Author: b_igi_adm1n

The USAID-supported LAND Project will hold a National Land Research Agenda Workshop on September 24-26th, 2012 at the Umubano Hotel.

It will be Co-hosted by the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Justice, the event will bring together Government of Rwanda partners, research institutes and universities, and civil society organizations to identify critical research priorities for informing the direction of land policy.

The workshop will apply a participatory process to glean the most urgent and potentially impactful policy research, which in turn will be used to frame research topics that the LAND Project will support through competitive subawards.

Planned activities for the workshop include presentation of recent, policy-relevant empirical research on land, structured discussions in plenary and small group sessions, and harvesting and debating research priorities with the aim of selecting 3-4 research priority proposals for support by the LAND Project. Organization and facilitation of the workshop will be led by the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace.

“Through hosting a workshop dedicated to establishing the most critical land-related policy research priorities, the LAND Project will have the basis for supporting Rwanda-led research on these priorities through competitive subcontracts.

These awards will also enable local institutions to collaborate with international partners to strengthen Rwandan capacity to produce top-notch research,” said Anna KNOX, Chief of Party of LAND Project.

The LAND Project is committed to strengthening the resilience of Rwandan communities, citizens and institutions through expanding the pool of high quality, evidence-based research on land issues which can inform land policy.

To achieve this aim, the project seeks to build the capacity of local research entities and civil society organizations to generate policy research related to land and advocate effectively for continuous adaptation of policy in the interest of ordinary Rwandan citizens.

In his recent speech to the Young Presidents Organization, President Paul Kagame stated: “Leadership is about galvanizing and ensuring that everyone involved feels part of the process”.

He also attributed Rwanda’s progress mostly to the efforts of the Rwandan people.

Today, Rwandans from all walks of life—government, business and civil society—are moving Rwanda forward towards Vision 2020. Literacy is the cornerstone for any knowledge-based economy.

Building literacy is therefore critical if Rwanda is to achieve her Vision 2020. Reading skills build the foundation for all future learning, and it is proven that people who can read enjoy better health, make more money, and serve their communities more effectively.

The Ministry of Education and the Rwandan Education Board recently launched the Rwanda Reads Initiative – a four-year program aimed at creating a culture of reading in Rwanda.

This one-of-a-kind initiative aims to increase the literacy rate to 100% by 2020.

An all-encompassing educational effort, Rwanda Reads provides new materials for schools, innovative teacher training, mobile libraries, improved reading curriculum, and a school mentorship program.

On International Literacy Day celebrated on September 7, USAID awarded grants to the thirty-two winners for its “All Children Reading” Global Competition aiming to recognize innovative projects to advance reading and literacy, and Rwanda was one of the winners!

Representing Rwanda on International Literacy Day in Washington, D.C., Dr. Joyce Musabe of the Rwandan Education Board noted: “a nation can’t be developed without its human capital being well-equipped, and reading is one of the ways to achieve it!

Drakkar Ltd, a Rwandan bookseller and education business, was awarded for its breakthrough “Improving Reading and Writing Capacity in Primary Grades” program – a twenty-month initiative starting in October. Building literacy in the native language is essential yet Rwandan schools are lacking materials written in Kinyarwanda.

As a solution, Drakkar Ltd will distribute 60,000 storybooks in Kinyarwanda to over 300 primary schools in the Southern Province.

Teachers in these schools will be trained on how to use the books to teach reading strategies, and thus increase reading and writing fluency.

In addition to working with primary schools, Drakkar Ltd will also launch a national writing competition for children’s stories written in Kinyarwanda. Finalists will be selected to attend a writing workshop given by notable African authors.

The six best stories—three by children and three by adults—will be published by Pearson – the leading international publisher. This innovative project thus ensures that new stories for children – written in Kinyarwanda by Rwandan authors – become available on the national market.

Rwanda is a world leader in homegrown solutions to her national problems. This must, and will, continue to be the case as we strive to improve our literacy rates in both our native language as well as English.

