Universiẗat, Magisterarbeit, --Potsdam, 2005.

Diss. Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2009.

Every country, nation and continent across the world has its own history. That history could be bad or good, according to what happened in that country or continent. Thus, the history of many countries and continents across the world was characterized by internal conflicts, quarrels, disputes, aggressions, wars etc..among its population or by external conflicts or wars against other countries. The impact and consequences of these conflicts and wars were so many and were mostly negative. Indeed, the African continent especially the great lake region has experienced up to now internal and external conflicts and wars. These repetitive internal and external conflicts and wars have negative impacts on the development of those countries. For example Burundi has internal conflicts between Tutsi and Hutu and is involved in an external conflict (war) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C). Uganda is also fighting against the rebels in the North and it is also fighting in the D.R.C. Thus, Rwanda as a country located in Africa, moreover situated in the great lake region has not escaped the internal and external conflict and wars. The history of Rwanda is characterized by different wars since the time of its expansion up to the recent different ethnic wars (1959 , 1960, 1962, 1963, 67, 73 and the genocide of 1994) . The impact of these repetitive wars especially the genocide on Rwanda's socio-economic, cultural, administrative, political, development was so wide and negative. The researcher's contribution through this research consisted in identifying what the impact of national unity has had on sustainable development in Rwanda after seven years in power of the so-called "government of national unity" . Rwandan politicians, the ordinary population or friends of Rwandans together should stand up to fight for building and consolidating the national unity of Rwanda. This research had aimed to identify and to clarify what impact national unity in Rwanda has had on sustainable development, after the genocide of 1994. The research had also as specific objectives to: * Verify if there is national unity in Rwanda; * Identify the different factors that influence national unity in Rwanda; * Verify if the Rwandan administrative system allows sustainable Development; * Identify the factors that influence sustainable development in Rwanda; * Identify the impact that national unity has on sustainable development in Rwanda; *Propose recommendations. This study also aimed to answer four complementary questions not isolated variables. Each allowed one to explain the other and vice versa. These questions are: • Is there national unity present in Rwanda? • Which basic factors for national unity were in Rwanda? • Does the Rwandan administrative system allow sustainable development? • What were the factors in favour of sustainable development present in Rwanda? • What was the impact of national unity on sustainable development present in Rwanda? However, the probable answers to the above questions constitute the hypotheses of the research. These are as follows: • There is a unity among Rwandans. • Rwandan national unity is influenced by political, social, economic and demographic factors. • The Rwandan administrative system allows sustainable development. • The democratic state, the state based on the rule of law, media freedom and the people's participation in national planning are the factors that influence sustainable development positively; • The impact of national unity on sustainable development in Rwanda is measured by the improvement or positive social, economic and political change that can be noticed in Rwanda after the genocide of 1994. • National security, peace, good governance, popular education are the other ingredients for sustainable development in Rwandan. For the methodological framework, the researcher used different methods and techniques. So far, historico-comparative, systemic, structural-functionalist and dialectic methods have been used. Documentary research and investigation (enquiry) by questionnaire and interviews with interview-guide have been used as techniques for collecting data in the field. All interviews were tape recorded. The research is delimited in space and time. In space, the study is limited to the country of Rwanda. In time the delimitation of the study starts from 1994 (after the genocide) up to now. However, running the research all over the country was quite impossible, because of the lack of money and time. So far the representative sample of politicians, the military, journalists, civil and public societies and the ordinary people within five provinces have been chosen as a sample and were taken as the respondents. In this research, all objectives were reached and hypotheses accepted or confirmed. The theoretical framework of the research explored precisely the theme of national unity for sustainable development in general and in Rwanda in particular. The first part of the study is composed of the general introduction, methodology, literature review and the theoretical framework. The literature review defines different concepts and key words relative to unity and sustainable development that will be used in the research. It gives the sources, typologies and forms of conflicts, defines wars and their impact, typology of violence, peace, sustainable development and the issues of unity and development in Rwanda. The theoretical framework defines different theories of conflict, cohesion, democratic peace and development. The second part of the study concerns the exploration of the topic "The impacts of national unity on sustainable development in Rwanda". Done within a sociological framework, the study has reached sufficient results. Regarding the hypotheses, which are subject to verification, the responses from all sampled provinces are in agreement and therefore confirm the hypotheses. Regarding the hypothesis of the need for a "democratic state, state based on the rule of law, media freedom and the participation of people in national planning are imperative for sustainable development"; this was confirmed by 64,4% of the politicians, 72,4% of representatives of the military, journalists, civil and public societies and 63,5% of the ordinary population. The respondents stated that presently Rwanda is slowly becoming a democratic state, with the application of the rule of law and media freedom. However, they also mentioned that peoples' participation in national planning is still at the lower stage. All respondents confirmed that Rwandan national unity facilitates, promotes and encourages the bilateral collaboration between people, between people and authorities and between authorities themselves. The involvement and participation of the people in national planning and protection of national developmental project for future generation; lead to sustainable development. They also confirmed that the Rwandan national unity has improved and influenced positively Rwandan social, economic and political systems. Lastly, good governance, security, peace, unity and popular education were also cited as the other ingredients of national unity and sustainable development. From this study one can see that national unity in Rwanda has a positive impact on sustainable development, and all factors have played their role. The consequences of Rwandan conflicts are: 1. Social; 2. Economic; 3. Political; 4. Judicial. Indeed, after conducting this research, the researcher acquired a technical experience about dealing with people, and authorities. The researcher has verified that the quantitative (with questionnaire) technique that was used, reached limited results. With direct questions that held different possibilities of responses, the respondents had a tendency to give suggested responses, which responses are not often in correspondence with what they feel exactly. However, with the qualitative research (direct interviews with a tape recorder) and the researcher's experience of being a Rwandan who had lived in the country before, during and after the genocide allowed one to collect different information that allowed one to verify the hypothesis. That experience allowed the researcher to collect rich and viable information on the impact of national unity on sustainable development in Rwanda. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2002.

