[kictanet] {Disarmed} FW: Rwanda's Knowledge Revolution

Tue Mar 27 11:56:30 EAT 2007

Fyi..

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From: Harry Hare [mailto:harry at africanedevelopment.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 9:11 AM
To: 'KICTanet Committee'
Subject: Rwanda's Knowledge Revolution

Very interesting reading, I think a lot of African countries can borrow a
leaf from this. But what is probably evident in this article is the
seriousness that leadership of the country has placed on ICT as an enabler
to its development effort. It is the leadership that has facilitated the
"from rags to riches" ICT development. Read on

Harry
(http://www.businessinafrica.net/tech_telecoms/633087.htm)

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Rwanda's knowledge revolution
Andrew Mack and Jeremy Goldberg
'28-FEB-07 23:00'
There was again, the same look - a combination of concern and disbelief -
when I told a colleague that I'd been working in Rwanda. After all, what do
we in the outside world know about Rwanda? A small country with a history of
unspeakable violence and ethnic division, perhaps, but a place of
opportunity? A leader of Africa's march into the 21st century? Rwanda? 
For all its challenges, Rwanda is by nearly all accounts making tremendous
strides, working to re-build into a modern, knowledge-based economy. In
fact, a number of Rwanda-watchers these days see the country on track to
become the hottest IT spot between Cairo and Durban, a kind of "Silicon
Valley of East-Central Africa." But it certainly did not have to be this
way. 
In a region where so much has gone wrong, what went right in Rwanda? 
Everything started with vision. While much of the development of IT and the
Internet around the continent has historically been ad hoc, Rwanda decided
early on to build IT into its strategic plans for the future - in tangible,
not just rhetorical ways. Since coming to power, President Kagame had
stressed his eagerness to move the country from an agriculturally-based
economy to a creative, competitive and more knowledge-based system. So
following extensive consultations with different groups across Government
and society at large in and around the year 2000, Rwanda launched its Vision
2020, the country's roadmap for development, with a focus on IT as a crucial
cornerstone. It was an unusual vision, one that looked over the horizon with
a confidence rarely shown by developing nations. 
In a country that needed so much, it was easy to ask the question "Why
Internet? Why tech?" But consider Rwanda's position: landlocked, with long
distances to the sea, troublesome infrastructure in neighbouring countries,
instability in bordering Congo and Burundi. Add to this crushingly expensive
air rates - the Nairobi-Kigali route is believed to be the second most
expensive flight per kilometre in the world - one can see how traditional,
goods-focused export trade would be challenging to say the least. Building a
knowledge economy was and remains more than a logical choice. It is an
enlightened necessity. 
So to make this vision work, the Government decided to invest in people -
especially teachers and the tools they needed. After the genocide in 1994,
Rwanda needed to rebuild the country's tech infrastructure, but had a
shortage of trained local people to get the job done. To address the issue,
in 1997 the Government opened the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology
(KIST). Since then, KIST has graduated thousands of Rwandan tech experts and
is now recognised as a leader in the development of biogas technology and
renewable energy. 
And the investment wasn't just limited to the capital, or to
university-level students. As part of its IT outreach Rwanda focused on
bringing computers and Internet access to young people across the country.
Josh Kron, a Kigali-based journalist, recently recounted to me the story of
a Danish IT consultant who came to Rwanda in 2002 with a container full of
57 computers to donate to schools. At that time it was one of the largest
(if not the largest) shipments of its kind. 
Today over 1200 primary schools (not to mention secondary and university
classrooms) have computers available. It's currently estimated that some 10
percent of all Rwanda's secondary schools already have wireless internet
access, and plans are underway to expand this substantially. According to
Musabayezu Narcisse, Secretary General in the country's Ministry of
Education, "As of today (December 2006) [the Government has] given out 4 000
computers to secondary schools around the country." This combined with a
proliferation of private access points - Kigali is home to literally dozens
of internet cafes - has put Rwanda on a steep path to integrating IT into
everyday life and development. Quite a change from 2002. 
At the same time, the country also set high goals for spending and
investment in infrastructure to match the focus on training. In March of
2006 Rwanda committed to spend some $1bn to build and promote telecentres,
specifically aimed at bringing rural areas online and promoting
broader-based use of technology for business. This spending was part of an
overall concentration in science. In January of this year Kagame reminded
his fellow heads of state at an African Union summit that the country had
