AMSTERDAM: Rwanda received a $50 million grant from the government of Netherlands, which will be injected in developing the country’s education and water sectors.Part of the grant worth $35 million will however be used to manage the country’s Integrated Water Resource Management program that seeks to increase access to safe and clean water.
The rest of the funds will be used to promote education through a joint program – the Netherlands Initiative for Capacity building in Higher Education.
“We have been doing a lot of investments in water, plus we have been having a lot of floods and also losing water. We therefore have to combine different processes to make sure that we manage our water, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Claver Gatete said recently in Kigali, shortly after signing the grant.
€œIf we just focus on investing without managing, this becomes a problem. If we cannot preserve what we have, and what we have developed, managing it in a more sustainable manner, this becomes a problem, Gatete said.
Leoni Cuelenaere, Netherlands Ambassador to Rwanda added that her government focuses on securing and providing water of adequate quantity and quality, particularly in remote areas where people face scarcity.
“The grant will help Rwanda to establish institutions and capacity based on its long experience fighting water problems, she said.
On the education grant, she noted that: “The Netherlands will mobilize knowledge institutions, firms, and individuals who will work closely with Rwanda stakeholders in the ministries.”
We expect to develop, implement and maintain quality technical and vocational education and training programs and practical skills training that deliver graduates that respond to the needs of farmers,â she added.
Netherlands supports Rwanda in three priority areas including; private sector development, justice and sanitation – and parts with funds over $230 million in form of grants to these sectors each year.
