How Rwanda became an economic model for the developing world

There are few countries of its size that command the global attention of Rwanda, a compact nation of 11 million people just south of the equator at the crossroads of East and Central Africa.For most, Rwanda is best know as home to one of the most ghastly episodes of the 20th century: the 100 day period in the spring of 1994 when at least 800,000 people – mostly ethnic Tutsi – were murdered by government-backed death squads, as world powers stood by unwilling to intervene. Yet today, Rwanda is increasingly distinguished by its striking post-genocide turnaround: a period that has brought security, economic growth, and vast improvements in education and public health. This dramatic re-birth is chronicled in Rwanda, Inc.: How a Devastated Nation Became an Economic Model for the Developing World, a new book by Chicago-based authors Patricia Crisafulli and Andrea Redmond.Rwanda, Inc. follows the pair’s 2010 collaboration Comebacks, a book that profiles several corporate leaders who thrived after rebounding from major setbacks. Their latest work, in a sense, is Comebacks writ large: a book that examines the renewal of an entire country, as well as its president, Paul Kagame. For Rwanda watchers, the authors’ insights are familiar. Like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and several other high placed Rwanda advocates, Crisafulli and Redmond are full of praise for Kagame – a former guerrilla fighter whose Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) seized power in the wake of the genocide and has since built the nation from the ground up.From the genocide to the present, Rwanda, Inc. navigates the history of Kagame’s leadership and highlights several homegrown policies that have been critical to Rwanda’s development. These include gacaca, a system of community-based tribunals used to deliver justice to tens of thousands of genocide suspects, and imihigo, strict performance-based contracts that ensure accountability among all holders of public office.The results, including improvements in food security, vast reductions in maternal and child mortality, and a million people removed from poverty between 2006 and 2011, speak largely for themselves.Though Kagame, While Crisafulli and Redmond write, is no messiah, he is “a servant leader who puts the needs of others ahead of his own,” and a man responsible for making his country “stronger, unified, and one of the best business climates in Africa.” Former United States President Bill Clinton says of the book: “In Rwanda, Inc., Crisafulli and Redmond recount the rise of an unyielding people and their chief executive, President Paul Kagame. The Rwandans, rallying around their national pride, have built predictable systems that reward enterprise and hard work, and created an exceptional blueprint for other developing countriesStephen Kinzer, author of A Thousand Hills, describes Rwanda Inc. as “the story of the most exciting development project underway in the world today.” Kinzer goes on: “In the 21st century, finding ways to transform poor countries may mean the difference between war and peace. Any country that can provide a model for how to make poor societies prosperous will contribute decisively to global stability. This book suggests Rwanda may be building that model.” Agencies