set its science and technology spending at 1,6 percent of GDP, bringing it
in line with typical OECD nations (as opposed to other African nations,
which average less than 0.5%). He compared the IT future of Rwanda to that
of Australia, as opposed to Kenya. 
Of course to make the kinds of big investments the country needed, Rwanda
would need big support from the international donor community. And they got
it, focusing a significant part of its donor-funded work on IT-related
projects, among them a $20mn Public Sector Capacity Building project and in
2006, a $10mn e-Government project - both funded by the World Bank. 
The goal was to use technology to reach out over the head of logistics
challenges, streamlining communications, and using video conferencing to
facilitate work with district leaders in different parts of the country. As
Albert Butare, Minister of State in Charge of Energy and Communications,
explained simply, Rwanda wanted to use IT solutions to enable local
government leaders to function "without them having to come to Kigali all
the time". After all, e-government should be able to save time, promote
accountability, efficiency and transparency and lower cost in Rwanda - if it
can in Washington. 
Rwanda has also worked hard to re-design its business environment, promoting
a new openness to investment and a series of reforms to create a
business-friendly climate. The country was described as a top regional
reformer in the recent World Bank Doing Business survey, noting some big
changes in 2006. To ease company start-up, a presidential decree
dramatically increased the number of authorised notaries, shrinking the time
it takes to register a new business from 21 days to 16 days. Rwanda also
decreased its corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 30 percent in
2005. The process of reform is far from complete, but international
investors began to take notice. 
In fact, it didn't take long to attract telecommunications and software
companies. Terracom brought wireless broadband internet to Kigali. Microsoft
is bringing e-learning classrooms. Nokia set up a village phone programme,
and just last month, a partnership was announced with the One Laptop per
Child programme (the $100 laptop scheme). 
And these days Rwanda is saying the proof is in the fibre. Yes, fibre.
Rwanda has become one of the most wired countries in the region. Terracom
has laid more than 220 miles of fibre-optic cable. According to Christopher
Lundh, Terracom's CEO, "Rwanda, through fibre-optic and CDMA technology,
enjoys without question, the most advanced communications technology in
Africa." And as a testament to this expertise, last year African countries
unanimously voted Rwanda the headquarters of the East Africa Submarine Cable
Project (EASSy). This $280mn project will serve Botswana, South Africa,
Kenya, Tanzania, and Lesotho. A Rwandan will serve as the Chair of its
Working Committee. 
Finally, Rwanda is taking steps to build its reputation - its brand - as an
information hub for the long term. Just days ago Rwanda made public its
offer to provide up to 100 ICT scholarships for students from East and
Central African nations, starting in 2009. If East Africa were an IT
village, Rwanda might now be seen as one of the village elders. 
So Rwanda is getting it right. But does that really matter for Africa as a
whole, or for other emerging markets? 
Perhaps the most encouraging thing about this entire story is that the
reasons for Rwanda's success are no mystery. Rwanda's IT-focused approaches
work and can work elsewhere. If you don't yet believe me, believe The
Economist - they recently reported that Rwanda is well on its way to
achieving several of the Millennium Development Goals. And, Rwanda is not
the only example of IT turning around an emerging market country. I could
easily wave the Mauritian flag. Mauritius, a small island nation in the
Indian Ocean, is now an IT powerhouse attracting growing numbers of foreign
investors. 
Why shouldn't these new technologies be used to help modernise the
government and infrastructure in Sierra Leone? Freetown is already looking
to Rwanda as an example of the possibilities, with IT as one of the central
objectives in their own Vision 2025. Could IT help trade for landlocked
countries like Burundi and Uganda as they work to enhance exports through
Tanzania and Kenya? The answer is of course yes. IT could help improve
supply chain management, expedite port clearance delays, and increase the
reliability of customs operations. all things that experts touched on at a
recent World Bank Government seminar. 
In a region where so much has gone wrong, Rwanda is an example of how much
can be accomplished with a focus on IT. Investment in people, clarity of
vision and a focus on technology infrastructure have given the country new,
entrepreneurial options for the future. Especially given the challenges of
its past, we should recognise a country so focused on its potential, one
that is looking over the horizon, beyond simple rebuilding. 
So, three cheers for Rwanda, the 'Singapore of Central Africa' - a model for
post-conflict nations on the continent and beyond. 
Andrew Mack is a former World Bank official and the Principal of AMGlobal 
-Business <http://www.businessinafrica.net>  in Africa Magazine 

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