As Drakkar Ltd. shows, literacy is the business of every Rwandan. You can contribute as well, by taking advantage of local initiatives, visiting a library, reading with your family, encouraging your children, and writing stories for the national competition next year.

Ultimately, Literacy is also the cornerstone of Agaciro: it opens our souls, our minds and our hearts to knowledge to transform our lives, our communities and our country for the best.

By participating, we each become leaders working towards Rwanda’s progress.

A member of the Rwanda Royal family Nyetera Antoine Théophile has reportedly died in Belgium at the age of 75 after a long illness which has not yet been established. He died September 14.

Nyetera is said to have been writting a book titled “De la Lance à la Kalashnikov”.

He has been a critic of the Rwanda government subject to several media interviews and commentaries expressing his opposition to the Rwandan government.

Nyetera is said to be a close relative of the Umwami Kigeli III Ndabarasa.

Nyetera was born in Rwanda in 1936 and studied at kamonyi and late joined Kabgayi for advanced studies.

A road cleaner identified as Nzabamwita 21 has been crashed and dragged dead by a (Coaster)-passenger bus near National Institute of Statistics offices.

Nzabamwita was sweeping at the road side when a bus knocked him down and dragged him below the wheels for a distance of about 10 meters. He died instantly from excessive bleeing.

The driver of the bus attempted to run away but was immediately surrounded by people and Police and other security personnel.

Minani Vincent a collegue to the deceased said,Nzabamwita hails from cyangugu where he had been studying before he came to Kigali a few months ago.

Witnesses told IGIHE that the driver of the bus had not noticed that he had knocked a person but was later notified by passengers forcing him to stop.

In a July, 2012 report, UN ranked Rwanda at 6th position among the countries which contribute to UN operation across the world Liberia being the least among them.

Rwanda is the first contributor among East African countries.

The list of contributors is made of 119 countries. Among African countries, Ethiopia is the 4th and Nigeria the 5th while Asian countries ranked on the firsts three places.

Bangladesh ranked the first with 9,098 of votes. Pakistan is the second and India listed third.

In East Africa, Tanzania ranks 18th, Kenya listed the 29th, Burundi on 62nd and Uganda ranks the 77th among the contributors.

Rwanda has been a major contributor to the UN-African Union, UNAMID, peacekeeping force in Sudan’s Darfur region, and the UN knows that Rwandan soldiers have been reliable.

Religious denominations in Ruhango district have pledged their support in advancing government policies through sensitizing faithful.

Among the programs to be highlighted include sensitizing the general public on family planning, contributing to the Agaciro Development Fund and embracing the universal Health insurance in all families.

The announcement follows a recent workshop organized by religious groups operating in the district converged under an one umbrella association (AEE).

The workshop attracted both local government leadership in the district, religious officials and other personalities.

Pastor Nyumbayire Gerard the leader of AEE association said it’s the right time religious institutions provide their support to entrance government programs.

Twagirimana Epimaque in charge of Economic Development in Ruhango district, said this will help the district achieve most of its obligations as promised in their objectives.

The training is aimed at equiping the religous leaders with knowledge on various government programs so that they can later help senstise members of various religous congregations in the district.

Police in Rubavu District, has detained twelve people for narcotic related crimes.

The suspects were arrested by the night patrol in the area and are currently detained at Rubavu Police Station.

Suspects include three women; Epiphanie Mukandanga, 59, Furaha Museminali, 47 and Eudie Nyirangamije, 45, who were arrested on September 14 in Gisenyi Sector with 3500 rolls of cannabis.

They were arrested while attempting to leave Rubavu to Kigali city.

Their arrest was made possible owed to the timely information from the local citizens and Community Policing Committees in Rubavu district.

Rubavu is among the districts where drug abuse, especially narcotics such as cannabis, is still high. Those arrested include dealers and consumers.

Drugs are sneaked into the country from the neighbouring countries, and most of it transported to Kigali.

Spokesperson Superintendent Theos Badege pointed out that Police has put more efforts in combating narcotics by intercepting dealers and supplier.

“We will continue to break the supply chain to discourage dealers,” he said.