The decision to have a child is one of the most significant two people can ever make. Specifically, couple can typically plan when to begin a family, how large a family they want. Thus if a couple is planning on having a child, they have the responsibility to consider and discuss many things involved in parenting such as family planning. The main purpose of this study is to assess the extent of spousal communication about family planning by focusing on the preferences concerning family size and the desire of additional children. Drawing on the literature review; the study address the conceptual definitions and notions of spousal communication about family planning, attitudes towards family planning and desired fertility, communication and desired fertility, and economic value of children. Using data from the 2000 Rwanda demographic and health survey, the study analyzed a set of selected socio-demographics factors and its correlation with the desire of more children within married people in Rwanda. The results reveal that husbands are more likely to desire additional children compared to their wives. Women in urban areas are more likely to stop childbearing compared to those who live in rural areas and the reverse for man. However education and employment are also associated to the desire for no more children and are significant in the multivariate analysis. As expected son preference is important and affect the desire for additional children, then within any given parity, couples with one or more sons are more likely to stop childbearing compared to those who have no sons. The analysis of the impact of spousal communication about family planning shows that partner who discuss on family planning are more likely to desire no more children than their counterparts who have never discussed the issue. In order to enhance the spousal communication about family planning in Rwanda and improve attitudes towards family planning, it is proposed to promote IEC as a tool of intervention to increase the awareness of spacing and limitation of childbearing. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">The present study aimed to examine the demographic, social and health-related factors that are associated with levels of physical activity participation among adults with diabetes mellitus in Kigali, Rwanda.</p> </font></p>

<p>The aim of the current study was to determine the relationship between low back pain and physical activity levels among nurses in Kanombe Military Hospital (KMH), as well as other confounding factors leading to low back pain. A quantitative, cross-sectional and descriptive design was used to conduct the study. The study population and sample included all clinical nurses in all the departments/wards at KMH (excluding three nurses doing administrative work only and the four who participated in the pilot study). A total of 133 nurses participated in the study and data was collected using three self administered questionnaires. The first one requested socio-demographic data, followed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) which examined the physical activity levels of nurses, and lastly the Nordic Musculoskeletal Disorder Questionnaire which examined low back pain prevalence. A response rate of 122 (92%) was obtained.</p>

