General Information on FAO activities in Rwanda

Contribution to policy dialogue

FAO has been strongly assisting the Government of Rwanda in policy review, strategy paper elaboration and improvement measures implemented through some following interventions:

The Agricultural Development Strategy 2010 Horizon was achieved in 1998 with UNDP financial assistance. Just after that exercise, EU and FAO jointly assisted the country to prepare the Strategy and Action Plan for Food Security which was presented to a round Table in February 1999. A Special Programme for Food Security has been prepared and a Plan of Operation elaborated by national consultants and technical officers.

Upon Government request, FAO prepared in 2003, a General Strategic Framework for Interventions in the Agricultural Sector; FAO assisted the Government in elaborating a new Agricultural Policy in November 2003 and early 2004. FAO is still contributing a lot to the current exercise of Triennial Action Plan of the Ministry of Agriculture, by providing technical information and participating in the consultative committee.

FAO supported Rwanda in 2004, in elaborating a Medium Term Investment Program in Agriculture and preparing four bankable projects as recommended by NEPAD Comprehensible Agriculture Program.

HIV/AIDS and Agriculture Strategy Paper, and Gender and Agricultural Development are under preparation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources. A Mid Term Program on Rice Intensification is also in preparation with the same Ministry.

Capacity building

One of the major consequences of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda is the loss of qualified skills in many areas of development. In the wide agricultural sector, FAO assisted the Government in the rehabilitation of agricultural infrastructure, human resources and capacity building through training (senior staff, technicians, farmers associations) and strengthening of key central services. This technical and financial assistance has been given through FAO's Technical Cooperation Program or through Trust Funds.

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On-Job Training

The following interventions are but a few that have provided this kind of training to national staff and other:

• Assistance to the setting up of a Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation Unit for agricultural programmes;
• Assistance to the relaunch of National Veterinary Laboratory Activities, Emergency Control of Foot and Mouth Disease;
• Assistance to the Rehabilitation and the Development of agricultural statistics and information system;
• Development of a national Training Programme and Training of Trainers of Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources staff and Partners in Rural Development;
• Mechanism for Elaborating National Forestry Plans;
• Review of veterinary legislation;
• Assistance in Preparing Legislation on Foods of Animal origin;
• Review of the Institutional Arrangements for the Implementation of the Agricultural Policy;
• Support to Programme on Intensification of Rice Production for Food Security;
• Capacity Building for Nile Basin Water Resources Management, GCP/752/INT;
• Capacity Building for Cartography of East Africa soils, GCP/RAF/287/ITA;

NB: FAO technical officers from Rome, Accra and Harare are sent to Rwanda to train national technical staff in agricultural policy and project formulation, statistical analysis and project operations.

Overseas training

National technical staff was sent to different countries in study tours in Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia, Vietnam and Italy.

Advocacy

World Food Day is celebrated each year on 16 October, FAO has always assisted and financially supported the Ministry of Agriculture in this celebration and FAO Representative in Rwanda delivers Special Messages on behalf of the FAO Director General. TeleFood projects have become a reality in Rwanda where we can count more than 25 projects executed in collaboration with Caritas-Rwanda, and several requests are awaiting approval.

FAO-Rwanda has played a significant role in the senzitation toward the creation of a National Alliance Against Hunger (NAAH) and putting in place the interim national committee. The NAAH is one of the results of the 2003 World Food Day and Telefood campaign. FAO-Rwanda has also played a vital role in promoting the introduction of adequate nutrition and income generating projects for HIV-AIDS infected and affected households. FAO has prepared a pilot project in this area, which is waiting for funding.

The International Mountain Year, Tree and Environment Week with the participation of FAO in the field and The International Year of Rice (30 September 2004 in Rwanda) are some examples of public events where FAO plays an active role.

All Press releases from Headquarters are published in national Newspapers and TV/Radio. FAO office also organizes TV/Radio programmes and reports regarding its field activities.

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Support to non state actors

Despite a serious weakness of financial means, significant partnership has been developed with civil society since 2003, particularly with local NGOs and farmers associations / syndicates. A Memorandum of Understanding have been signed with some organisations (WFP, Caritas, PDL HIMO),and projects have been implemented with them, like: CARITAS-Rwanda through an HIV-AIDS project (Assistance in food security and household nutrition of people infected and/or affected by HIV/AIDS).

