Student Number : 7336898 - MSc (Eng) research report - School of Civil and Environmental Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / Theme and Context Despite being the source of two of Africa’s greatest rivers, the Nile and the Congo, Rwanda is a water scarce country and 50% of the citizens of the capital, Kigali, do not have access to safe drinking water. Rwanda’s tragic history of violent social upheaval combined with regional macro-economic factors and the effects of globalization have made this tiny country one of the poorest on the African continent. Aim and Objectives of this Study The aim of this report is to establish the value that Rainwater Harvesting holds as a supplementary water source for the city of. To evaluate this potential intervention, the suitability of the climate for the harvesting of rainwater is reviewed as well as the availability of the required resources and the effect that the prevailing social environment may have on an implementation program. The current developments in the practice of Rainwater Harvesting are researched and ways in which Rainwater Harvesting could be utilized are explored as well as the possible impediments that might be encountered. Scope and Methodology Adopted The scope of the report includes: 1. Providing an overview of the country both geographically as well as socially. 2. Establishing the need for alternative water sources by: a. Reviewing the present water supplies for the city particularly with regard to their vulnerability to the rapid environmental degradation being experienced within the country, b. Reviewing the prevailing water/health nexus. 3. Investigating metrological records, specifically rainfall patterns, and the quality of the statistics. 4. Review international trends and research in rainwater harvesting specifically in poor countries. 5. Considering obstacles to implementing a wide-ranging scheme to harvest rainwater. The methodology adopted includes: 1. Reviewing published research on the subject of Rainwater Harvesting techniques and implementation. 2. Attending symposia on the subject. 3. Meeting with water practitioners both in the public sector as well as in NGOs to establish the current status of water availability, quality and consumption. 4. Conducting on-site research into water sourcing problems in and around Kigali. 5. Designing, sizing and costing hypothetical installations suitable for local conditions. Summary of Main Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations Although the climate and topography are very favorable to the use of Rainwater Harvesting, this report finds that the promotion of Rainwater harvesting is just one of a number of possible interventions which should be pursued in order to improve the availability of water to the citizens of Kigali The cost and sophistication of Rainwater Harvesting schemes vary considerably but at the lower end of the scale the technology would be affordable to most Kigali residents and the community has the potential human resource to be trained to execute the work. Obstacles to this approach include ignorance about the safety of storing water, the comparative low cost of municipal water the perception that water collection is the responsibility of a family’s women and children. This report also found that a household using a Rainwater Harvesting scheme is likely to require some supplementary water on occasions. Furthermore, as the potential to catch sufficient water is a function of the ratio of a dwelling’s roof area to the number of inhabitants, its efficacy is limited in densely inhabited poor communities. Strong leadership and coordination would be necessary for a successful wideranging Rainwater Harvesting implementation project. In addition a coordinated educational programme will have to be conducted to dispel myths about stored water and to create the required skills base. The statutes and bylaws regarding water would also have to be reviewed to avoid legal impediments. This report concludes that rainwater harvesting cannot be relied upon to fulfill all the communities’ water needs but it can go a long way to improving the general access to safe water and in so doing reduce the time and labour presently demanded, mainly of women and children, in the carrying of heavy loads of water.

Over the past two decades, increasing attention has focused on inclusive education and how it can contribute to improved teaching and learning experiences and thus to the attainment of better learning outcomes for all learners, including those with special educational needs. Initially, attention centred on inclusion in primary and secondary schools, but increasing interest is now being shown to students with special educational needs and their inclusion in tertiary institutions of learning as well. Research on the inclusion of students with special educational needs has largely focused on either one particular group of students, such as students with a particular disability, or on students with disabilities in general, such that these findings are often either only applicable to a specific group or are too general. Not many studies have attempted to compare the experiences of students with different educational needs without being too general. This study explores issues related to the experiences of deaf/hard of hearing and visually impaired students in relation to their inclusion in three Rwandan universities. Inclusive education as an educational policy has a very young history in Rwanda and there is insufficient empirical evidence about its implementation. This study therefore adds to the little knowledge there is about this subject. The study addressed the following questions: what are the experiences of deaf/hard of hearing and visually impaired students in Rwandan universities in terms of educational access and social inclusion in the university environment? What are the similarities and differences between the experiences of deaf/hard of hearing and visually impaired students? What are the underlying causes of these experiences? In what ways do these experiences, either negative or positive, influence the academic performance of these students? How do these experiences influence these students’ perspectives, expectations and hopes for the future? How do the attitudes of students and lecturers in universities with deaf/hard of hearing and visually impaired students concerning inclusion influence the interaction between these students and lecturers on the one hand and the deaf/hard of hearing and visually impaired students on the other? The study was conducted using the mixed methods research approach. Triangulation was the research design employed. Data were collected using questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were completed by 220 students who were neither deaf/hard of hearing nor visually impaired and 55 lecturers without disabilities from three of the five Rwandan universities with deaf/hard of hearing and visually impaired students. Interviews were conducted with six deaf/hard of hearing students, nine visually impaired students, and three lecturers from the same universities. The study found that deaf/hard of hearing and visually impaired students had both positive and negative experiences in their inclusion in Rwandan universities. There were, however, major differences between the perceptions of deaf/hard of hearing and visually impaired students concerning their inclusion in these universities. There were also differences between the deaf students and hard of hearing student about the level of their inclusion. Finally, there were significant differences between the efforts of the three universities to meet the needs of deaf/hard of hearing and visually impaired students. This work concludes by making some recommendations for improving the inclusion of deaf/hard of hearing and visually impaired students in Rwandan universities, recommendations which could be useful to other higher institutions of learning as well in their efforts to include students with special educational needs.

