Social,Economic And Political Reforms In Rwanda Post-Genocide

Rwanda is a country with a particular historical background characterized by ethnic discrimination since the colonial era that led to the 1994 genocide against Tutsi and took over lmillion people's lives.Being a poor country that faced such a tragedy,the country has undergone serious crises that affected social,economic and political aspects.With less or no hope for rebuilding the country out of the chaos,however,the government of Rwanda has implemented policies and measure to come out of this critical situation.Interestingly,several and clear reforms with positive impacts have been put in place to improve the standards of living,giving hope for the better future of such country.In the current work we aim to provide the tremendous changes that took place within the 22 years following the genocide in Rwanda with the belief to share and make available such experiences to the academic world.The education sector as one of the social aspects to be prioritized because historical it was exclusive from the minority ethnic group.The government has made it inclusive and mandatory at primary and secondary levels.The primary overall school enrollment records show that it improved from 63%,100%and 130%from 1990,2003 and 2009,respectively.Secondary education also shifted from 9%to 36%from 1999 to 2010,respectively.On the other hand,Rwanda has also greatly improved gender equality and is amongst top countries worldwide to in empowering women with a trend of 17.1%,56.4%to 64%women's positions in the parliament chamber from 1998,2008 to 2014,accordingly.Additionally,women enjoy the same rights to inherit lands and other properties as men.Through an establishment of a health system with strong policies and procedures,Rwanda has successfully achieved a drop the child mortality rate from 85 deaths/1000 live births in 1992 to 41.7 deaths/1000 live births in 2015;the vaccination coverage increased from 75%to 95%between 2005 and 2010.The maternal mortality rate reduced from 1300/100000 live births in 1990 to 325/100000 in 2015.The HIV/AIDS prevalence is 3%which is lower compared to other sub-Saharan countries and the transmission of mother to child was decreased from 21.5%in 2005 to 2.6%in 2010.Moreover,Rwanda is an agricultural based economy country with relatively few minerals;coffee and tea are the major exports.Between the 1980's and 90's the Rwandan GDP grew at 2.3%.Between 2001 and 2015 the average of real GDP growth was 8%,with the economy growing at 4.7%in 2013,7%in 2014 and 7.5%in 2015.The poverty rate dropped from 44%in 2011 to 39%in 2014.Finally,the country achieved to approve and adopt a new national constitution in 2003 referendum;promoting a decentralized system of administration that contributed to shift power from higher to lower levels and ensure fast development across the country with minimum government expenditures.Consequently,the provinces were deduced from 12 to 5;districts from 106 to 30 and sectors from 1531 to 416 between 1994 and 2006.Moreover,the central and decentralized power is shared among the political parties according to the constitution and other agreements.