The current USAID Mission Strategy flows directly from the previous Rwanda Integrated Strategic Plan for FY2001-2004, by continuing support in the areas of Democracy and Governance (DG), Health, Food Security, and Rural Economic Growth and provides critical support to achieve the objectives of the GOR Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) that was approved in July 2002. The DG Strategic Objective (SO) supports good governance priorities; the Health SO activities support the human resource development priorities for health, youth, and vulnerable groups like orphans; and the Rural Economic Growth SO supports rural development and agricultural transformation as well as private sector development. The ISP was developed in close collaboration with GOR, local NGO, and private sector partners and with USG stakeholders and partners from the Embassy and CDC in Kigali to USAID staff from REDSO/ESA/Nairobi, RHUDO/Pretoria and several USAID/W Bureaus.
Three Strategic Objectives
USAID/Rwanda’s Democracy and Governance SO is Improved Governance through Increased Citizen Participation. The three Intermediate Results (IR) are: 5.1 reinforced capacity for implementation of decentralization policy in target districts; 5.2 increased government responsiveness to citizens at the national level; and, 5.3 enhanced opportunities for reconciliation. The DG SO will promote an effective system of governance in which the citizens of Rwanda play an engaged and active role in every step of the democratic process from policy development to implementation at the grassroots level. USAID/Rwanda’s focus on increasing citizen participation in governance is completely aligned with and informed by the GOR’s PRSP and will contribute to strengthening the actors, conditions, and environment for greater and more diversified citizen participation in Rwandan governance.
The Health Strategic Objective is Increased Use of Community Health Services including HIV/AIDS. Four IRs are: 6.1 reinforced capacity for implementation of the decentralization policy in target health districts; 6.2 increased access to selected essential health commodities and community health services; 6.3 improved quality of community health services; and, 6.4 improved community level responses to health issues. When referring to “community health services” in the context of the strategy, USAID/Rwanda envisions an optimized health care system which, irrespective of the location where services are actually provided, responds to community needs. Such a system fully integrates the community as an essential partner, along with health professionals and local elected leaders, in all phases of service design, financing, and delivery.
With USAID’s broad and diverse health program experience, particularly in HIV/AIDS and reproductive health/family planning, and with its significant funding resources, USAID has emerged as a leader in the design, implementation, and scale-up of quality health program interventions and in health care financing. In addition, because of its field experience in supporting integrated service delivery, the MOH has requested that USAID maintains this orientation with the goal of increasing overall technical and absorptive capacity of the decentralized health care system. Therefore, the Mission has designed a strategy which integrates activities in all four technical priority areas: HIV/AIDS, Population, Maternal and Child Health, and Infectious Diseases/Malaria. At the same time, a separate HIV/AIDS Strategy has been elaborated and is provided in a separate annex to the Integrated Strategic Plan.
USAID/Rwanda’s Rural Economic Growth (including agriculture and food security) SO is Expanded Economic Opportunities in Rural Areas. Three IRs are: 7.1 expanded adoption of improved agricultural and business practices; 7.2 rural finance more accessible; and, 7.3 rural infrastructure improved. This SO will expand economic opportunities in selected locations through strategic partnerships and increased incomes from both on-farm and off-farm employment. USAID’s focus on economic opportunities in rural areas is completely aligned with the GOR’s PRSP that calls for the transformation of agriculture and the expansion of off-farm employment in the rural sector. The main objective of the Ministry of Agriculture is to transform agriculture from subsistence into a viable and profitable market-oriented business so as to improve the welfare of the population. Working with GOR partners and the private sector, the Rural Economic Growth SO will both diversify and expand economic opportunity in the rural sector.
