Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) is one of the development partners whose support the country has been able to achieve milestones in areas such as agriculture and ICT. For the last nine years since they re-established their Kigali office, Jica has facilitated initiatives that have contributed out to the country’s development goals. The New Times’ Collins Mwai spoke to Jica Country Representative Takahiro Moriya about their work in the country as well as experts opinion on sectors they are involved in. Excerpts;-

Jica has been working closely with Rwanda for the last nine years, what areas have you been keen in supporting?

We are currently focused on four areas all geared toward improving the economic infrastructure of the country. The first is infrastructure where we work on energy and transport, second is agriculture development and small enterprise promotion. We also assist areas like water and sanitation and human resources education.

Regarding transport infrastructure, we are working to assist the regional integration through regional connectivity. Currently, we are focused on the one stop border post at Rusumo border. We are expecting that the project will assist the smooth movement of goods and people between the two countries.

Since the country has prioritised improvement of electricity, we are focusing our efforts in the area in two ways; improving electrification in the country and development in power generation.

Last month, we completed the rehabilitation of a sub-station and improvement of the distribution grid around Kigali. For power generation, the country does not have a national resource except hydro power. However, there is potential for geothermal energy in some parts of the country.

We are providing professionals in the concept development of the master plan. Following the findings of the master plan, we are ready to offer assistance in the construction of a geothermal plant.

The Japanese government also highly supports construction of water supply facilities in parts of the country. We also provide technical support in the improvement and maintenance of facilities.

In the last Tokyo International Conference for African Development meeting, we committed to having ‘one village one product’. With that a unique product in every village would be identified and supported from the local level through cooperatives to improve the financial welfare of people in that community.

What influences your choice of areas to focus on facilitating?

The reason for specific areas that we choose to support is because historically, our country has long experience in this sector that we would like to share. There is also the aspect of division of labour among the development partners.

As a development partner, do you think the country’s targets in Vision 2020 and EDPRS2 agendas are feasible?

The achievement of Vision 2020 and goals highlighted in the second Economic Development and Poverty Eeduction Strategy is dependent on the efforts put in as well as constantly reviewing the appropriate milestones made to decide on the next strategies.

It’s necessary to regularly review progress to plan on strategies. I commend the country for its numerous achievements, and more so, for the aspirations, goals and efforts being put to achieve them.

Rwanda places ICT among its priorities in achieving development goals, has the follow-up been satisfactory?

ICT is important to drive forward any economy, but it cannot be used as a stand alone. Much more impact is achieved when it is used to develop other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, health or financial sectors. More efforts should be put to incorporate ICT to other sectors to achieve more effectiveness.

Rwanda is part of a regional bloc, East African Community. Does your support facilitate the integration process in any way?

Regional approach is important for this country because the country is part of a region. That is why the Japanese government is focused on supporting the regional integration move. We are also interested in supporting joint regional projects such as the power generation.

Jica is involved in development of the local SME sector, what aspects do you need to change to improve their performance?

Regional integration will be key to support SME development, through integration there will be removal of trade barriers or some rules and regulations that hold back small and medium enterprises from doing business in the region. I hope that the EAC will continue to engage in discussions to eradicate any trade barriers that might be there.

Another way to better the condition of SMEs is to improve the accessibility of finances. There are so many enterprises and entrepreneurs that are facing challenges accessing funds form financial institutions.

The government and players in the finance sector should reduce the hurdles present around financing of SMEs.

On the entrepreneurs’ part, they require to have creativity while developing their products and services, with that they will have innovations that will make their products and services marketable.

Higher learning is another area you support. What should be the priorities in the area?

The country’s higher learning sector is in the growing phase; currently major efforts are being drawn to increase the number of enrolment into universities. After that they will have to change the strategy of higher education to make sure that skills offered are in line with market demands.

There is also a challenge of employment of fresh graduates. There should be some mechanisms put in place to link fresh graduates to jobs and also ensure that the graduates’ skills match what employers are looking for.

For human resource education we focus on science education and Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET). We have been providing technical assistance to the Tumba College of Technology since 2007.

So far, about 600 graduates have gone through the institution, with three-quarters of them employed successfully; employers have expressed satisfaction in the graduates.

From your involvement with the agriculture sector, what should change to see to it that there is continuity of food security?

The country has managed to be food-secure, but there is also going to be a shift to the service industry by the majority of the population. With that, they will need food, so there will be a chance in the agriculture market as few people will be left working in the area.

We are focusing to make sure that the market will be ready then and the technology and skills used in farming. In doing this we hope to develop and promote small and medium enterprises.

Rwanda may be aware of the need to increase the efficiency in agriculture production considering the size of land that can be used for agricultural purposes.

There is need to improve the efficiency through the various methods available such as mechanisation and irrigation. We are interested in supporting such initiatives to improve the efficiency.

There should also be a consideration that it is not solely about food security, agriculture should be market-oriented, too, and viewed as a commercial activity. To facilitate this, we choose to engage Rwandan students in training courses to contribute to the agricultural development strategies.

You recently sponsored students to study in Japan. What are the goals of the initiative?

We took 14 students under the ABE initative for masters programme in the areas of ICT and Geothermal development. They are not only going through academics, they will have a chance to work in top firms in Japan as interns. They will learn and get to put their skills to tests and also pick up lessons from the firms they intern in.

I hope they will also engage in business and professional relationship with Japanese companies which could be a gateway to having more firms from Japan involved in the Rwandan business environment and community. The course will take two-and-a-half years. We are hoping to have a batch of students go to Japan every year.

What is one area that you figure the country has excelled in development wise?

According to the Human development report by United Nations Development Programme Rwanda’s performance in the gender equity indicators is much better that of Japan.

In many aspects the government has made a lot of efforts to involve women in various aspects of the economy and of development. Women have proved to be key players in sectors such as agriculture that is why we are always trying to involve them in capacity building. It is also very commendable to see the equality in the education sector.