The secret of Kigali’s deeply impressive performance: Never be complacent

There has been a bit of a buzz in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, this last week. One could discern a certain sense of satisfaction on the faces of the sizeable army of mainly 30-something technocrats who undergird the country’s highly focused government and its lean and can-do Cabinet.

On Tuesday February 7, President Paul Kagame presided over a function at Kigali’s Serena Hotel, to launch two national reports: The third integrated household living conditions survey and the fourth demographic and health survey. In simple terms, the reports show the impact government policies have had on the lives of ordinary Rwandans over the past five years. They cover much of the implementation period for the country’s first Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS I).

When the EDPRS was launched in September 2007, so huge were its ambitions that some observers dismissed it as an exercise in wishful thinking by a government with an exaggerated estimate of its own capacities. Well, at the function it was announced that, four years into its five-year implementation period, the EDPRS had achieved 90 per cent of its targets. The occasion was also used to launch the process of formulating and preparing the second EDPRS.

Before the launch, which was attended by many of the country’s leaders, local and national, diplomats and donor representatives, civil society activists and members of the business community, the audience were treated to power-point displays of graphs and numbers and a short documentary film. The graphs and numbers showed Rwanda’s rapid and, in some circles, unexpected, rolling back of poverty and its causes and drivers. The short documentary gave voice to some of the poor whose lives have been transformed.

Benefits

Both surveys highlighted tremendous improvement in people’s wellbeing. The agricultural sector, home to Rwanda’s poorest citizens and employing the vast majority of the population, has registered vast progress in productivity and commercialisation, leading to increased incomes. And here possibly lies the most important explanation why the main beneficiaries of economic growth have been the very poor, and why in five years (2005-2010) the percentage of Rwandans living below the official poverty line fell from 56.7 to 44.9 per cent, exceeding the government’s target of 46 per cent. Immediately after the genocide in 1994, the figure was estimated at 77.8 per cent.

Other statistics show significant declines in infant, child and maternal mortality, as well as rapid growth in child immunisation, uptake and use of modern contraception by women, and in the number of babies born in health units under the watch of professional health personnel rather than back in the villages assisted by traditional birth attendants.

Commenting on the country’s rapid progress, keynote speaker Paul Collier, an author and University of Oxford economics don, who boasts 40 years of working on Africa, called it “deeply impressive,” given the serious geographical and other constraints Rwanda faces. Contending that what drives change is “the triad of making sound decisions, having institutions to implement them and a critical mass of citizens who understand them and are committed to implementing them,” he lauded the Rwanda government’s “technical competence and sense of purpose.”

Now Rwandan officials have a tendency to worry about what may not be working and how to make it work rather than congratulating themselves for their achievements. He commended it as “how things should be,” praising the country for being “the worried well,” as opposed to countries he could only describe as “the complacent sick”.

In his short speech, while not neglecting to laud the role Rwanda’s development partners have played in helping push the country forward, President Kagame focused on internal factors as the key drivers of change. He emphasised the critical importance of strong institutions, evidence-based policy making, accountable leadership, and commitment, including by ordinary citizens, adding, “Rwandans now know that we should aspire for more and better; the solutions are there within ourselves.”

It was the sort of event that fills you with shame and a mix of rage and envy if you come from a country where newspaper headlines are often dominated by reports of politicians making dubious deals with foreign investors, dipping their fingers into the public till, awarding themselves overly generous allowances, and generally behaving badly.

What drives Rwandans, and how sustainable is all this change? I asked a young technocrat at the centre of formulating the EDPRS, “How do you manage all this?” “We are so used to success that no one wants to fail. We work so hard, and we are not afraid to make mistakes as we go along,” he replied. There you have it: In Rwanda, there is no room for complacency.