation to build a house or animal pen and were initiated in combat techniques.

Education was informal and delivered largely through the family. Training was also delivered through amatorero training in schools. These courses included the military and war skills, iron smith and foundry, poetry, basket making.

At the time, Rwanda solely depended on typewriters before the adoption of computers which are offering internet and printing services, but today it’s almost unthinkable for one to walk up to a typist for a written document.

In 1998, the Rwandan ICT for Development (ICT4D) policy commonly known as the National Information and Communication Infrastructure Plan (NICI) process began under the auspices of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

The process was designed to implement the necessary policies and plans capable of addressing, Rwanda’s developmental challenges in the information and technology age in order to accelerate the country’s socio-economic development process.

The next step is to extend the ICT to end user: on how ICT will help in wealth creation, how it boosts economy and how it helps the government to serve its people in smarter way.

Rwanda  has dwelt on designing an  educational system that would produce thinkers -Nobel Laureates- and problem solvers, and indeed most scientific and technological breakthroughs  that happens to among the country’ s master plan.

The country embraced its ICT reform around 2000 as a country‘s context of 2020 vision programs that have shaped the country’s attempts at economic transformation and highlighted  four notable case studies of ICT projects, namely the Karisimbi Project, the eRwanda program, TRACnet, and One Laptop Per Child.

With the current phase of NICI III implementation, the country has infrastructure in place and is now fixing issues related to internet connectivity, young engineers are being trained and ICT experts increasing in number.

Girls and boys are therefore encouraged to take up ICT as a career in a way to contribute to the country’s development, but Mythological young girls, a lot of them say that they see it as a man’s subject because the people seen in the media doing ICT initiatives are often men.

“Even when we go to school we are surrounded by men so the girls tend to lose interest because they feel they are the odd ones,” Fannie Kolombe, a student at the Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA Mudende).

She added that Girls are just choosing not to take on ICT. There are allegations that women feel intimidated when they are surrounded by men hence women work better when they are surrounded by fellow women.

In order to encourage girls, consider ICT as a career option, about 15 girls came together to form a group named Girls in ICT Rwanda.

Akaliza Keza Gara Founder of Shaking Sun, a multimedia company is a member of Girls in ICT, and she says that the government supports initiatives that empower women in ICT.

Incidentally, Rwanda marked the second time that the country has celebrated the International Girls in ICT Day on April 25 2013.

The celebration was themed “expanding horizons and changing attitudes.” Girls were encouraged to dream big using ICT to open the world up to them.

Rwanda’s first female pilot Esther Mbabazi is the perfect role model young girls should emulate and is among the six RwandAir pilots. She is encouraging students to join aviation and now flies regional routes to Congo and Nairobi.

Girls shouldn’t be left out in the technology world, for instance, with mobile phones more widely accessible than the internet, text messages have become an important way for citizens to voice discontent with the authorities and expose abuses of power.

Facebook is also emerging as a popular site for online interaction with nearly 115,000 users of whom over 70 percent are between 18 and 34 years of age as of December 2011.

Rwanda’s move towards an ICT and knowledge-driven economy is a decision rooted in the practical realities and challenges within Rwanda. It has equally taken into account recent trends so that Rwanda can position herself to compete in the global economy.

Vision 2020 that aims to transform Rwanda into a middle income country and transition from an agrarian economy to an information-rich, knowledge based society by 2020.

The Government of Rwanda strongly believes that ICT can enable Rwanda leap-frog the key stages of industrialization. Therefore integrated ICT is a key driver for socio-economic development and to fast track Rwanda’s transformation to a knowledge-based society.

]]> http://www.livinginrwanda.com/index.php/2013/05/girls-in-ict-commended-to-countrys-development/feed/ 0 http://www.livinginrwanda.com/index.php/2013/05/rwanda-prepares-for-miss-tourism-2013-inaugural/ http://www.livinginrwanda.com/index.php/2013/05/rwanda-prepares-for-miss-tourism-2013-inaugural/#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 10:03:34 +0000 peter http://www.livinginrwanda.com/?p=1347

Rwanda’s first ever Miss Tourism contest will be underway on May 10th, when the 15 finalists, selected from Rwanda’s university and tourism colleges, will be revealed and introduced to the public at the Hotel Mille des Collines in Kigali by the event organizers.

On that date the Eureka Group in conjunction with the Rwanda Development Board’s Tourism and Conservation Department and national airline RwandAir will formally launch the activities, which will culminate in a Grand Gala Final held at the Kigali Serena Conference Centre on June 1.

According to the event’s organizers, from May 14 on the participants will undergo training in the shape of a ‘boot camp’ to prepare them for the final sessions, where tourism knowledge and skills will be high on the agenda and the score sheets of the judges.

The organizers have invited over 40 tour operators and travel agents from across Eastern Africa, as well as a small group of selected media houses to cover the event and participate in a familiarization tour of Rwanda’s key attractions.

“On the visiting schedule will be the ‘Enchanted Forest, aka Nyungwe Forest National Park’, the shores of Lake Kivu with a visit to Kibuye and then along the route of the Congo Nile Trail to Gisenyi.”

The organizers said there is a rendezvous with the gentle giants of the Virunga mountains – the gorillas, before returning to Kigali for the grand final when Rwanda’s first ever Miss Tourism will be crowned.

In line with the event’s objectives the winner will be awarded a full scholarship for a Master Degree program in tourism, which will earn the winning lady not just a crown but knowledge for a future career in the tourism industry.

Tourism is one of Rwanda’s key economic activities and has in recent years grown in leaps and bounds, regularly recording double digit growth numbers, and is expected to earn the country over 300 million US Dollars this year.

A deliberate government policy of environmental protection, forest restoration and proactive marketing across the globe, alongside product diversification and innovations, has made Rwanda one of East Africa’s most sought after destinations.

MICE tourism is being promoted using existing facilities like the Kigali Serena Hotel and Conference Centre, the upcoming Kigali Marriott Hotel and Conference Centre and will receive a further boost next year, when the country’s new international convention centre will open.

RwandAir, the national carrier, too is playing a critical role in promoting the country and has in recent years aggressively expanded both network and fleet, positioning itself as a key player in African aviation.