KIGALI - The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has announced a series of massive changes following recommendations from a committee set up by Cabinet last year to streamline the structure and operations of the institution.

John Gara, the new RDB Chief Executive Officer, unveiled the changes that took effect this month.

The new structural changes consist of categories which will replace the different bodies which initially made up RDB and headed by Deputy CEOs who operated under the overall CEO.

The new categories include the Economic Departments responsible for developing their respective clusters, namely, Agriculture, Tourism, Trade and Manufacturing, Services, Information Technology and Human and Institutional Development.

"We believe we have devised a new structure for RDB that will improve every area of the institution. It will merge the work, create synergies and increase collaboration within the different parts of RDB,” Gara said.

He noted that the process also aims at addressing critical areas that were previously not focussed on, at the same time optimising RDB’s resources to improve services.

"The changes we are announcing today will ensure that this iconic institution will be fast tracking development in a way that is profitable and sustainable for the country,” He added.

The new structure will have a Chief Operating Officer (COO) and a Chief Financial Officer (CFO), both reporting to the CEO.

New changes will also have two cross-cutting departments; Investment Promotion and Implementation which will be responsible for all promotional work, unlike in the past where individual economic clusters promoted their own initiatives.

Support Divisions and Units including Administration and Accounting, Human Resources, Procurement, Legal, Communications and Public Relations, Customer Care, and Strategy and Competitiveness have also been formed under the new structure.

The Directors of the six economic cluster departments as well as the Investment Promotion and Implementation Department will report to the COO while the Director of the Assets and Business Management Department as well as the Heads of Administration and Accounting, Human Resources, and Procurement will report to the CFO.

The Legal, Communications and Public Relations, Customer Care, and Strategy and Competitiveness Units will operate under the office of the CEO.

In the new arrangement, the economic departments will define priority strategies and policies with the aim of unleashing all investment potential in Rwanda in the respective cluster by providing key pragmatic guidance to increase the promotion effectiveness of the Investment Promotion and Implementation division.

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