President Paul Kagame has attributed Rwanda\u2019s steady progress in the last decade to adoption of home-grown solutions. <\/p>\n
The President was addressing a high-level meeting, Saturday, during the United Nations Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda convened under the theme, \u201cA New Rural Development Paradigm and the Inclusive and Sustainable New Communities Model inspired by the \u2018Saemaul Undong\u2019\u201d in New York, US.<\/p>\n
Kagame said homegrown initiatives drawn from Rwanda\u2019s culture have to a large extent contributed to Rwanda\u2019s progress, according to a statement from the President\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Gacaca, our community courts, which has brought restorative justice and reconciliation to a once divided nation; to Ubudehe, which supports rural communities to collectively solve problems related to poverty; to Imihigo, which enables citizens to keep their leaders accountable, to Umuganda and many others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The event, co-hosted by UNDP, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and OECD, was an opportunity to discuss the central role of rural development in sustainable development goals.<\/p>\n
Citing Korea\u2019s \u2018Saemaul Undong\u2019 success in achieving development, President Kagame described Korea\u2019s homegrown solution as testimony that local ownership of development programmes, citizen involvement and national unity always yield results, according to the statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the values that guided Rwanda\u2019s post-genocide development agenda. We chose to take responsibility for our reconstruction, by building consensus on a national vision, and working together to ensure no one was left behind,\u201d Kagame said.<\/p>\n
Emphasising the importance of solutions informed by a local context, Kagame called on a future of sustainable development goals centred on mutual learning and global cooperation.<\/p>\n
\u201cChanging mindsets, and doing things differently, is never easy. But doing the right things and getting results builds resilience and the capacity to do even more. Each country has its own unique circumstances and challenges, but also the resources to solve its problems, complemented by external partnerships,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n
The event was co-chaired by President Park Geun-hye of South Korea and attended by President Choummaly Sayasone of Laos, President Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam, President Ollanta Mois\u00e9s Humala of Peru and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.<\/p>\n
President Park described \u2018Saemaul Undong\u2019 as a development strategy that has not only helped lift Korea up but also transformed the country\u2019s national ethos.<\/p>\n
\u201cHalf a century ago, Korea\u2019s per capita GDP stood below one hundred dollars. We were among the poorest countries in the world. And yet, fired by a desire for a better life, the whole nation rallied together to climb out of poverty. And we did so in the spirit of diligence, self-help and cooperation that animated the \u2018Saemaul Undong.\u2019<\/p>\n
As a result, Korea managed to industrialise, and within five decades, we rose to become one of the top 15 economies in the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Saemaul Undong\u2019 or New Community Movement was South Korea\u2019s home-grown initiative launched in 1970s by South Korean President Park Chung Heer. The initiative, which centred on traditional values of communalism and self-reliance, played a key role in modernising South Korea<\/p>\n
The NewTimes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Paul Kagame has attributed Rwanda\u2019s steady progress in the last decade to adoption of home-grown solutions. The President was addressing a high-level meeting, Saturday, during the United Nations Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda convened under the theme, \u201cA New Rural Development Paradigm and the Inclusive and Sustainable New Communities Model […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000069655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[69],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-20640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homehighlights","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":{"id":2000069655,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20640.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20640.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20640.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20640.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20640.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton20640.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000069655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20640"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=20640"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=20640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}