Gathering facts to fight poverty in Rwanda
07 August 2007
Image courtesy of Betty Press/Panos Pictures
After the genocide of 1994, Rwanda was in need of rebuilding. But the damage
that had been inflicted ran deep into the fabric of the country: as well as the human tragedy of more than a
million lives being lost, Rwanda's workforce was massively depleted and
state institutions had collapsed. In the face of such losses, the scale of the
challenge of rebuilding was immense. Furthermore, there was a lack of
information about Rwanda’s people, about their living conditions and needs. How
could the country make the right decisions about its future without these
crucial facts?
In the years that followed, Rwanda began to stabilise under a new government.
Good economic progress was made, but there was still a lack of information to
base policies on. In 2005, with support from DFID, the
National Institute of
Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) was created. Its aim is to ensure that the
Government can establish an effective development agenda, based on solid
evidence about the country's needs.
An Institute that serves Rwanda's future
Before the creation of the Institute, most surveys in Rwanda were driven by
aid donors and carried out by foreign consultants, with the findings housed
outside the country. This meant that the statistics that governments most needed
weren't necessarily the ones being collected, and that there were practical
difficulties in accessing and using the data that had been compiled. DFID's past
assistance to the Rwandan
Ministry of Finance's Department of Statistics (DS)
had made these issues clear. Specific surveys that DFID had supported, including
ones that looked into living conditions for Rwanda's households, showed up the
lack of experienced staff within DS, and its inability to make good use of data.
To address these problems, in 2003 DFID set in motion the processes that would
lead to the founding of the NISR. The objectives of this first phase of
support were to provide technical help, build up expertise amongst staff, carry
out surveys in priority areas, and so prepare the ground for the Institute. "DFID has been a driving force in the establishment of
the institute," is the verdict of its Director General, Dr. Louis Munyakazi. He adds:
"DFID's financial and technical assistance has been timely and effective since
the beginning...Without DFID we wouldn’t have carried out important surveys that
have been critical in (the) government policy making process."
International support for better statistics
On 16th March 2007, a five-year project was launched to strengthen the NISR's
ability to monitor Rwanda's economic development and progress in reducing
poverty. Supporting the Rwandan Government in the project are DFID, the
European
Commission (EC), the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and theWorld Bank (WB).
In the words of the Minister of Finance, James Musoni, this initiative
demonstrates "the Government's commitment to evidence-based policy making", and
its drive for "strong, reliable and trustworthy data." This international
consortium came into being shortly after the Government decided that "pooled
funding" was its preferred form of development assistance.
The partners involved in the project agree on the importance of building a
strong statistical system in Rwanda. According to the EC, its support will "help the Institute to provide reliable, strong data to measure performance in
the fight against poverty.” The UNDP emphasized that, with all the donors
working together, good results should be expected in enhancing the Government's
policy-making capacities.
Stats critical in shaping the future
In late 2006, the results from the DFID-backed survey into household living conditions were made available. The survey showed that, although poverty fell from 60% to 57% over the previous five years, a growth in the birth rate saw the number of people living in poverty rise. It was also revealed that a significant portion of Rwandans were living in extreme poverty. A wake-up call to the Government, this data served as the basis for its new strategy for reducing poverty. The priorities in the years ahead will therefore be: to speed up poverty reduction; to increase economic growth; to reduce population growth; and to tackle extreme poverty.
Through solid statistical information, the Government has been able to identify the country's major needs, and form its agenda around them. As the work of the Institute progresses, and it gathers more information about the state of Rwanda, the Government should have more evidence to base its policies on - policies that should better meet the needs of Rwanda's people.
Key facts
- DFID funded the establishment of the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda and supported the key surveys, the Integrated Household Living Conditions (EICV2) Survey and the Demographic Household Survey (DHS), with a total funding of £3,050,000 over the last three years.
- DFID commitment to the next phase of support is £ 5,000,000 over five years from 2007.
- In its third year of existence, NISR has carried out a number of surveys that were used by the government in policy making in health, education and agriculture. An example is the Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey (EICV 2) that is critical in the design of the Rwanda Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, launched in May 2007.
- The NISR also collects statistics relating to industry, livestock and tourism.