For monitoring the spread of HIV epidemic, both national population-based surveys and antenatal clinics (ANC) are used. However, in all cases, there are potential biases. Bias associated with ANC data includes whether the pregnant women who attend public ANC are representative of all pregnant women. Reduced fertility among HIV-infected women, selection for sexual activity and under-representation of smaller rural sites in surveillance systems are other factors that may be source of biases (Boerma et al. 2003 & Walker et al. 2003). So, the question arising is how women who attend ANC could be representative of the general female population. Evidently, not all women become pregnant and not all pregnant women attend ANC. This research project has been designed to address those biases especially in Rwanda and Malawi. It focused on investigating the significance of this bias by doing a comparative analysis of sero prevalence between both those using ANC and those who do not. This study, therefore, intends to test whether women attending ANC may be representative to the general female population of both Rwanda and Malawi using respectively 2004 MDHS and 2005 RDHS. Using statistical techniques with the aid of STATA software program, univariate, bivariate and logistic regression (bivariate and multivariate) were performed for 11321 women in Rwanda and 11698 in Malawi aged between 15 and 49. However, among them, those who had live birth in last five years prior to the surveys were the most interested on in this study; that is especially, 5390 in Rwanda and 7304 in Malawi. Besides, HIV status of respondents was an important variable. Considering both women who had live birth and those who did not have live birth, I find that women who had live birth in Rwanda are 0.62 times less likely to be HIV positive and 0.48 times less likely to be infected for those who had live birth in Malawi. When controlling for women who had live birth, I find that in both countries women who use ANC are less likely to be infected compared to those who do not (0.53 times less likely in Rwanda and 0.58 times less likely in Malawi). Based on these findings, relying only on data from ANC may lead to biases in HIV prevalence estimates; particularly referring to 2004 MDHS and 2005RDHS. Besides, considering the level of significance of the difference between HIV status between those who use ANC and those who do not, I find that this is not identical in Rwanda (5% level of significance) and in Malawi (10% level of significance). Thus, these results suggest, briefly, that not only the degree of ANC data representativeness is changing depending on various stages of HIV epidemic as Fylkesnes said (1998), but also is affected by the amount of women who had live birth and their respective HIV status. In fact, this difference may be based on the fact that in Malawi, HIV prevalence is high compared to Rwanda and those who had live birth were in high percentage comparing to Rwanda.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / I set out to rethink the ongoing conflict in North Kivu and South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). I highlight two problems with regards to the current conceptualisation of the conflict in North Kivu and South Kivu. The first is a theoretical problem and here I demonstrate that the Banyarwanda and Banyamulenge’s quest for belonging has so far been restricted to citizenship. Congolese Banyarwanda and the Banyamulenge find themselves in a peculiar situation, at various times in the postcolonial Congolese state they had recognition from above but lacked recognition from below. It is in this context that a politics of belonging developed. The second problem is with regards to the history of the conflict. I argue that most scholarly works take the 1993 conflict in North Kivu as the starting point of the conflict, but the conflict can be traced back to an earlier date. It was with this in mind that I pose the following question: Can the conflict in North and South Kivu in the DRC be considered as a politics of belonging between indigenous Congolese and Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese, and a contest for survival between Hutu and Tutsi elites?

This thesis contributes to current debates on aid politics, policy and practice by exploring the dynamics of the new aid agenda which emerged in the 1990s and early 2000s, focused on poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals. Concerns with aid effectiveness have led to renewed interest in programme aid (particularly budget support), coordination of aid and harmonisation around developing country strategies, and ownership. Through an exploration of aid in Rwanda since 1994, I demonstrate the complexity of translating into practice a global consensus about the need for coherent, coordinated and effective aid. Different understandings and interests exist among donor agencies, within donor agencies, between donors and the developing country government, and within that government. On the one hand these reflect the specific Rwandan context, the recent history of the country, the nature of the Government and its development strategies, individual donor interests, donor domestic social and political issues, and personal agency. On the other hand, these differences relate to more general donor positions, including how donor policies tie in with international shifts in thinking on aid. I further analyze problems around the ownership of development policy and practice in aid-dependent environments. The thesis discusses the Government of Rwanda’s development strategy, its political and developmental priorities, and how these have been affected by its reliance on external assistance. It considers the relationship between the Government and donors and amongst donors by examining coordination and harmonisation mechanisms on the ground. It concentrates particularly on bilateral donors, and takes a deeper look at Belgium, a ‘traditional’ donor to Rwanda, and the UK, a ‘new’ donor, in order to compare and contrast donor positions. I conducted primary research over 18 months in Rwanda, the UK and Belgium, using semi-structured interviews with government officials, politicians and civil society representatives, observation of interactions between the Government and donors, as well as in-depth analysis of policy documents. Diversity among the positions of actors in the aid system is not a new phenomenon. However, given the increasing convergence at the international level around universal goals, my research indicates that a much deeper understanding, and acceptance, of the political and practical complexity of aid at the country level is essential if aid effectiveness debates are to be enhanced.