Six Telefood projects shall soon be implemented with CARITAS-Rwanda in Butare Province under the national Ubudehe concept. Other Telefood projects have been executed with the assistance of local NGOs, parishes, etc in different parts of the country. Support was given to the Agricultural Commission of the Parliament, the National University in Butare and the Higher Agricultural Institute in Ruhengeri, by providing computers with software allowing them to better know the FAO World Agricultural Information Center (WAICENT).

PRSP, Vision 2020, NEPAD, MDGs Goals alignment

All FAO activities are in line of objectives of different existing national strategic documents. New Projects and its areas are identified with the national responsible according to their priorities. FAO projects are executed or implemented according to the rules and procedures of the Organization. National Directors or Coordinators nominated by the Government are used and request payments through the FAO Representative who is the budget holder.

Special Programme for Food Security aims to eradicate food insecurity and reduce poverty in rural areas: this is in conformity with the Vision 2020, the PRSP, the MDGs goals and NEPAD objectives. The same observations can be made for: *Gender and Agricultural development, HIV/AIDS and Food security; * Protection of Lake Kivu Ecosystem for Food Security through the strengthening of decentralised structures (submitted for funding by Germany Agreement with FAO), is in line with environmental sustainability (including natural resources uses for food and agriculture) of above national strategic papers, etc… FAO takes part in meetings on PRSP review, Aid coordination and harmonization and gives its comments on items regarding its expertise.

Information Sharing

Generally the information on FAO activities in Rwanda is shared through:

a) Regular UNDAF task force meetings.
b) Rural & Agriculture Cluster Group and Private Sector Cluster Group of the Development Partners Coordination Group (DPCG).
c) Participation in the radio television interviews and discussions on the occasion of World Food Day, UN Week, International Mountain Day; International Year of Rice and through other occasional interactive programmes.
d) Publications in national Newspapers, exhibition of FAO publications and CDRoms, distribution of some interesting technical documents to partners.
e) Conclusions and recommendations of important missions.
f) FAO website is linked with UN webside in Rwanda.

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Inter agency coordination

FAO Rwanda office participates in local donor coordination, such as;

a) Development Partners Coordination Group (DPCG) chaired by the Ministry of Finance and Economic
b) Planning,
c) Agriculture and Rural Development Group meeting chaired by the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources and EU,

In addition FAO office has been discussing regularly with several donors, mainly Belgian Cooperation, Dutch Embassy, Germany Embassy, EU, USAID, WB, Swiss Cooperation, Canadian Cooperation, ADB, IFAD.

With UN agencies: i) regular discussions are conducted on financing programs (UNDP), or joint programming (WFP, UNICEF, UNHCR, WHO). A joint project "School gardens, farms and nutritional education" is ongoing with WFP, and a joint program on *Education for All* is being developed between the following agencies: UNICEF, WHO, WFP, UNDP, FAO, UNAIDS. ii) A Memorandum of Understanding is under preparation regarding collaboration specifically with UNHCR in areas of common interest. FAO is member of UN Country Team and is leading the Food Security Task Force since two years.

Harmonization

FAO Rwanda participates in the harmonization on Allowances and Remuneration for local staff, allowances for Government Officials, and consultant/resource persons as a member of UN system. FAO and UNHCR share common premises.

General Partnership sensitivity

FAO Rwanda has recently extended its partnership to civil society, farmers associations, private sector and agro-business entrepreneurs, but financial means are the main bottleneck. Examples are some projects developed between FAO and CARITAS-Rwanda, CARITAS-Butare, CARITAS-Cyangugu, Gisenyi Parish, NGOs CSC-Gitarama, ARAMET,DED and AJIAR.

Acronyms:
- AJIAR: Association des Jeunes Ingénieurs Agronomes du Rwanda
- DED : Service allemand de développement
- CSC : Centre de Services aux Coopératives/Gitarama
- UNDAF : United nations development assistance framework
- PRSP: Poverty reduction strategy paper
- PDL HIMO: Labour intensive local development programme

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