UK’s IPPR Visits Rwanda’s First Think Tank
A lone think tank in Rwanda may at first glance have little in common with those that compete for political space in the crowded and tribal politics of the UK.
Yet we found many common concerns – practical, political and ethical.
At both IPAR and ippr we recognize the need for tough trade-offs in policy-making just as we strive to maintain our commitment to progressive values.
However, the challenges facing policymakers in the UK are put into perspective when compared to those that faced the new Rwandan Government in 1994 (an administration some IPAR staff had worked for). The genocide left almost a million people dead at the hands of their predecessors and prisons were heaving with perpetrators.
The international community that had dithered during the genocide offered little economic or political support for the difficult decisions in the aftermath.
The policy trade-offs required to maintain stability were stark. Despite criticism from abroad, the Government offered genocide perpetrators the chance to have their prison term commuted to a community sentence in return for a public confession and apology. This process acknowledged the victims’ need for truth and eased the immense pressure on the penal system, encouraging the country to move forwards.
Now, 16 years after the genocide, the capital, Kigali, is one of Africa’s safest cities, with little street crime or traffic. There is a palpable sense of change.
Construction is everywhere as the government strengthens infrastructure – roads, housing, the internet – to boost the private sector and attract tourism and investment from abroad. The government is also trying to shift Rwanda’s rural economy from subsistence farming to a consolidated agricultural sector.
The result is a steady flow of rural migrants into the capital. The urban planning to manage this migration is reminiscent of UK debates about what to do with the urban poor. There’s no talk of a tower block utopia, but just as London’s poorer residents are priced out of the centre, some communities are being relocated to Kigali’s suburbs, with weak transport links into work.
And yet some comparisons serve to illustrate the very different challenges faced by the UK and Rwanda. Both countries share the same retirement age of 65 – for now at least – and citizens of both countries may expect a modest state pension when they retire. But while Britain grapples with a pensions deficit and an ageing population, the Rwandan debate centres on the fact that many Rwandans may never reach retirement age, as life expectancy is little over 50 years old.
Other enormous political differences confronted us too in talking to IPAR about the different contexts we work in. In a country where the media was complicit in genocide and incited people to murder their neighbours, can a think tank champion a free press – or plan a dissemination strategy – in the same way?
The capacity of the Rwandan media was diminished in 1994 when most moderate journalists were killed, and today the press is accused of the politics of slander and sniping (perhaps not so different from parts of the British press after all).
The past is never far from view. Rumours surrounded the assassination of a journalist the week before our trip. The international press picked up on accusations of government foul play, while in Rwanda some say the motive was personal revenge by an aggrieved family for the journalist’s alleged role in the genocide.
At ippr, we believe that we have valuable experience and skills to share from 22 years of policy research.
The trip confirmed that we too can learn lessons to improve our policy and research through relationships with partners across the world. ippr and IPAR hope the relationship will lead to innovative new research projects which bring these fresh perspectives to international issues.
Visit IPAR: www.ipar-rwanda.org
Topics: 2010, Africa, agriculture, Britain, business, construction, crime, economic development, economic growth, economic recovery, Economy, ehtics, EMEA, employment, farming, foreign investment, genocide, Governance, government, Great Britain, housing, infrastructure, internet, IPAR, IPPR, jobs, journalists, Kigali, media, moniter, monitor, news, political space, politics, roads, Rwanda, technology, think tank, UK, United Kingdom
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