<p>Sport participation can play a vital role in enhancing life of youth with physical disabilities. This is because of the rehabilitative influence sport can have not only on the physical body but also on rehabilitating people with disability into society. A successful sport programme in which the youth with disabilities are involved should possibly respect youth‟s wishes regarding the preference of the sport. The Review of the literature revealed that little has been documented about the status of disability sport in developing countries. Given the psychosocial and physiological benefits of sport in everyone‟s life, including those with physical disabilities, there is a need for a study to document the status of sport of this sub-population in Rwanda. This study, therefore, aimed to identify the factors associated with sport preferences among youth with physical disabilities in Rwanda. A sequential mixed model design was used to collect data, specifically the sequential explanatory strategy. Data was collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire and a total number of 204 participants voluntarily answered the questionnaire. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among four (4) NPC staff to collect data regarding the challenges experienced by youth with physical disabilities with regard to sport preferences. The Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19 was used for data capturing and data analysis. Descriptive statistics were employed to summarize demographic information as means, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages. Inferential statistics (chi-square and independent samples t-tests) were used to test the associations between different categorical variables (p&lt / 0.05). For the qualitative data, audiotaped interviews were transcribed and translated from Kinyarwanda into English, and the expressed ideas were coded and reduced into subthemes and categories. Thematic analysis was then done under the generated sub-themes. Permission to conduct this study was obtained from the concerned authorities. Ethical issues pertaining to informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality and the right to withdraw from the study were respected in this current study. The results of the current study revealed that the top five sports played by youth with physical disabilities were sit ball, sitting volleyball, volleyball, table tennis and wheelchair basketball. It also showed that youth with physical disabilities were committed to and enjoyed their sport experience. Additionally, they have had strong feelings about their physical abilities. Discouragingly, the results indicated that the youth with physical disabilities have had low perception that their parents were supportive of their participation in sport. The findings further showed that age, gender, use or non-use of mobility aids, and type of impairment influenced the choice of sport. However, there was no statistically significant association between demographic characteristics and some sports codes played in Rwanda. During the semi-structured interviews, the participants reported the challenges experienced by youth with physical disabilities with regard to sport preferences including physical factors (lack of accessible facilities, uneven playgrounds, transport to and from sport fields, resources and limited sporting codes available), social factors (lack of parental support and models) and financial factors (inhibit the implementation of many sport codes, high cost of adaptive equipment) which influence the youth with physical disabilities to choose a sport with sufficient facilities even if they do not like it. Factors that emerged as facilitators for sport preferences include: sport availability, perceived ability to handle a sport, friendship, facilities, improved individual competences, independence in mobility gained, and to take part in international tournaments. Based on the results of this study, and the role of sport in preventing many chronic diseases, it is apparent that there is a need to widen the spectrum of sport opportunities and to create awareness among youth with physical disabilities. Furthermore, there is a need to provide social and a local barrier-free inclusion of various stakeholders in recommending and designing sport programmes for the youth with disabilities.</p>

This thesis describes an Action Research project within the researcher's practice as a teacher educator in Rwanda. A teaching style informed by the Theory of Didactical Situations in Mathematics (Artigue, 1994; Brousseau, 1997; 2004; Douady, 1991) and by the Zone of Proximal Development (Gallimore & Tharp, 1990; Meira & Lerman, 2001; Rowlands, 2003; Vygotsky, 1978) was conducted with first-year mathematics student teachers in Rwanda. The aim of the teaching model was to develop the student teachers' understanding of the concepts of the definite and the indefinite integrals and their link through the fundamental theorem of calculus. The findings of the analysis answer the research questions, on the one hand, of what concept images (Tall & Vinner, 1981; Vinner & Dreyfus, 1989) of the underlying concepts of integrals student teachers exhibit, and how the student teachers‟ concept images evolved during the teaching. On the other hand, the findings answer the research questions of what didactical situations are likely to further student teachers' understanding of the definite and the indefinite integrals and their link through the fundamental theorem of calculus; and finally they answer the question of what learning activities student teachers engage in when dealing with integrals and under what circumstances understanding is furthered. An analysis of student teachers' responses expressed during semi-structured interviews organised at three different points of time - before, during, and after the teaching - shows that the student teachers' evoked concept images evolved significantly from pseudo-objects of the definite and the indefinite integrals to include almost all the underlying concept layers of the definite integral, namely, the partition, the product, the sum, and the limit of a sum, especially in the symbolical representation. However, only a limited evolution of the student teachers' understanding of the fundamental theorem of calculus was demonstrated after completion of the teaching. With regard to the teaching methods, after analysis of the video recordings of the lessons, I identified nine main didactical episodes which occurred during the teaching. Interactions during these episodes contributed to the development of the student teachers' understanding of the concepts of the definite and the indefinite integrals and their link through the fundamental theorem of calculus. During these interactions, the student teachers were engaged in various cognitive processes which were purposefully framed by functions of communication, mainly the referential function, the expressive function, and the cognative function. In these forms of communication, the cognative function in which I asked questions and instructed the students to participate in interaction was predominant. The student teachers also reacted by using mainly the expressive and the referential functions to indicate what knowledge they were producing. In these exchanges between the teacher and the student teachers and among the student teachers themselves, two didactical episodes in which two student teachers overtly expressed their understanding have been observed. The analysis of these didactical episodes shows that the first student teacher's understanding has been triggered by a question that I addressed to the student after a long trial and error of searching for a mistake, whereas the second student's understanding was activated by an indicative answer given by another student to the question of the student who expressed the understanding. In the former case, the student exhibited what he had understood while in the latter case the student did not. This suggests that during interactions between a teacher and a student, asking questions further the student's understanding more than providing him or her with the information to be learnt. Finally, during this study, I gained the awareness that the teacher in a mathematics classroom has to have various decisional, organisational and managerial skills and adapt them to the circumstances that emerge during classroom activities and according to the evolution of the knowledge being learned. Also, the study showed me that in most of the time the student teachers were at the center of the activities which I organised in the classroom. Therefore, the teaching methods that I used during my teaching can assist in the process of changing from a teacher-centred style of teaching towards a student-centred style. This study contributed to the field of mathematics education by providing a mathematical framework which can be used by other researchers to analyse students' understanding of integrals. This study also contributed in providing a model of teaching integrals and of researching a mathematics (integrals) classroom which indicates episodes in which understanding may occur. This study finally contributed to my professional development as a teacher educator and a researcher. I practiced the theory of didactical situation in mathematics. I experienced the implementation of some of its concepts such as the devolution, the a didactical situation, the institutionalization, and the didactical contract and how this can be broken by students (the case of Edmond). In this case of Edmond, I realised that my listening to students needs to be improved. As a researcher, I learnt a lot about theoretical frameworks, paradigms of study and analysis and interpretation of data. The theory of didactical situations in mathematics, the action research cyclical spiral, and the revised Bloom‟s Taxonomy will remain at my hand reach during my mathematics teacher educator career. However, there is still a need to improve in the analysis of data especially from the students' standpoint; that is, the analysis of the learning aspect needs to be more practiced and improved. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

