Rwanda has made remarkable economic progress since the 1994 genocide. Per capita incomes rose from US$140 in 1994 to US$260 in 2006. The economy grew 5.5 percent in 2006 and 6.0 percent in 2007. However, food insecurity remains a significant threat in Rwanda, which is a low-income, food-deficit and least-developed country, ranked 161st of 177 countries in the 2007 UNDP Human Development Report.
High population density and growth have led to deforestation, soil erosion and decreased agricultural productivity. At least 28 percent of households (2.1 million people) are food-insecure, and another 24 percent are highly vulnerable to food insecurity. Food utilization is also a problem, as reflected in high levels of maternal and child malnutrition in many parts of the country. Over 40 percent of children are chronically malnourished, while one child in four is underweight.
The Government of Rwanda, through the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) for 2008-2012, gives high priority to the creation of improved safety nets for the poorest and the most vulnerable people. The Government plans to launch a national school feeding programme, which links directly to the Education Sector Strategy (ESSP).
Rwanda is one of eight pilot countries for the One UN “Delivering as One” initiative. The ONE UN programme focuses on five strategic thematic areas: governance; health, HIV and population; education; environment and sustainable growth and social protection.
WFP is working to connect farmers in Rwanda to markets through the Purchase for Progress initiative. Learn more
Under its current relief operation, WFP provides food assistance to refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, as well as Rwandan refugees returning home. Food-for-work projects for badly affected communities also help create vital assets such as terraced land, dams, new tree plantations, and improved roads and housing.
WFP also supports moderately malnourished children and their mothers through a supplementary feeding programme, as well as severely malnourished children and their care-givers in therapeutic feeding centres. A project to provide rabbits to health centres is designed improve protein levels in daily diets. To ensure improved adherence to anti-retroviral treatment by people suffering from HIV/AIDS, WFP provides patients with corn-soya blend (CSB), oil and sugar, to be served as porridge.
Every school day, 300,000 primary school students receive a hot lunch in 300 schools dotted around the most food-insecure parts of the country. WFP is working to strengthen government capacity in managing the Rwanda’s school feeding programmes. WFP will gradually hand over school feeding responsibilities to the government from 2009, with a full phase-out expected by 2012.
WFPs operations in Rwanda target 548,500 people for food assistance in 2008.
