Published: Afghanistan Times 28 July 2013
UTTAM PRAKASH, RAHUL ARYA*
Imagine you are air dropped somewhere blind folded. As you
open your eyes, you see grassy uplands and hills and take notice that the
relief is mountainous. You also learn this is a landlocked country with a
predominantly rural population. You wish to know more about the place and so
you ask a passerby. He is in a hurry, but gives you some quick facts:
The country is heading towards what we can say a “failed
state”
There are two major ethnic groups vying for power.
Two million people have died in genocide.
Social, political and economic structures have collapsed.
Until last year aid dependence is
more than 40% of the budget.
There's a buzz about a
constitutional amendment to enable a third term for the current President. The constitution
only allows two terms.
People feel that the
international community has not been fair to it.
The skill/capacity of the civil
servants is low.
Did you guess it to be
“Afghanistan” in 2013?
Sorry! We are referring to
Rwanda of 1994, a small middle African country that is half the size of the
province of Herat or Kandahar and a little bigger than that of Ghazni. Colonised by Germany in the 19th century, followed
by Belgium in the 20th century, the country witnessed genocide in 1994 that killed
an estimated million people which was over 10%
of its population. Hutus and
Tutsis, two major ethnic tribes bayed for blood of each other. Social, political and economic structures had collapsed. In
1994 Rwanda was written off as a failed state. There was indeed a buzz about a constitutional amendment
for President Paul Kagame to have a third term. Few
had trust in destiny of Rwanda and few believed in its recovery, for it to be
able to become strong enough to stand on its own. The fallout of this tragedy
was so severe that the then US President regretted, the West regretted, International
community regretted for its failure to intervene and prevent this tragedy.
Fast
forward to year 2013, Rwanda by every measure,
is one of the most successful countries in Africa. Between 2005 and 2012,
Rwanda reduced its poverty levels by 12.5% — the highest level ever recorded
anywhere in the world. In 2010, Transparency International ranked
Rwanda as the eighth cleanest out of 47 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and 66th
cleanest out of 178 in the world in terms of corruption. It is also the safest place to live in the world according
to the
Gallup’s World Poll report "Global States of
Mind: New Metrics for world leaders" published in October 2012. Rwanda has the
fastest broadband internet in Africa, according to Ookla’s NetIndex. Its capital Kigali is
popularly known as the safest, cleanest, fastest and more liveable city in
Africa.
Post
1994 – what started as unpromising beginning, Rwanda proved its adversaries
wrong and is walking strongly on the path of progress and development. A look
at the Country Data Report, World Bank on six governance indicators – Voice and
Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government
Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption –
Rwanda has done exceptionally well considering the 1994 baseline. The
percentile growth in five indicators except in Voice and Accountability has
seen remarkable growth moving from around 10 percentile in all the five
indicators and moving up to almost 50 percentile while in Government
Effectiveness and Control of Corruption, it is touching 60 and 70 percentile
respectively. The economy has strengthened, with per-capita GDP (PPP) estimated
at USD 1,592 in 2013, compared with $416 in 1994. Rule of law and efforts to
clear red tape have given it a business friendly climate, leading journalists
to call Rwanda the "Singapore of Africa".
Sounds
like a fairy tale? You may wish to Google if you have any slightest doubt. The big question is, can Afghanistan go the Rwanda way? Is
there something that can be learnt and replicated here? But more importantly,
how was this done? Probably the most appropriate word that can explain this
miracle is “determination”. The nation accepted its follies, made good of the
opportunities available and led its determination to prosperity with
determination. The determination of course was from the entire population
united.
President Kagame speaking
at Harvard Business School on 11th
March 2013 remarked: “It's
all about the ambition you have. People in Rwanda cannot afford to waste any opportunity. Every day
we are looking to see what is it that will make a difference for us. We had to
take on responsibility of rebuilding the country. Even though we benefited from
external support, we decided early on to take the lead. We had to take the lead
in building the foundation necessary for the country. We knew if we didn’t take
ownership, it wasn't going to last.”
The other important word apart from determination is “ownership”. Rwanda’s transformation story can give Afghans lessons about a
population that is shaping its future and believing in its ability to govern itself in these two words ‘determination’ and
‘ownership’. More lessons can be learnt from the ways Rwandans became
Singaporeans.