In 1994, almost a million Tutsi and some Hutu were massacred in Rwanda during the 100 day genocide. Between 1995 and 1998, nearly the same number of Hutu and some Tutsi died, while in flight, primarily in the former Zaire. In the years following genocide, hundreds of thousands of Rwandans have been accused of genocide related crimes. There is not a person in Rwanda who is not directly affected by past violence and the country is in a process of healing and reconciliation. Much of the violence in Rwanda can be traced to perceptions of history and identity. This thesis seeks to unearth narratives of history and identity as a way of exploring possibilities for healing and reconciliation. Through an in-depth examination of four life stories, interviews with leaders in the field of reconciliation in Rwanda and informal interviews with a broad spectrum of Rwandans, this research sheds light on the challenges and opportunities in terms of healing. It finds that through critical engagement with our own and broader socio-political narratives we can expand the possibilities of our own narratives, allowing scope for personal healing as well as leading to a deeper understanding of the other. This can form the basis for sustainable reconciliation. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

In April 1994 Rwanda encountered the most gruesome political conflict, which was widely motivated by decades of ethnic tension, and resulted in the massive participation of ordinary Hutus slaughtering Tutsis, who are a minority along with the so-called moderate Hutus. Large numbers of ordinary Rwandans became killers, some willingly and some by force. About one million Rwandans, mostly Tutsis, lost their lives during the killings. Hence this historic event was declared to be genocide. The post-genocide government of Paul Kagame has been faced with the mission not only to reconcile the nation but also to forge a justice system that will assure Rwandans and those who committed crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity will be punished appropriately. It is outmost important to note that emphasis on justice in cases such as Rwandan genocide might be seen to be most desirable to victims in particular. This idea can be more dangerous particularly if the process takes place in an atmosphere which is characterised by political environment which is oppressive and autocratic. Realising the complexity of the conflict and inability of the conventional justice system to in dealing with the massive cases of people alleged to have participated in the killings or committed crime of genocide. The victims impatiently sought not only justice but answers to what has happened to their loved ones. On the other hand those labeled as perpetrators also wanted to clear their names since some of them believed that they were wrongfully accused and the process was taking too long. The Rwandan government was left with no option and decided to reintroduce the traditional justice system called the Gacaca. The Gacaca system was not only pioneered to render justice to the victims and those wrongfully accused but to reconcile as well as bring peace to the Rwandan society. This study is therefore aimed at providing a comprehensive and compelling explanation of the process and the operations of the Gacaca tribunals. Thus by means of both historical and empirical analysis, the study hopes to determine the challenges confronting the system and the promise it holds, if any, and to recommend the need to adopt and adapt to an approach which is wider and more integrated in dealing with reconciliation in the region. To accomplish this study, data was predominantly sourced from primary sources such as media reports and personal interviews with Rwandan community living in Durban, South Africa. The study revealed that the Rwandan genocide was marked by overwhelming public participation which makes Rwandan conflict even more complex. Killing was seen as work, as well as fulfilling the country's duty. On the other hand not killing was viewed as betrayal especially for thousands of peasants. Almost the entire population took part in the killings. The Gacaca is a unique approach of trying genocide perpetrators adopted in Rwanda. In this thesis I argue that it is through examination of different historical and social factors that the relevance of the Gacaca can be assessed. Furthermore my argument is that Rwanda needs a multi-faceted approach to confront complex problems that it faces politically and socially. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.