A model for the millennium: One village paves a path out of poverty

If you had visited Mayange Village in Rwanda’s Eastern Province five years ago, you would have found a desolate landscape that was feeling the effects of a severe draught, and a desperate community of 50,000 people – mostly Genocide returnees – that held out little hope for the future. With no electricity or running water, no medicines or equipment, and an HIV prevalence rate of 13 per cent, it was, in fact, one of the poorest regions in the country. Make the 40km trek from Kigali now, five years later, and you’ll find a very different picture. Mayange is green with lush cassava plants that line the roads. Cash crops are being harvested. Goats and chickens roam freely. Line-ups form outside the newly refurbished health clinic and maternity ward. Children sleep under mosquito nets. And, more than that, the community is looking forward. “What we are doing now is not a miracle,” says Donald Ndahiro, Project Manager of Rwanda’s Millennium Village and the man behind all of the change. “It’s what should be done.” The Millennium Villages Project In September 2000, world leaders gathered at the United Nations Millennium Summit to discuss a new global partnership aimed at reducing extreme poverty. The result was the creation of the Millennium Development Goals – quantified targets for addressing problems of poverty, health, gender equality, and disease. Led by the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the United Nations Development Programme, the Millennium Villages Project was created as a means to achieve those goals. By taking one region at a time and investing sufficiently in well-researched technologies and community-based strategies, all of the UN and local and national governments were hoping to create a successful and scalable model of rural development. There are currently 79 Millennium Villages in 12 clusters spread throughout ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa, each with its own unique agro-ecological characteristics. In 2005, Mayange was selected as the site for Rwanda’s project precisely because of the difficult development challenges it was facing, namely with farming, water, and disease. Mayange’s interventions were chosen for their simplicity and proven effectiveness in poverty reduction: high-yield seeds, fertilisers, medicines, drinking wells, bed nets, and materials to build schools and clinics were all provided, and the results have begun to speak for themselves. In 2005, Mayange had a reported 4,000 cases of malaria. After the introduction of insecticide-treated bed nets that number dropped to 500 the following year. Also in 2005, some 6,000 residents of Mayange accessed local healthcare services. In 2006, that number had jumped to roughly 14,000. Cash crops such as pomegranates, mangos, avocados, and chickpeas are beginning to be cultivated in order to move farmers beyond subsistence living. A newly paved road connecting Mayange to the capital, Kigali has also begun to help facilitate economic development within the region. With the travel time between the two regions cut in half, tourism and handicraft cooperatives began to spring into action and take advantage. “You try to use all available interventions so that people can get out of poverty,” says Ndahiro. “Within two years, things are changing. There is some sign of hope.” New partnerships blossom Mayange is home to the Rwanda Nziza Tourism Cooperative, an organisation founded by locals that aims to encourage tourism to the area based on regional activities. From farming to weaving to traditional dancing, Rwanda Nziza allows tourists to gain a unique insight into rural Rwanda, while at the same time spurring economic development within the region. Last week, Rwanda Nziza entered into a formal partnership with New Dawn Associates, a local company that focuses on encouraging educational, sustainable, and community-based tourism in Rwanda. Together, the two groups are set to create a range of micro-enterprise opportunities that will support the community and attract tourists to this unique project. Aside from the anticipated benefits for participating individuals, NDA will also be contributing to a Community Development Fund, as well as an Education Fund and a Health Fund, which will go directly towards supporting initiatives in Mayange. “The benefits that will come out of this cooperation are many,” says Nsenga. “It will benefit the entire community.” Dr. Michael Grosspietsch, Director General of NDA, echoes those thoughts, saying, “This is a very important step not only in our collaboration but for the Millennium Villages Project in total.” Reconciliation Rwanda’s Millennium Village is unique in that it is also striving to act as a vehicle for reconciliation and heal the wounds of the 1994 Genocide. Living directly next door to each other can be found Genocide survivors and perpetrators in a functioning social experiment that leaves most outsiders baffled. “We had no other way to reconcile but to live together, to share resources,” says Pierre Celestin Twagirayezu Nsenga, President of the Mayange Council Sector. Janet is a survivor of the Genocide who lost her entire family and husband to Hutu militias. She only managed to escape by going into hiding for two months. “I never wanted to see a Hutu again,” she says. Janet would not only see a Hutu again, but she would also come to live peacefully with them in Mayange. “I’m happy my children can go to a perpetrator’s house and have a meal and that their children can come to my home and enjoy the same meal,” she says. Mathias is one of those perpetrators living alongside Janet in Mayange. Convicted for killing seven people in 1994, he spent ten years in jail. “We had the intention never to find any Tutsi population in the universe again,” he says. Today, however, Mathias asks for forgiveness for his role in the Genocide, which he blames on bad leadership that encouraged the Rwandan people to be divided. And, surprised that the post-Genocide Tutsi-dominated government did not exact revenge, Mathias decided to embrace the spirit of unity. “I’m happy we no longer identify ourselves by ethnic backgrounds, but we are all Rwandans,” he says. “I feel so sorry for what I did because I did it out of ignorance, but I feel happy the government is encouraging reconciliation.” Moving forward Despite the modest success of Mayange’s interventions, progress throughout the rest of Africa has remained limited. Critics have called into question the methods of Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, the UN economist who heads the Earth Institute, for what they see as an idealistic approach to some of the toughest challenges facing the global community. Even where there have been pockets of success, critics fear that the pace with which these strategies are being implemented is too fast for its own good. Still, the government of Rwanda likes what it has seen so far and remains committed to the guiding principles behind the Millennium Villages Project, even using it as the basis for its nationwide development plan, Vision 2020-Umurenge, which was unveiled in 2007. Here, mayors of each of Rwanda’s 30 districts were asked to select a sector in which they could implement interventions akin to those introduced in Mayange. President Paul Kagame’s goal was to use the success of Rwanda’s Millennium Village and scale it up to create Africa’s first Millennium Nation. Until 2020 comes around, everyone involved is remaining optimistic. “Rwanda has to carry forward with regards to poverty eradication,” says Ndahiro. “The goals and objectives of the Millennium Villages Project will really be achieved.” Ends