President Paul Kagame has attributed Rwanda’s steady progress in the last decade to adoption of home-grown solutions. The President was addressing a high-level meeting on Saturday during the United Nations Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda in New York, US. There is no doubt that Rwanda’s development, as rated by both national and international surveys, has been remarkable in the last two decades. The remarks by the President are a reminder that to move to the next level, and to consolidate the progress, thus made, we need to double our efforts as citizens. And, if need be, we should come up with more home-grown initiatives to complement the ones we have already undertaken. It is not yet time to celebrate, but rather to look at the milestone as a challenge to double our efforts with the help of home-grown initiatives to achieve our vision as a country. With local solutions, achieving the country’s vision is within our reach. The progress achieved through home-grown initiatives is also testimony that we have more local initiatives in store to address our challenges. And the initiatives should not be just about national challenges. We should use homegrown solutions even when addressing challenges at a personal level. One element that has defined Rwanda’s home-made initiatives is the sense of ownership as a result of involving people in formulation and implementation of these solutions. The democratic participation in formulation and implementation of these initiatives explains why these solutions have been successful in achieving the current development progress in the country. Involving the ordinary people in any development process is vital to ensure sustainable development as Rwanda strives to become a middle income country by 2020.
