Day 3: Promoting Good Strategies To Encourage A Healthy Private-Public Partnership

 The SMART E&E Green Farms Team began the day by meeting with Quintin Dussart, the Economic and communications manager of the French embassy in Rwanda. Dussart explains the nuances of development and how it is handled by ministries. As a French diplomat, his job is to promote links between Rwanda and France. It is important to note that France in Rwanda is a development partner, not the developer. Currently, 40 French companies are operating in Rwanda compared to bout 3 French companies operating post-genocide. 

This is significant as it shows that the French are becoming increasingly interested in various sectors in Rwanda. In 2021 the French publically announced their hand in enabling the genocide to occur, for this reason, the relationship between France and Rwanda is being rebuilt. The 3 sectors that France intervenes with are promoting the French language, green economy, and health. Dussart made it clear that Frances's focus is not primarily on the agriculture sector so he was not as helpful in answering many of our agriculture-specific questions. There is international interest in the Rwandan agriculture sectors that unless there is a lucrative business interest for France they believe the risk of doing business in East Africa, a region they are unfamiliar with as compared to West Africa, is not worth it. Also, they do not have the capacity as the French embassy only has 6 people on the ground. In light of this, everything is politically related to their policy.  

In this meeting, we were also joined by Fred Rubagenga who works for the Belgium Trade Commissioning Office. The Belgium government when it comes to the agriculture sector wants to industrialize the pork and chicken industry. The French and Belgians are also collaborating to develop the bamboo industry by utilizing Bamboo construction materials. Fred called on support from Robin Theirs, First Secretary at the Belgian Embassy in Kigali, to answer our questions regarding agriculture. It is unclear how effective the incorporation of Thiers and Rubagenga was but it was very insightful for the team to see the communication between our private-public partners. Our partners from E&E Green Farms, ROBEEC LTD., and RAB were present in this meeting as well and were able to ask questions. Rose Muhumaza gave a very insightful and informative presentation explaining her operations at E & E Greens Farms and the impact it has on the livelihood on smallholder female farmers and youth. This directly connected and aligns with the missions of the USAID as they try to revitalize the agriculture sector. 

Currently, youth are not drawn to the agriculture sector even though it employs 70 percent of the population. The reasoning for this is that compared to other pathways agriculture does not directly translate into profits which discourages youth from joining the sector. Youth and women lack access to land, lack of technology use, and lack of knowledge about where they can work. Our second set of meetings was with representatives from the USAID office specifically working in the Economic Growth Office and a Food security specialist was present. Their main goal is to increase animal source consumption. Nutritious food, access to the market, and societal behavioral misconceptions about food. They have a five-year strategy to do so. A part of this strategy is to lead from the business sector to introduce contract farming therefore guaranteeing what is being produced will be sold and emphasizing the use of kitchen gardens. Students were able to ask questions related to the agriculture sector which was helpful in better helping us understand the importance of the work we are doing. The students were able to have a last whole Rwandan SMART TEAM dinner after exploring the craft markets.