Rwanda Overview

Submitted by webmaster@push10.com on
In this Image Women clearing grass to cultivate crops on the slopes of the Murema valley, Karongi Region, Rwanda. © 2015 Tom Gilks

Highlights

Main Post
EVENTS

Embedded Lab Inception Workshop: Building a Culture of Evidence-Based Decision Making in Collaboration with Rwanda Ministry of Education to Improve Learning Outcomes
Post Selector
PUBLICATIONS

Recruitment, Effort, and Retention Effects of Performance Contracts for Civil Servants: Experimental Evidence from Rwandan Primary Schools
PUBLICATIONS

Youth Employment and Productivity: Medium-term Experimental Evidence from Rwanda
EVENTS

IPA Rwanda & Uganda Host Policymaking Workshop

Research Findings

Innovations for Poverty Action logo in white and green on black background, without word-mark

Are Training Programs Better Than Cash Transfers At Improving The Lives Of Poor And Underemployed Young People? Evidence From Rwanda

Finding effective measures to integrate young people into productive adult life is crucial, especially given Africa's growing youth population. However, the evidence surrounding various policy alternatives is mixed, and there is no clarity on the long-term impact and cost-effectiveness of the various alternatives. In Rwanda, researchers conducted a cash benchmarking evaluation, — a direct comparison of in-kind to cash transfer programs — of a workforce readiness and skills training program called Huguka Dukore. Both the Huguka Dukore program and cash transfers had a positive impact in the short and long term. However, the long-term effects faded by about half compared to the short-term.

Read More
Innovations for Poverty Action logo in white and green on black background, without word-mark

Is A Pay-For-Performance Model For Teachers Effective In Improving Educational Outcomes? Evidence From Rwanda

The ability to recruit, elicit effort from, and retain civil servants is a central issue for any government. Can pay-for-performance contracts successfully maintain a skilled and motivated workforce? In Rwanda, researchers partnered with the Rwanda Education Board to design a pay-for-performance contract for teachers and measure its impact on both the composition of recruited teachers and their performance. The results showed that pay-for-performance contracts had no negative impact on teacher recruitment and had a positive impact on teacher performance, especially in classroom presence and pedagogy, as well as on student learning.

Read More
Innovations for Poverty Action logo in white and green on black background, without word-mark

Benchmarking a WASH and Nutrition Program to Cash in Rwanda

How do standard development programs compare to just giving people cash? In Rwanda, an IPA research team rigorously evaluated the impact of unconditional cash transfers,1 compared to an integrated nutrition and WASH program, on the following main outcomes: household dietary diversity, child and maternal anemia, child growth (height-for-age, weight-for-age, mid-upper arm circumference), value of household wealth, and household consumption. After approximately one year,2 the nutrition and WASH program had a positive impact on savings, a secondary outcome, but did not impact any main outcomes. An equivalent amount of cash (a cost to USAID of $142 per household with $114 being transferred) allowed households to pay down debt and boosted productive and consumption asset investment, but had no impact on child health indicators.  A much larger cash transfer—of more than $500 per household—had a wide range of benefits: it not only increased consumption, house values, savings, and assets, but improved household dietary diversity and height-for-age, and decreased child mortality.

Read More

Policy Impact

Embedded Lab

IPA Rwanda, Georgetown University Initiative on Innovation, Development and Evaluation (gui2de), and Rwanda Education Board founded the Rwanda Embedded Lab to support evidence-driven education policy. Its main objective is to support data-driven teacher recruitment and management.

 

Learn more
In this image:A photo of the IPA Rwanda team. © 2021 IPA Rwanda
Rwanda

Our Team

Rwanda

Our Team

Country Director, Rwanda & Uganda

Patrick Nalere

Patrick Nalere provides overall strategic leadership, management, and coordination of the development and implementation of country office strategies and projects.

Read Full Bio
See all People

01 / 012

Country Director, Rwanda & Uganda

Patrick Nalere

Patrick Nalere provides overall strategic leadership, management, and coordination of the development and implementation of country office strategies and projects.

Read Full Bio

Deputy Country Director

Cassien Havugimana

Cassien Havugimana is the Deputy Country Director for Rwanda & Uganda, for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), based in Kigali. Cassien worked as the Regional Coordinator in Rwanda and Eastern DR Congo for the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH).

Read Full Bio