Mutimura was speaking Yesterday in Kigali, in a Pre-event to the Next Einstein Forum Global Gathering in a one day discussion with researchers under ‘Science Africa Workshop’.
He said that researches are being carried out, but their outcomes do not reach people who have problems which they would help to solve.
“We should conduct research that creates impact. Findings should help us during planning and execution of projects that lead to people’s development. Research should help us in devising sustainable solutions,” he said.
The Principal of College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in University of Rwanda, Dr Laetitia Nyinawamwiza said that research carried out by university lecturers helps them attain high level of education, but do not facilitate in solving people’s problems.
“In university, researches are being carried out, the reason why you will see lecturers continue to climb high in grades; however, most of their findings are published in scientific journals but citizens or business community do not know their findings,” she said.
However, Nyinawamwiza said that researchers still have funding issues where research results are not disseminated to grassroots, staying academic other than being translated into practical solutions.
The celebration that took place under the theme; ‘Women of Rwanda, keep up the good work and let’s build Rwanda we want and deserve”, served as a platform to reflect on the achievements registered so far, the challenges and the way forward in regard to women empowerment in Rwanda and The Netherlands.
In his speech during the celebrations, Rwanda’s Ambassador to The Kingdom of the Netherlands, Jean Pierre Karabaranga emphasized Rwanda’s achievements in the last 24 years, especially in empowering women.
In his remarks, Amb. Karabaranga quoted President Kagame’s message on March 8th, 2018 where he designated Women as a cornerstone of prosperity for the society.
“It is no accident that the renewal of Rwanda was also accompanied by significant upgrades in the status, roles, and responsibilities of women. The same is true in nearly every country where gender equality has been taken seriously. Women are a cornerstone of prosperity for society as a whole. Even in situations of conflict, they are in a position to make unique contributions to peace and stability”, President Kagame said.
Rwanda was ranked 4th worldwide in the World Economic Gender Gap Report 2017; a report that ranks countries on their ability to close the gender gap in four fundamental areas: economic participation and opportunity, education, health and survival, and political empowerment.
Unveiled in Brussels yesterday, the new Belgian Icon will represent Belgium on the carrier’s aircraft A320 named Aerosmurf as part of the Brussels Airlines fleet until 2023.
Seven months on with 1415 submitted ideas since the start of the Belgian Icon contest, Brussels Airlines’ fifth iconic plane has finally got ready to carry out its Belgian colours around Europe and beyond with the Smurfs design by the Italian Marta Mascellani but chosen by the public.
“The Smurfs, who celebrate their 60th birthday this year, are one of Belgium’s most loved comic characters and are sure to be the perfect flying ambassadors for Belgium. As from tomorrow, Aerosmurf will bring the world to Belgium and the best of Belgium to the world, just like the four other Belgian Icons,” reads Brussels Airlines’ statement released on Saturday.
The name Aerosmurf is the title of a Smurfs comic album which tells the story of a little Smurf whose dream is to fly. The little Smurf tried several ideas but none of them work until he builds a plane. Since then, the little Smurf is known as Aerosmurf.
“To design our fifth Belgian Icon, we wanted to ask the public who they wish to see flying through the skies as an ambassador for Belgium. That’s why we launched a contest last year to which everyone with a heart for Belgium, every enthusiast and every designer, could participate by sending in their idea or plane design. And we received an overwhelming amount of ideas, from fries to the saxophone,” says Tanguy Cartuyvels, VP Marketing at Brussels Airlines.
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The designers of studio Peyo adapted Marta’s design to fit the round fuselage of an aircraft. The result is a plane with 19 smurfs, passengers as well as crew, interacting with each other. In the cockpit, we find Smurfette as the captain and Papa Smurf as co-pilot. The design contains Belgian details, representing the many other ideas that were submitted during the contest.
On the left hand side, Harmony Smurf is playing the Belgian national anthem on the saxophone – a Belgian invention – together with another smurf who is playing the harmonica, referring to the famous Belgian musician Toots Thielemans. On the crew smurf’s trolley, we find a miniature Atomium.
On the right side of the plane, a crew smurf is serving Belgian fries and waffles to the smurf passengers. Aerosmurf also has two secret passengers, Gargamel and Azrael, trying to escape through a hatch in the belly of the plane, a treat for plane spotters since they are only visible during takeoff and landing.
For passengers flying with Aerosmurf, the experience continues inside. Little smurf footsteps on the carpet are leading the Aerosmurf guests to their seats, while a Smurfs video and adapted boarding music complete the Smurfs experience.
