Scoping mission on water in rwanda - Partners voor Water

More documents

Recommendations

Info

<strong>Scoping</strong> Mission on Rwanda for Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kigali 1. Irrigation infrastructure: Rwanda’s rainfall has traditionally been able to exploit for seasonal agriculture. However, seasonal agriculture is vulnerable to climate change and population pressure, as even slight changes in rainfall patterns and air temperatures can have significant impacts on crop and livestock production, likewise, a rapidly growing population places serious pressure on food security. Consequently, the development of irrigation infrastructure is required to maximise efficient land and water usage in Rwanda, and to adapt seasonal farming systems into climate-smart agriculture thereby building resilience to potential future shocks. The implementation of irrigation infrastructure is also required because it forms a crucial component of Integrated Water Resource Management as improved watershed management allows for increased water efficiency in other sectors including domestic and industrial sectors, while also reducing disaster risks through the mitigation of floods and landslides. 2. Robust road network: Rwanda has a vast road network on which the economy depends – agriculture, mining, industry and services all use roads to transport their goods. The roads are of varying quality, with the majority vulnerable to damage from heavy rainfall, floods and landslides. By building robust roads that are engineered for more extreme weather events will reduce vulnerability and promote economic development. 3. Climate data: Rwanda is located in equatorial Africa, which lacks sufficient data to produce robust climate projections. Although temperature will rise the increase is uncertain while future rainfall patterns are even more uncertain, making it difficult to plan for the future. This is particularly important for agriculture, where crop yields are affected by temperature and rainfall, and planning for future water demands to support the economy. Climate data from Rwanda will improve confidence in global climate models and enable better regional modelling, contributing not only to Rwanda’s adaptation planning, but planning in the region. Gender • Gender policies in Rwanda have created a society where women are fully recognized at all levels in society. Parliament has the highest percentage (60%) of women in the world. In industry, agriculture, service sectors and other walks of life the skills and abilities of women are to a great extend utilized. This has also enabled to generate rapid development. • Rwanda is also recognized internationally in its leading role. This has recently resulted in the Kigali declaration: Global Call For Action On Financing Gender Equality as preparation for the upcoming OECD Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) to be held in Busan South Korea (29 November -1 December 2011) to address challenges that are impeding progress on implementing gender equality commitments and safeguard progress made to date. • Water Resources Management and its related activities create ample opportunity to address gender issues. In hillside agriculture women play an important role as much labour is manual and women are actively involved in the water distribution procedures. In a new paper an explanation is given why societies like Rwanda and Burundi have traditionally a very hig share of women in the labor force (over 90% of women work outside the household in these societies (Alesina, Nunn & Giuliano, 2011). Collection of water for domestic and small-scale income generating activities around the homesteads is largely the affair of women. This creates opportunities for women to be stronger involved in the new management modality (PPP) of rural water service provision. Apparently, created cooperatives include a substantial percentage of women. • The Ministry for Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) fulfils its role as a leader in facilitating the implementation of the National Gender Policy and Plan of Action to ensure effective gender mainstreaming and full participation of women in all activities related to the socio-economic development of the nation. 2.5 Private Sector Development • World Bank’s Doing Business 2011 includes Rwanda in its executive summary. The 10 economies that made the largest strides in making their regulatory environment more favourable to business include Rwanda. Rwanda has also been recognized as top 10 Doing Business Reformer in previous Page 15
<strong>Scoping</strong> Mission on Rwanda for Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kigali years. The cumulative improvement over the past 5 years of Rwanda as measured by the DB change score shows that this was not a one-time effort and that the changes introduced were substantial. Since 2005 Rwanda has implemented 22 business regulation reforms in the areas measured by Doing Business. Results show on the ground. In 2005 starting a business in Rwanda took 9 procedures and cost 223% of income per capita. Today entrepreneurs can register a new business in 3 days, paying official fees that amount to 8.9% of income per capita. More than 3,000 entrepreneurs took advantage of the efficient process in 2008, up from an average of 700 annually in previous years. Registering property in 2005 took more than a year (371 days), and the transfer fees amounted to 9.8% of the property value. Today the process takes 2 months and costs 0.4% of the value. A new company law adopted in 2009 strengthened investor protections by requiring greater corporate disclosure, increasing the liability of directors and improving shareholders’ access to information. • Both domestic and Foreign Investment in Rwanda are sharply growing, the Netherlands is ranked as nr 12 investor in Rwanda. Investments in the telecom sector include Rwandatel (Libya), MTN (South Africa) and Tigo (Latin America). South Korea is active in fibre optics. Chinese companies are in the construction sector. Investors in the mining sector are currently from South Africa and Europe, while the Kenyans are active in the oil sector. Over the last 10 years investments have increased, as indicated in Figure 3. Figure 3: Foreign and local Investment in Rwanda (2000-2009) • In terms of trade about one third of trade is with partners in the East African Community, one third with Asia and one third with the rest of the world. Uganda, China and Kenya lead in the import in the first and the second quarter of 2011 with 13.0 percent, 11.4 percent, 8.7 percent and 15.0 percent, 14.0 percent, 9.3 percent respectively. The other following countries are: Tanzania, India and United Arab Emirates. The import from China in growing fast. • Kenya, France and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the first destinations of Rwanda’s exports in the second quarter 2011 with 18.4, 18.0 and 17.2 %, respectively. Meanwhile, Switzerland, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo were the first destinations of Rwanda’s exports in the first quarter 2011 with 13.9%, 13.3 % and 8.9 % respectively. About 5% of Rwanda’s exports go to China in recent years. • Service and maintenance of water supply is an example where the Government encourages private sector development. This has now resulted in arrangements with private companies to take care of construction, maintenance of water supply in 30% of the districts of Rwanda. PWN from the Netherlands is one player in this market, having a majority share in AquaVirungu, and is active in 3 districts of Rwanda. With co-financing from PSOM, PWN invested in the upgrading and expansion of Page 16
Page 1 and 2: SCOPING MISSION ON WATER IN RWANDA
Page 3 and 4: Scoping Mission on
Page 19: Scoping Mission on
Page 57: Scoping Mission on

Scoping mission on water in rwanda - Partners voor Water

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?