Rwanda poverty - search results

Recently the Financial Times published an investigation carried out by their data analysis team, which confirmed the findings that have been published on roape.net on poverty in Rwanda over several years. Of all the countries in the world for which there is data, only South Sudan has experienced a faster increase in poverty over the past decade. Rwanda’s official poverty statistics are verifiably false. The government, supported by the World Bank, is involved in a tragic debacle in which the poor are the real victims. 

Continuing the debate about Rwandan poverty statistics, Sam Desiere argues that with an inflation rate of 30% - which is more in line with ‘real’ inflation - poverty has increased in Rwanda. His findings raise concerns, not only for Rwanda’s (rural) policies (and poor), but also for international donors that have presented Rwanda as a model for development.

The Rwandan government has used its record on poverty reduction and economic growth to legitimize its authoritarian rule and to deflect criticism of its human rights record, just as the previous regime had done up until 1990. Yet as this blogpost shows despite official statistics poverty has actually increased in the country between 5% and 7% points between 2010 and 2014.

In a critique of Rwanda’s Green Revolution, An Ansoms argues that the promise of the ‘reconfiguration of the rural landscape’ has failed. Food price inflation rose rapidly while the economies-of-scale of the new system were captured by middlemen and local elites. Yet, the World Bank and the IMF persist in using the so-called Rwandan ‘success story’ to sell neo-liberal policy packages as the panacea for Africa’s development. However opportunities for alternative voices are opening up and criticism is also being picked up by Rwandan policy makers.

Continuing our examination of Rwandan development, An Ansoms looks at how the space for open contestation around problematic aspects of rural policy seems to have increased in the country. Both the national and local media, actors from within civil society, as well as the farmers on the ground are increasingly and openly commenting on flaws in the agrarian modernisation model. Such space for open criticism oriented towards local authorities is new in Rwanda. Though the question remains whether this new openness can evolve towards a larger debate around policy orientation.

Recently the World Bank published a paper on poverty in Rwanda. The aim of the paper was to deal with the debate started in...

In a blogpost on Rwanda’s development, the author argues that the country’s current growth is largely driven by public-debt financed investments in mostly unprofitable prestige projects with questionable long-term development value (hotels, conference centres, luxury housing condos, etc.). In addition, and contrary to the arguments made by Dónal Ring’s recent blogpost on roape.net, the country’s celebrated poverty reduction is highly questionable, and its vaunted development projects are built on brutality, international complicity and lies.

As part of the on-going ROAPE debate on Rwanda’s contested development, Dónal Ring argues that since the genocide economic growth, poverty reduction and living conditions have improved. The evidence presented on roape.net to back the claims of serious manipulation is not currently forthcoming. However, Ring argues, the regime faces risks based on the developmental model it has adopted.

An Ansoms writes about the systemic problems within the ongoing rural transformation process in Rwanda. She points to deeply embedded systemic problems within the country’s ongoing rural transformation. The current model, she argues, is implemented through a rigid top-down authoritarian system and is blindly obsessed with reaching performance targets. Unless these problems are addressed it risks Rwanda’s economic, social and ecological future.