Project 2020

A sign in front of my neighborhood showcasing that this area was built in the Project 2020 vision.

A banner in Gisenyi advertising an upcoming forum on Project 2020.

            In an effort to pull itself from a struggling, third world impoverished, World Bank loan taking country, Rwanda has decided to implement a program to pull itself from the constant cyclical Africa issues and create a middle class.  This is by no means an easy task, but the government of Rwanda has paved an outline of their plan to achieve this goal: Project 2020. 

            Rwanda struggles with a myriad of issues: high population density along with a high birth rate, 90% of Rwandans living off farming along (mostly sustenance), an underdeveloped government, lack of diversification in exports and GDP, low education rates, and high unemployment/underemployment.  (I estimate that Rwanda has an unemployment rate of 80%, so the next time we complain about things in the USA, we can be reminded that we are doing well for ourselves even in a major recession.) 

            The government wants to create a vibrant private sector economy along with a burgeoning middle class.  With the average Rwandan making approximately $300 per year, the economy would have to grow at a rate of 7% per year for the next eight years in order to have the beginnings of a stable middle economy that equates to the average Rwandan making $900 per year.  Remember, wealth lies heavy at the top.  When the average is $300 per year, it actually means that for most Rwandans their income is $100 per year.  To have a burgeoning economy, government and middle class, Rwanda needs to develop these concepts:

1.       Good governance and a capable state

2.      Human resource development and a knowledge based economy (basically, moving away from a completely agrarian economy as Rwanda has today)

3.      A private sector-led economy

4.      Infrastructure development

5.      Productive and market oriented agriculture

6.      Regional and international economic integration

According to top economic analysts in developing countries, democracy and development prospers when people have a livable wage (minimum $1000 per person per annum).  Rwanda believes that it can have a stable, healthy country that can free itself from the typical African cycle of problems if it creates a self-sustaining, aid free government.  Furthermore, this will remove Rwanda from the ghosts of the past where ethnicities and genocidal flare-ups have haunted this country post-colonialism.  Only time will tell if this plan will work.