The Office of the Canadian Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda Canada's Representation Abroad What’s New In April World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) announces that Rwanda has reached the completion point outlined in the Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), and therefore will be receiving debt relief benefits of up to US$1.4 billion. (April 2005) African Development Bank (AfDB) Forgives US$224 Million Worth of Loans to Rwanda. (July 2005)

Results
Country Profile

Canada's Commitment

Canada has been present in Rwanda since 1963 actively developing programs to improve the quality of life of the country’s poor, as well as building infrastructure, justice, higher education and governance systems. Since the civil war and genocide of 1994, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has contributed a total of $219 million in aid to Rwanda, including $10 million in 2003–2004.

More recently, Rwanda has been recognized as one of the 25 development partner countries in which CIDA will concentrate the major part of its bilateral (country to country) assistance.

In May 2005, CIDA approved a new Country Development Programming Framework (2005–2011) for Rwanda. Working within the priorities established by the Government of Rwanda, Canada focuses its assistance in the areas of rural development or private sector development and local governance. Major program objectives include:

Before the 2001 district elections and 2003 constitutional referendum, CIDA supported voter education. Women now make up 25% of district councils and 48% of the national parliament.

• diversifying the rural economy;
• increasing agricultural production and productivity;
• reducing peasant farmers' vulnerability to the uncertainties of climate and market; and
• bolstering the capacities of decentralized local authorities and of rural associations to conceive and implement concrete local development plans.

The focus on these program priorities in earlier projects has led to notable results. For instance, as a result of past community development projects with returned refugees, thousands of Rwandan families are better housed; grow and sell a wider variety of crops; and have better access to water, education and, health services.

Find out more:
Community Development Projects in Rwanda.

A man builds a house as part of the CIDA-funded Murambi Integrated Community Development Program, which provides housing for thousands of returning refugees and internally displaced Rwandans.

Since the late 1950s, towards the end of the Belgian Protectorate, Rwanda has experienced a series of civil and ethnic conflicts, culminating in the genocide of 1994, in which more than 800,000 Rwandans were killed and half the population was displaced. National reconciliation and decentralizing power to local authorities have been key to government efforts to rebuild the country's physical and social capital.

In order to take charge of its own development, in 2002, Rwanda introduced its own Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Within the PRSP, the Government of Rwanda set the goal of reducing the proportion of Rwanda's population living in poverty by half by 2015. To this end, the PRSP concentrates investments in six priority areas:

• rural development and agricultural transformation
• human development
• economic infrastructure
• good governance
• private sector development
• institutional capacity building