Led by airbrush specialist André Eisele, 14 artists worked 14 days non-stop to paint the eleven meters high and 37.56 meters long design on the plane by hand. They used 28 colours, 420 littres of paint, 24,000 meters of masking tape and 4,500 m² masking paper.
As the winner of the contest, Marta Mascellani followed the plane’s creation process behind the scenes. She stood front row at the revealing of the aircraft yesterday and the Aerosmurf is taking Marta home to Milan today with, in the cockpit, her brother Lorenzo who is a pilot at Brussels Airlines.
“It is amazing to see how they really made my design come alive. Drawing is a passion of mine and seeing my design on a plane that will fly around Europe is a wonderful way to share that passion with the world,” said Marta Mascellani, designer of Aerosmurf
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As the fifth Belgian Icon, Aerosmurf joins Rackham, Magritte, Trident and Amare in the Belgian Icons series. To carry out the best of Belgium to the world, Brussels Airlines decided to dedicate a plane named Rackham to Tintin in 2015. With Aerosmurf the company launches a possible successor for Rackham as one of the most photographed planes in the world.
Two years later Magritte followed together with Trident, dedicated to the Belgian national soccer team, Red Devils. In 2017 Brussels Airlines and Tomorrowland created Amare, a tribute to the iconic Belgian music festival.
As part of the oganisations of the 21st edition of the conference, the organisers have called for bids to brand and design the logo and theme, which would reflect the values of the country, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 90-90-90 goal and the end of AIDS by 2030.
Speaking in a press conference on Saturday, the State Minister of Public and Primary Healthcare in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Patrick Ndimubanzi said that the conference will discuss the policies and strategies that countries need to put in place in order to tackle HIV and STIs.
Ndimubanzi said that the global community and everyone is working in the framework of solidarity and mutual accountability where people are responsible of what’s happening in health sector for any country.
“And given that now we are in a World where people continue to go everywhere, we think that it’s very good that at some point the whole community comes together and review together policy and strategies that will address diseases,” he said.
For Rwanda, he said the conference will help people in health sector learn from strategies from other countries.
“Rwanda as scientific committee, as policy makers, we want to see strategies that our sister countries are adapting,” he added.
Society for AIDs in Africa Coordinator, Luc Armand Bodea said that they are organizing the conference to know the new trend about HIV/AIDS.
“As we are talking now, people are still victims of discrimination, more than discrimination; they are still facing some challenges in some health facilities. This is why ICASA is there to give platform to people that could not voice out to talk about challenges they are facing on a daily basis and go beyond barriers,” he said.
Bodea said that today there are countries that do not have drugs and ICASA aims at raising the level of awareness both from leadership, scientists and the community to put them together and give them platform so that they can address their issues in Africa.
ICASA is a biennial conference which alternates between Anglophone and Francophone African Countries. More than 10,000 participants are expected in ICASA2019.
The IMF Mission in Rwanda Chief, Laure Redifer announced this in a press conference in Kigali.
She was speaking about Rwanda’s economic growth prospect after IMF staff completed discussions in the ninth review Policy Support Instrument supported program.
Redifer observed that Rwanda’s economy is rebounding as the economic growth in 2017 outpaced expectation by rising to 6.1%.
Inflation, she said has remained very low, 0.7 percent in February over the previous year, due to ample food supplies causing food prices to decline.
External imbalances have continued to decline, on the basis of exchange rate adjustment and other policies to improve competitiveness and diversify Rwanda’s production and exports.
Foreign exchange reserves are accumulating faster than anticipated and pressure on the Rwandan franc has abated.
“Looking forward, IMF team projects growth to return to between 7-8 percent in 2018-2019, and prices on the market will remain at 5%,” she said.
She said that the strong economic growth, tax revenues have increased more than expected and the supplementary resources will be used for additional public spending in priority areas, especially health, education and irrigation for agriculture.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Amb. Claver Gatete said that industries will develop by 8%, service sector by 8% and agriculture by 6%; and agriculture he said will continue to develop due to promising rains and investment that has been allocated there.
“Based on current information, we expect economic growth of 7.2% by this year and 7.8% next year,” he said.
Last year, agriculture production increased by 7%, industry by 4% and services by 8%.
Gatare who was speaking yesterday in a meeting with miners in Muhanga urged miners to continue increasing productivity by fighting illegal mining which cause disastrous deaths. He also reminded them to perform their job while preserving the environment.
