The Government of Rwanda and the United Kingdom, through the Department for International Development (DFID), yesterday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see the latter provide a grant of £4.5 million (about Rwf5 billion) to support the second National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS2).

The three-year support deal  will facilitate provision of high quality statistical information to inform proper allocation of public services, Uzziel Ndagijimana, the Minister of State for  Economic Planning, said.

 It will also strengthen Rwanda’s national statistics as an essential element of the programmatic approach for evidence-based decision-making, according Ndagijimana.

 "This support will ensure quality and timely dissemination of key statistics that will enable  evidence-based policy formulation,” Ndagijimana said during the signing ceremony in Kigali.

The grant will strengthen the capacity of the National Institute of Statistics in Rwanda (NISR) and the National Statistical System (NSS) to meet immediate data needs for monitoring the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2) as well as future statistical needs.

The new strategy was approved by the Cabinet on September 10, to serve as a coordination tool for the production, dissemination and accessibility of statistics for next five fiscal years (2014/15-2018/19).

Laure Beaufils, the Head of DFID Rwanda, said credible statistics would help provide a clear picture of project results.

"This will consequently play a major role in poverty reduction and economic development,” Beaufils said.

She also revealed that DFID has so far invested nearly £70 million since its inception in Rwanda.

Statistics would also help Rwanda to redirect resources to those areas which are critical to economic growth, she added.

The main pillars of NSDS2 include enhancing vital statistics through civil registration, improved administrative records and regular conduct of surveys and census to inform policy making.

The NSDS2 also targets users of statistics with increased dissemination efforts and public statistical literacy. The total cost of implementing NSDS2 is estimated at Rwf63 billion ($95 million) over the next five financial years.

David Nkusi, NISR’s Head of Corporate Services, said support to NSDS and other associated funding will facilitate the formulation of effective development policies and programmes in pursuit of the EDPRS2 outcomes, the Millennium Development Goals, and Vision 2020.

DFID supports education, agriculture, and social protection sectors.

Rwanda and the UK also recently signed a financing agreement worth £34 million (about Rwf36 billion) for the transformation of the agriculture sector, and technical and vocational training programmes.