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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Fyi..<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 color=black face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;
color:windowtext'> Harry Hare [mailto:<st1:PersonName w:st="on">harry@africanedevelopment.org</st1:PersonName>]
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, March 27, 2007 9:11
AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> 'KICTanet Committee'<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
Knowledge Revolution</span></font><font color=black><span style='color:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext'>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.</span></font><font
color=navy><span style='color:navy'> Read on<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>Harry<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>(<a
href="http://www.businessinafrica.net/tech_telecoms/633087.htm">http://www.businessinafrica.net/tech_telecoms/633087.htm</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span
class=title1><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Rwanda</span></font></b></span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span
class=title1><b><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-weight:bold'>'s knowledge revolution</span></font></b></span><b><font
size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:
bold'><br>
</span></font></b><span class=date1><b><font size=1 color="#00216b"
face=Arial><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-weight:bold'>Andrew Mack and
Jeremy Goldberg</span></font></b></span><font size=1 color="#00216b"
face=Arial><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#00216B'><br>
<span class=date1><font color="#00216b" face=Arial>'28-FEB-07 23:00'</font></span></span></font><font
size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div id=storyBody>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Arial'>There was again, the same look - a
combination of concern and disbelief — when I told a colleague that
I’d been working in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
After all, what do we in the outside world know about <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>? A small country with a
history of unspeakable violence and ethnic division, perhaps, but a place of
opportunity? A leader of <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>’s
march into the 21st century? <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>?
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>For all its challenges, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place> 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 <st1:City w:st="on">Cairo</st1:City>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Durban</st1:City></st1:place>, a
kind of “Silicon Valley of East-Central Africa.” But it certainly
did not have to be this way… <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>In a region where so much has gone wrong, what went right
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>?
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>Everything started with vision. While much of the
development of IT and the Internet around the continent has historically been
ad hoc, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>In a country that needed so much, it was easy to ask the
question “Why Internet? Why tech?” But consider <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region>’s position: landlocked, with long
distances to the sea, troublesome infrastructure in neighbouring countries,
instability in bordering <st1:country-region w:st="on">Congo</st1:country-region>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Burundi</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>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, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>And the investment wasn’t just limited to the
capital, or to university-level students. As part of its IT outreach <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place> 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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>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 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>’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
— <st1:City w:st="on">Kigali</st1:City> is home to literally dozens of
internet cafes — has put <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place> on a steep path to
integrating IT into everyday life and development. Quite a change from 2002. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>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 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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 <st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region>
to that of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region>, as
opposed to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>Of course to make the kinds of big investments the country
needed, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>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, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region>
wanted to use IT solutions to enable local government leaders to function
“without them having to come to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Kigali</st1:City></st1:place>
all the time”. After all, e-government should be able to save time,
promote accountability, efficiency and transparency and lower cost in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region> — if it can in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place>. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><font size=1
color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Arial'>Rwanda</span></font></st1:country-region></st1:place><font
size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Arial'> 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. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>In fact, it didn’t take long to attract
telecommunications and software companies. Terracom brought wireless
broadband internet to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Kigali</st1:City></st1:place>.
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). <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>And these days <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place> is saying the proof is in
the fibre. Yes, fibre. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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, “<st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region>,
through fibre-optic and CDMA technology, enjoys without question, the most
advanced communications technology in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>.”
And as a testament to this expertise, last year African countries unanimously
voted <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
the headquarters of the East Africa Submarine Cable Project (EASSy). This
$280mn project will serve <st1:country-region w:st="on">Botswana</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Tanzania</st1:country-region>,
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Lesotho</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
A Rwandan will serve as the Chair of its Working Committee. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>Finally, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
might now be seen as one of the village elders. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>So <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
is getting it right. But does that really matter for <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>
as a whole, or for other emerging markets? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>Perhaps the most encouraging thing about this entire story
is that the reasons for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s
success are no mystery. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s
IT-focused approaches work and can work elsewhere. If you don’t yet
believe me, believe The Economist — they recently reported that <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
is well on its way to achieving several of the Millennium Development Goals.
And, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
is not the only example of IT turning around an emerging market country. I
could easily wave the Mauritian flag. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Mauritius</st1:country-region>,
a small island nation in the <st1:place w:st="on">Indian Ocean</st1:place>,
is now an IT powerhouse attracting growing numbers of foreign investors. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>Why shouldn’t these new technologies be used to help
modernise the government and infrastructure in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Sierra Leone</st1:country-region></st1:place>? <st1:City w:st="on">Freetown</st1:City>
is already looking to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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 <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Burundi</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Uganda</st1:country-region>
as they work to enhance exports through <st1:country-region w:st="on">Tanzania</st1:country-region>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Kenya</st1:country-region></st1:place>?
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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>In a region where so much has gone wrong, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>
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. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial'>So, three cheers for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>, the ‘Singapore of
Central Africa’ — a model for post-conflict nations on the
continent and beyond. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><i><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial;font-style:italic'>Andrew Mack is a former World Bank
official and the Principal of AMGlobal</span></font></i><font size=1
face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><i><font size=1 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.5pt;
font-family:Arial;font-style:italic'><a href="http://www.businessinafrica.net">-Business
in Africa Magazine</a></span></font></i><font size=1 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:8.5pt;font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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