“This sector contributes enough to raise the economy of the country as products are exported and bring foreign currencies. We should put efforts together to fight those practices that interfere with production. We should not let them get the market for their minerals,” he said.
Dr. Hilaire Habyarimana, one of miners in Muhanga District said that they still have many problems in the sector including bad mining practices.
He said that they should re-asses themselves and do what their permits allow them to.
In eleven sectors of Muhanga District, there are 42 mining companies employing 13,432 people.
In the recently released Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2017, mining and quarrying contributed 51% to the growth of industry sector in Rwanda.
Speaking during a workshop on the role of media in Deepening Accountable Local Governance in Rwanda (DALGOR) on Friday, RALGA Chairperson Innocent Uwimana asked media practitioners to offer a greater contribution in promoting accountable governance.
“We all recognise that bad collaboration between the media and local governments impedes good governance and seriously affects the citizens whose welfare we all claim that we are working for,” he said.
Journalists complained that they are sometimes denied access to information by local leaders and wondered if those leaders give any information to citizens who are supposed to hold them accountable.
Jean-Claude Rusakara Mugwaneza, a reporter with KT Radio, said leaders denied him information on different occasions, adding that some local leaders openly say that they do not like talking with journalists.
Albert Baudouin Twizeyimana, National Coordinator of Pax Press, said that local leaders need sensitisation about Access to Information law and media role in helping them carry out their activities. He also urged RALGA to improve its collaboration with the media and advised journalists to create a friendly relationship with leaders so that they stop seeing media as hostile.
About these issues, RALGA acting Secretary-General Winifrida Mpembyemungu pledged RALGA mediation between the media and local leaders.
“We are looking into how we can have a memorandum of understanding with the media on collaboration for the better of the citizens we are all serving. We are together with you to promote good governance and citizen participation,” she said.
Poor citizen participation revealed
RALGA also presented to media the findings of the study on Dynamics of Direct Citizen Participation in Rwanda’s Local Governance between 2011 and 2017 which indicated that the level of direct citizen participation in monitoring and evaluation is less than 40% due to insufficient knowledge and skills of citizens, wrong belief that government should do everything for the citizens, lack of citizens’ sensitisation and mobilisation, among other challenges.
Funded by the European Union through DALGOR project, the study covered five districts namely Burera, Nyamagabe, Nyamasheke, Gasabo and Ngoma with the target population for the study was 1,027,721 while the total sample was 2,288.
Only 21.7% of respondents confirmed that they participated in planning and budgeting while the level of direct citizen participation in implementation of local agenda was at 66%.
At least 53.2% of citizens said that they did not directly participate because they were not invited by local leaders while 51.9 % confirmed that the reason was that they did not have knowledge and skills in planning and budgeting, Among local leaders, 51.2% said that citizens do not have enough knowledge and skills necessary for them to directly participate in planning and budgeting while 28.6% of citizens said that there was lack of clear information about what was supposed to be done.
Article 48 of the 2003 Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda as revised in 2015, provides for the right of every Rwandan to directly and or indirectly involve in the governance and development of the country.
Rwanda Governance Scorecard report highlighted indicated in 2014 that overall citizens’ participation was at 71.68%)
The awards are given to women from around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and women’s empowerment, often at great personal risk and sacrifice.
Dubbed ‘International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards’, the event will be hosted by the Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan on Friday.
Under the annual event, First Lady of the United States Melania Trump will deliver special remarks. In addition, Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert will deliver opening and closing remarks.
{{About Mukasarasi}}
Mukasarasi dedicated her life after the 1994 Genocide against the Tusti to fighting for a culture of peace and non-violence in Rwanda, as well as promoting the rights of women and girls affected by sexual violence in conflict zones worldwide.
The Founder and Coordinator of the organization Solidarity for the Development of Widows and Orphans to Promote Self-Sufficiency and Livelihoods (SEVOTA), Mukasarasi works with communities across Rwanda to reset human, social, and economic relations destroyed during the Genocide.
In 1996, she was approached by the United Nations team putting together the case against former Mayor of Taba Jean-Paul Akayesu for his role in the Genocide. Overcoming intimidation by community members and the murder of her daughter and husband, likely for her decision to testify at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, she mobilized four members of SEVOTA to testify against Akayesu.
Although rape has been considered an international war crime since 1919, it had never been prosecuted as a war crime until the conviction of Akayesu.
