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.

Thesis (MTech (Tourism and Hospitality Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010 / This study investigated the extent of local community involvement in tourism development and conservation activities in eastern Rwanda by using Akagera National Park as a case study. The study used a structured questionnaire to collect data from local residents, while face-to-face interviews were conducted with key informants from Rwanda National Tourism and Conservation Agency and local government officials as means to obtain deeper insights. Tosun (2000:626) contends that community involvement in tourism can be considered from at least two viewpoints, namely the decision-making process that would involve community participation and the benefits of tourism development such as employment and business opportunities. Results of this research suggest that community participation in Akagera National Park has been recognised by Rwanda National Tourism and Conservation Agency and the government of Rwanda only in the sense of helping local people to obtain economic benefits via employing them as workers within industry [though, still at a low rate], whilst encouraging them to operate small scale businesses such as curio shops, rather than create opportunities for them to have a say in the process of decision making of tourism management and conservation policies. Although Rwanda has opted for a decentralised system in its rural development plans, it is evident that it has failed to do so in the areas of tourism and conservation - at least in Akagera National Park. The researcher believes that in the light of the research results, the decision making system for Akagera National Park tourism and conservation development plans is still highly centralised, which, conversely, work against participatory development approach. The study recommends that local communities in the Akagera area should be consulted and involved in development programmes within their villages from the start, as this process will present a significant step towards ensuring more adequate participation in conservation and tourism. Finally, the researcher recommends that further studies should be conducted to engage in evaluation of impacts and successes of governmental policy of 5% revenue sharing, which should be implemented in communities around Akagera National Park.

This study investigated the capacity building for developmental local government with reference to the Kicukiro District of Rwanda. Its aim was to examine the contribution of capacity-building interventions towards a developmental local government and at the same time investigate factors that hinder their implementation in Kicukiro district. The study provides an extensive historical background on local government in Rwa-nda with a particular focus on its policy, legal and institutional framework, whereby the developmental local government environment has been analysed. Furthermore, this study explores the theoretical framework of capacity building in general, and in this regard particular emphasis was given to capacity building in relation to developmental local government. The study also argued that without appropriate capacity it would be difficult for the district to fulfil its developmental mandate. This research followed both qualitative and quantitative approaches of study. It involved a survey in which a structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews were used as data gathering instruments. Through data analysis, findings of the study have shed light on the fact that capacity building constitutes an indispensable mechanism for local government to achieve its developmental mandate, despite challenges associated with the process of capacity building. The study found that the Kicukiro district has made a significant progress towards the implementation of capacity-building interventions despite the fact that these interventions are still fragmented, uncoordinated and still supply-driven. Furthermore, the study revealed that the capacities already built generated considerable impetus that contributed to socio-economic development within the Kicukiro district. The study also found that despite the progress made in both capacity building and development in Kicukiro district, there are capacity gaps and factors which are undermining further progress in this regard. Therefore, the study recommends, among others, an effective co-ordination of capacity-building interventions in order to avoid duplication and fragmentation of capacity-building efforts.

