ICT Policy Africa

	
  
Social
Education: GoR has implemented numerous ICT in education initiatives including ICT training
for teachers and One Laptop Per Child that are transforming the delivery and quality of
education; Science and Technology scholarships that are growing the number of ICT capacity;
Schoolnet that aims to improve connectivity and deploy ICT tools in 12-year basic education
schools; RwEdNet that is interconnecting Rwanda’s institutions of higher learning and linking
them to global education and research networks, and the Rwanda Education Commons a onestop portal for education information. These initiatives are transforming and improving the
delivery and quality of education in Rwanda.
Health: Numerous ICT initiatives have been implemented in health such as: OpenMRS – an
open-source medical records system that facilitates nationwide tracking of patient data; TRACnet
– a system that allows central collection and storage of clinical health information; Mobile eHealth – a system used by community health workers to collect data for OpenMRS and
TRACnet systems; Telemedicine – that is connecting King Faisal Hospital to Hospitals in
Kabgayi and Musanze facilitating the sharing of clinical information between urban and rural
hospitals, and most importantly allowing citizens to receive specialized treatment services
remotely without travelling to Kigali. These initiatives are transforming healthcare delivery and
helping Rwanda achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in health, which is earning
Rwanda critical acclaim world-wide.
Governance
E-Government: Numerous e-Government initiatives such as the modern and secure National ID
and driving license; e-Cabinet; e-Parliament, document tracking and workflow management
system; financial management system (FMS) and human resource management system (HRMS)
have been or are in the process of being deployed to improve government operations and service
delivery to citizens. One of the key tools introduced by the GoR in 2006 to reinforce
participation and accountability of local government is performance-based contracts, locally
referred to as “Imihigo”. Imihigo is an old cultural practice of Rwanda where an individual
would set him/herself targets to be achieved within a specific period of time. Through this
approach, local governments and communities set their own priorities and strategies to achieve
their goals. Furthermore, hundreds of local government officials and citizens have been trained
in ICTs to promote ICT literacy and citizen participation in the country’s development. These
initiatives will most certainly improve government-to-citizen (G2C) services and facilitate more
development in the governance cluster.
1.5.

Challenges and Opportunities

The principle that guides this strategy is that Rwanda should not only be a consumer of ICT
goods and services, but also an active producer and developer of cutting-edge technology and
high value services. However, numerous challenges still hinder Rwanda’s ICT development.
NICI III aims to address these challenges and presents opportunities that Rwanda can take
advantage of over the next five years to fast track the achievement of Vision 2020 goals.
Energy: Energy access and high costs are a major impediment to Rwanda’s industry and
services sectors. The country has low per capita electricity consumption relative to the East
African Community with only 13% of the population having access to electricity, moreover with
power outages. Electricity generation costs are high as well as the feed-in tariff of power that
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