These women’s actions, through Mukasarasi’s leadership, changed the world of criminal justice forever, giving women who were sexually assaulted in conflicts a voice and access to justice.
Since 1994, SEVOTA has reached over 300 genocide rape victims and helped them to reintegrate socially and economically into their communities. They have organized more than 1,300 households to participate in micro-savings clubs and 2,000 youth and children in peace and development clubs.
Mukasarasi is a woman of courage, and has been an important figure in the peace and reconciliation of Rwanda and the protection of women and children across the globe.
Mukasarasi received the John Humphrey Freedom Award by Law and Democracy in 2004; the Outstanding Achievement Award for Rural Women’s Creativity Award from the World Women’s Summit Foundation in Geneva in 1996; and, SEVOTA was honored with the Award for Human Rights for its contribution to the promotion of the rights of vulnerable women by Human Right International in 2011.
Since the inception of IWOC awards in 2007, the State Department has recognized more than 120 women from more than 65 different countries. U.S. diplomatic missions overseas nominate one woman of courage from their respective host countries. The finalists are selected and approved by senior Department officials.
Others who will be awarded are from Afghanistan, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mauritania and Thailand
The $1 million (over Rwf85 million) project expected to benefit 3,000 smallholder farmers was launched yesterday by ‘Energy 4 Impact’, a non-profit organisation that supports businesses that provide energy access to off-grid communities in Africa.
Dubbed ‘Solar Irrigation in Rwanda (SIR)’, the project was funded by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and is expected to create the conditions for a sustainable market by increasing awareness, availability and affordability of appropriate solar irrigation technologies.
Small-scale irrigation has the potential to contribute to improved food security and higher rural incomes. However, a combination of factors has hampered its development. These include low awareness among farmers and high upfront costs of solar irrigation systems, as well as limited access to finance for farmers and technology suppliers.
Speaking at the launch of the project, the Acting Head of Land Husbandry, Irrigation and Mechanisation at the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), Hanson Imicomyiza said that the project will positively impact farmers.
“Given Rwanda’s geography and its solar radiation potential, the density of cultivated land and the availability of water resources, solar irrigation can enable smallholder farmers to use the water sources more productively, adapt to climate change and improve nutritional outcomes and rural development,” Imicomyiza said.
The Project Manager at Energy 4 Impact, Espoir Serugo said that the initiative will help women to enhance productivity.
“This support will empower women to enhance productivity, generate more income and increase the availability of food for their families and the communities around them. Solar irrigation will also help them save the time and labour spend on tasks such as hauling water, usually over long distances, for farming,” Serugo said.
The project will be implemented in eight districts in Eastern and Southern Provinces in the districts of Bugesera, Kirehe, Nyagatare, Ngoma, Gatsibo, Gisagara, Kamonyi and Muhanga.
The signing ceremony took place in Kigali yesterday and was witnessed by the Executive Director of Smart Africa , Dr. Hamadoun Toure and the Consul for Estonia in Kenya, Kadri Humal Ayal.
As the development of information and telecommunications is a major factor in the promotion of the socio-economic development of Africa in the 21st century, the Smart Africa is in the forefront of driving the agenda as its mandate is to transform Africa into the power of ICT.
The signed MoU will support Smart Africa in developing the policy documents on e-governance and digital transformation for member states, raising awareness on cyber security, protection of critical infrastructure, digital identity, basic registries and databases.
Also both parties will work together for the establishment of e-governance training programmes and regional competence hubs for the Smart Africa member states. Also the MoU will help to promote the cooperation on ICtT companies for implementing e-services.
Smart Africa’s Hamadoun Toure said that the MoU entered in a spirit of cooperation and collaboration as the alliance seeks to play a pivotal role in the transformation of Africa into a single digital market.
“This MoU with Estonia comes at a time when the African continent is energized around the concept of digitalizing Africa. We are proud to partner with a country that most people took as the best practice in e-governance infrastructure and digital services. Smart Africa looks forward to great achievements with Estonia in the digital space as we transform Africa into a single digital market,” he said.
Estonia’s Kadri Humal-Ayal said that her country decided to come in Africa due to Rwanda’s commitment in promoting ICT.
“Estonia’s president visit to Rwanda opened doors for cooperation. Now, we start expertise sharing. We hope that many projects will be performed between both sides,” she said.
Smart Africa Alliance is a public-private platform dedicated to shaping and driving Africa’s Digital Transformation. It was launched in 2013 by seven African Heads of States and now has grown to 22 member countries and different private sector and academia.