Thesis (MPA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A community-centred development which can be qualified as authentic development leads to the sustainability of the community. This must be understood as a process of economic, political and social change springing from the efforts of people themselves working for the benefit of themselves, their families and, hopefully, their communities, which process can be referred to as a self-reliant participatory development. This calls for active mutual self-help among people working together in their common struggle, at the grassroots level, to deal with their common problems. It is also acknowledged that if development efforts are to be effective, then the participation of problem-affected groups is necessary, with support from local government, NGO’s, local resource people and donors, willing to live and work among them. The success of this self-reliant participatory development approach accompanied by inner conviction, a shared understanding, and awareness or consciousness-awakening that people have of their common problems, and finding ways of mobilising resources, planning, implementing and eventually controlling their own development activities. Against this background, however, the roles of government as well as of NGOs, in fighting against poverty and social transformation that leads to the development of the community, remain indispensable. Government roles should be enabling and supportive, and create a space for communities’ needs. This study aimed to explore the decentralisation process to boost the community efforts towards participation in local development management. As the public participation processes in local government do not yield the outcomes that reveal a fully optimised process, the role of the community developer is merely to create an environment of freedom within which the latent development potential of the community can bloom (Schutte, 2000:5). This Rwandan case study offers an overview of its decentralisation and community development policies. The literature review provides the definitions of key concepts regarding the topic, in both the international context as well as Rwandan context. It discusses the topic and highlights definition, objective, different forms of decentralisation, community development and its delivery framework. The findings show that community development depends on the political will that establishes effective and favourable institutions to sustain the self-reliance of the community as well as the awareness of the community of its daily problems and its participation in planning and implementing solutions. The SWOT analysis provides a situation from which to adopt new alternatives and strengthen the existing one in order to face challenges. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Gemeenskapgesentreerde ontwikkeling wat kwalifiseer as oorspronklike ontwikkeling, lei tot die volhoudbaarheid van die gemeenskap. Dit moet gesien word as ‘n proses van ekonomiese, politieke en sosiale verandering wat sy oorsprong het in die pogings van die mense self, wat werk tot voordeel van hulself, hulle gesinne, en hopelik hulle gemeenskappe. Hierdie proses kan na verwys word as selfstandige deelnemende ontwikkeling. Dit vereis aktiewe, onderlinge selfhulp waar mense saamwerk en saamstreef op voetsoolvlak, om hulle gemeenskaplike probleme te oorkom. Daar word ook erken dat om doeltreffend te wees, die deelname van die voordeeltrekkers nodig is, met die ondersteuning van plaaslike regering, Nie-Regerings Organisasies (NGOs), plaaslike kundiges en donateure wat gewillig is om tussen die mense te woon en te werk. Om die sukses van hierdie deelnemende ontwikkelingsbenadering te verseker, moet dit gesteun word deur innerlike oortuiging, ‘n gesamentlike siening, en die bewuswording van die mense self van hulle gesamentlike probleme. Hulle moet maniere vind om hulle hulpbronne te mobiliseer, om te beplan, die planne te implementeer en uiteindelik om hulle eie ontwikkelingsaktiwiteite te beheer. Teen hierdie agtergrond, egter, is die rolle van die regering en die nie-regerings organisasies in die stryd teen armoede onontbeerlik en is dit nodig om sosiale transformasie wat kan lei tot die ontwikkeling van die gemeenskap, te bewerkstellig. Die regering se rol is om die gemeenskap te bekwaam en te ondersteun, en om spasie te skep vir die vervulling van die gemeenskap se behoeftes. In hierdie studie word die desentralisasieproses wat die gemeenskap se pogings tot deelname in plaaslike bestuur bevorder, ondersoek. Aangesien die uitkomste van publieke deelname prosesse in plaaslike regering nog nie ten volle geoptimaliseer is nie, moet die gemeenskapontwikkelaar ‘n omgewing skep waarin die latente ontwikkelingspotensiaal van die gemeenskap vryelik kan blom (Schutte, 2000:5). Hierdie Rwandese gevallestudie bied ‘n oorsig van die desentralisasie en gemeenskapsontwikkeling beleid in Rwanda. Definisies van sleutelkonsepte rakende die onderwerp, in beide die internasionale konteks en die Rwandese konteks word in die literatuuroorsig verskaf. Die onderwerp word bespreek en die definisie, doelwit, verskillende vorme van desentralisasie, gemeenskapontwikkeling en die raamwerk waarbinne dit moet plaasvind, word beklemtoon. Die bevindinge toon dat gemeenskapsontwikkeling afhang van die politieke wil om doeltreffende instansies te skep vir gemeenskappe wat op hulleself kan steun en wat bewus is van hulle daaglikse probleme asook hoe hulle moet deelneem in die beplanning en implementering van oplossings. Die SWOT ontleding verskaf ‘n situasie waaruit nuwe oplossings kan ontstaan en bestaande oplossings versterk kan word, om sodoende nuwe uitdagings tegemoet te gaan.