The Drive of the People, by Kenny

For the last 5 years, Rwanda’s GDP has been growing at 8% annual rate. This level of economic growth is unsurpassed by any other African country. During this trip we have been looking at what accounts for this “economic miracle.” Today, we made stops at the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and a Coffee-farming NGO called Sustainable Harvest to learn more.

At the RDB, we met with Yvette Umutoni who is the manager of the Investment Promotion & Facilitation division of the RDB.  Yvette explained that the RDB oversees all economic development in Rwanda from the tourism industry to the agriculture industry. Yvette said that the catalyst behind the economic miracle was strong leadership and community support for development throughout the country. Rwanda has had many barriers to economic success including its geographic position as a landlocked country and lack of natural resources. Yvette argued  “We don’t have many natural resources in our country, but we have the drive of the people.” Rwanda has continually partnered with the people to promote economic development on all levels.

After the RDB, we went to Sustainable Harvest which is a Bloomberg Philanthropies supported NGO that partners with independent coffee-growing cooperatives in the South and East parts of Rwanda and connects them with markets throughout the world. At Sustainable Harvest we went through all of the steps of the coffee process: “From cherry to cup.” A highlight in our experience was getting to taste two different types of Rwandan coffee. After tasting, we “calibrated” our taste buds and thought about the plethora of flavors and tastes in one cup of coffee.  Many students left with a renewed gratefulness for all the hard work that goes into making one cup of coffee. After looking at the fine details of the coffee-processing system, we looked at the role of NGOs within Rwanda. We learned that the Rwandan government does a very good job in ensuring that all NGOs serving Rwandan citizens are accountable. Sustainable Harvest is directly supervised by Ministry of Agriculture and must report thorough data on their impact in Rwanda. From the RDB to Sustainable Harvest we were able to see the government working from policy-making all the way to implementation. 

Today proved a a useful complement to our focus on gender and culture; it is clear that both economic growth and culture account for Rwanda's success!  

p.s. for families from Shields:  we are driving south tomorrow.  I am not sure what the connectivity will be like :)  stay tuned...