Drawing on insights from social psychological literature on identity formation, and on social movement and contentious politics literature, this research focuses on elite strategies to gain from or survive a crisis. The research specifically looks at strategies to foster popular support and mobilisation. It explores the use of divisive and ethno-centric discourses and policies aimed at mobilising supporters in times of instability or crisis. More specifically, it studies why some elite mobilising appeals have traction. To do so, the research examines social and psychological mechanisms behind group solidarity. A heightened sense of group solidarity is what leads individuals to think in terms of the group, a necessary step for mobilisation. From there, they can be made to feel appeals for collective action are warranted. Three mechanisms in particular are discussed: opposition, politicisation and simplification. Opposing entails enhancing feelings of attachment by creating a sense of antagonistic relations with another group. Politicising consists in ascribing to group identities a political nature, more conducive to contentious relations. The final strategy is simplification. It amounts to simplifying interpretations of the situation and environment so as to make them more readily internalisable. This framework is applied to contemporary Rwanda and to the lead-up to the wars in Yugoslavia. In the Rwandese case, cultural and historical references were repeatedly used by ruling regimes to foster a Hutu uprising against the Tutsi population. This tactic eventually played a fundamental role in triggering the 1994 genocide. In the former Yugoslavia, Croatian and Serbian elites antagonised group relations by agitating nationalist rhetoric. Though this was a strategy to stay in power or gain support, it also led to the break-up of Yugoslavia and to wars in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Drawing on insights from social psychological literature on identity formation, and on social movement and contentious politics literature, this research focuses on elite strategies to gain from or survive a crisis. The research specifically looks at strategies to foster popular support and mobilisation. It explores the use of divisive and ethno-centric discourses and policies aimed at mobilising supporters in times of instability or crisis. More specifically, it studies why some elite mobilising appeals have traction. To do so, the research examines social and psychological mechanisms behind group solidarity. A heightened sense of group solidarity is what leads individuals to think in terms of the group, a necessary step for mobilisation. From there, they can be made to feel appeals for collective action are warranted. Three mechanisms in particular are discussed: opposition, politicisation and simplification. Opposing entails enhancing feelings of attachment by creating a sense of antagonistic relations with another group. Politicising consists in ascribing to group identities a political nature, more conducive to contentious relations. The final strategy is simplification. It amounts to simplifying interpretations of the situation and environment so as to make them more readily internalisable. This framework is applied to contemporary Rwanda and to the lead-up to the wars in Yugoslavia. In the Rwandese case, cultural and historical references were repeatedly used by ruling regimes to foster a Hutu uprising against the Tutsi population. This tactic eventually played a fundamental role in triggering the 1994 genocide. In the former Yugoslavia, Croatian and Serbian elites antagonised group relations by agitating nationalist rhetoric. Though this was a strategy to stay in power or gain support, it also led to the break-up of Yugoslavia and to wars in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Texte remanié de: Th. doct.--Sci. de l'éduc.--Lyon 2, 2000. Titre de soutenance : L'éducation à la citoyenneté et sa portée : cas du Rwanda. / Bibliogr. p. 259-264.

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M. Tech. Business Information Systems / In the last decade, Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), and Women-owned SMMEs in particular, have significantly increased in many parts of the world. The growing contribution of SMMEs towards the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), job creation, poverty reduction, social and economic development, can no longer be ignored. In recognition of the significance of SMMEs, many countries in the world have created special mechanisms to enhance and facilitate the creation and growth of SMMEs. Lately, the main support services offered to small enterprises include both business development services and financial services by using the cutting edge of Information Communication Technologies (ICT). However, a review of various writings has revealed that despite efforts by numerous governments to establish a support structure for SMMEs, their efforts have not been very rewarding. SMMEs still complain about the lack of access to government support and services. Issues of accessibility were worsened as female business owners face different challenges than their male counterparts. A review of those challenges was conducted in the context of Rwanda. By using a multiple case study design and an interview method for the collection of data, the study identified the support and services provided by the government and the challenges that women-owned SMMEs encountered in their attempts to access them.