The
Rwandan story can be read in the policy decisions taken post 1994. Similar to
the “Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS)”, the Rwandans developed
the “Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS)”.
As the strategy is named the goal, clearly were two Economic Development and
Poverty Reduction. The strategy thus was designed to accelerate economic growth
and promote human development.
The Poverty Alleviation
Programmes were designed as they call it “the Rwandan Way” The Rwandan way was unique
as the programmes were designed to be heavily embedded in local norms and
traditions. This promoted a sense of ownership of
the projects, ensuring not only effective implementation, but also their long
term sustainability. This ability to localise solutions to development to fit
Rwanda’s local context, has been one of the major drivers to the economic
transformation that has taken shape in Rwanda.
Some of the programmes worth taking note of are:
Vision 2020 Umurenge: This is aimed at
eliminating extreme poverty by 2020; the programme involves public works,
credit packages and direct support. It
is implemented at village level through participatory methods.
One
cow per family (Giringa project): In
this project cows are distributed to poor families. Once that cow gives birth,
the calf is given to a neighbour who is poor. The project was chosen
considering the cattle culture of Rwanda. The milk from the cow improves
nutrition and milk sales supplements income. The cow dung used as manure
improves soil fertility leading to overall food security.
Umurenge
SACCO: This is a nationwide cooperative savings scheme aimed
at improving access to finance for the unbanked village population. Villagers
make frequent contributions to this savings scheme. Once their savings reach a
given threshold, the government contributes to the scheme. Members of the community then borrow from the SACCOs and
later pay back in order to sustain the revolving funds.
Performance
contracts (Imihigo): Imihigo seeks
to promote self government and greater citizen engagement. Performance
targets under ERDPS are set and agreed upon as performance contracts. Citizens
actively participate in defining their preferences and priorities and are
empowered to hold national government and the ministries accountable against
commitments made. Local communities are also encouraged to come up with their
own solutions to problems. Citizen empowerment thus is a central element
in the implementation of the Rwanda’s Poverty reduction Strategy
From
1961 to 1990, Rwanda had an administered economy, which imposed severe
restrictions on trade and foreign exchange transactions. In 1995, a number of
economic reforms were implemented. Rwanda embraced a market economy and
introduced trade reforms. Reforms to the ‘soft’ infrastructure for business and
reducing business costs were seen as the first priority. Incentives were
provided for FDI including export processing zones and industrial parks. Tariffs
were reduced considerably with the average rate decreasing to 18 percent a
significant reform when compared with an average tariff rate of 34.8 percent.
A one-stop centre called Rwanda Development Board was set up for attracting
foreign direct investment and increasing jobs in the different sectors of the
economy. In order to identify and plan national priorities and strategies, the
Rwandan Government organises an annual Leadership Retreat. The retreat involves
the President and heads of government ministries aimed at achieving private
sector-led growth in Rwanda. Major reforms that have assisted the business
community include easing the process of starting a business, registering
property, protection for investors, trade across borders, access to credit and
paying taxes. Getting credit was made easier. Paying taxes was made easier by
introducing online applications. The implementation of these various policies
and reforms contributed to Rwanda’s improved ranking in the World Bank’s 2010
Doing Business Report from 143rd to 67th place.
Rwanda thus pursued a
developmental state approach with the key objective as sustainable economic
growth and social development. The main aim of EDPRS was to overcome the
key constraints to economic growth identified through a growth diagnostic and
investment climate analysis by: systematically reducing the operating costs of
business; investing in the private sector’s capacity to innovate; and widening
and strengthening the public sector.
As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who
believe in the beauty of their dreams”. And the dreams were knit on the bedrock
of the ugly history. To keep a constant reminder, Rwanda built a genocide memorial recording their bad experiences. In
the words of their President Kagame, “The idea was in remembering, you create a
consciousness that stops that thing from happening again. History should not be
forgotten”. Certainly acknowledging pain and trauma strengthens the resolve to
move further.
Rwanda’s vision is to build a
knowledge-based economy and to become a private sector led middle income country
by 2020. The question is can Afghanistan turn into a new avatar, shall
we say Rwandistan? The answer is an emphatic YES provided we dare to dream to take off from
the edge of an abyss. Because it is said, if a man can do it, a man can do it and
the same applies to nations.
*The authors are Advisors with
Civilian Technical Assistance Programme (CTAP) GoIRA. The views are personal.
