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International Journal of Training and Development 21:1

ISSN 1360-3736
doi: 10.1111/ijtd.12094

International briefing 35: training and

development in Rwanda

Greg Procknow

Introduction
Rwanda’s recent history is dominated by the genocidal Civil War which was fought
between 1990 and 1994. It wrought an estimated death toll equivalent to 20 per cent of
the total population and left a significant deficit in Rwanda’s human capital (MIFO-
TRA, 2007). Rwanda’s natural resources are very limited and the nation is principally
dependent on its human resources (MINEDUC, 2008c). Post-war human resource
development (HRD) in Rwanda unfolds against a backdrop of human and institutional
capacity-building initiatives, as private and public industries continue to be hamstrung
by capacity and skills shortages (MIFOTRA, 2015).

Basic background data about Rwanda

Geography, languages and population
Rwanda lies landlocked, south of the Equator in Sub-Saharan Africa, with an area of
26,338 sq km. It shares borders to the north with Uganda, to the west with the Demo-
cratic Republic of Congo, to the east with Tanzania and to the south with Burundi
(MINEDUC, 2015a). To buttress decentralization, Rwanda was reorganized into five
provinces: Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern and Kigali City. These were further
partitioned into 30 districts, comprised of 416 sectors, 2148 cells and 14,837 villages, to
ease governance. Kinyarwanda, English and French are the three main languages spo-
ken in Rwanda. Kinyarwanda, the national dialect, was replaced in 2009 with English
as the medium of instruction in education (MINEDUC, 2010).
The Ministry of Education (hereafter referred to as MINEDUC) states that the educa-
tion sector has 3,432,441 students and staff. This is just under a third of Rwanda’s 2014
population of 11,002,631. In 2012, the population aged 16 years or older was 5,846,266,
of whom 4,300,558 were in work (MINECOFIN, 2014). With an urban-rural ratio of
19:81, Rwanda’s urbanization rate has stayed steady at 4.5 per cent (MINEDUC,
2015a). 61.4 per cent of Rwanda’s population fall between the ages of 0 and 24, with a
median age of 19 (MINEDUC, 2015a). Remarkably, life expectancy at birth is consider-
ably better than it was, increasing from 49 years in 2002 to 61 years in 2013 (World
Bank, 2016).

r Greg Procknow, Graduate student at the University of Toronto, Canada. Email: Greg.
procknow@[Link]

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 Economy
The United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are universally accepted
development targets and indicators used by the government as a yardstick to measure
its own performance and growth (UNDP, 2014). ’Vision 2020’ was promulgated in
2000 (UNDP, 2014). The government mined the vein of the MDGs when conceiving
policies and practices to press their ’Vision’ into service (UNDP, 2014). Vision 2020
envisages Rwanda on a progressive path to sustainable, lasting development; first, by
underscoring the import of HRD for meeting long-term development; and second, to
transition Rwanda into a knowledge-based, middle-income economy, accentuating the
urgency for expanded domestic exports and services (Muyenzi, 2008; WDA, 2013).
Medium-term economic strategies are the pillars holding up Vision 2020. The Poverty
Reduction Strategy (2002–2005), was the precursor policy to both Economic Development
and Poverty Reduction Strategies (EDPRS), EDPRS I (2007-2012) and EDPRS II (2013-
2018) (UNDP, 2014). MDGs were mainstreamed into each EDPRS I/II. EDPRS I/II sug-
gest a criteria for how budgets will be apportioned to priority sectors to ensure MDGs
are met (UNDP, 2014). EDPRSs are ratified through Sector Strategic Plans.
Rwanda’s 2015 GDP was US$8.763 billion, with a stable growth rate of 5.85 per cent
since 2000 (IMF, 2016). Sustained external debt has kept Rwanda’s economy afloat. 76.4
per cent (US$1.754.2 billion) of the total public debt, the equivalent to 23.3 per cent of
the GDP is owed to foreign lenders (Agutamba, 2015). Rwanda has in the last 15 years
set itself modest economic targets. GDP per capita income has increased from $200 in
2000 to a still paltry $768 in 2015, a growth rate of 8.3 per cent (IMF, 2016). EDPRS II
broadened Rwanda’s economic vision to increase GDP per capita income to $1240,
secure a GDP growth rate of 11.5 per cent, urbanize 35 per cent of the population and
create 1.8 million off-farm jobs, at a rate of 200,000 per annum by 2020 (Twagiramungu
& Ngendahayo, 2011; UNDP, 2014). The unemployment rate in urban areas is 7.7 per
cent, twice the national average of 3.4 per cent, comparatively lower in rural zones at
2.6 per cent (MINEDUC, 2015a). Services and agriculture combined account for 86 per
cent of the national GDP, 53 and 33 per cent, respectively (MINEDUC, 2015a).

Post-war public training and development policy

Education
The Genocide left Rwanda’s education sector in tatters and the nation as a whole with
a calamitous human capacity deficit (MINEDUC, 2015a). However, poised on the brink
of bankruptcy and debt, the interim government revitalized education in September
1994, although its financing faltered. Dilapidated schools struggled to reopen, teachers
worked voluntarily without remuneration, and parents were worse off, afflicted with
anxiety, uncertain as to whether their children sent to school would return at day’s end
(MINEDUC, 2015a). The March 1995 national conference on education found the edu-
cation system to be broken and acknowledged the pressing need for rebuilding (MINE-
DUC, 2015a). Over the ensuing decades, a variety of policies, agendas and investments
reinvigorated education in Rwanda. The first initiative was the Educational Sector Policy,
ratified in 1998, which led to the first remedial steps being taken (MINEDUC, 2003, p.
3). Signatory nations to the UN’s Dakar, Senegal, Framework of Action, ’Education For
All’ (EFA) in 2000, pledged to bring to fruition fee-free schooling of acceptable quality
for all primary school age children by 2015 (MINEDUC, 2015a). The former Ministry of
Education, Science, Technology and Scientific Research, now MINEDUC, coordinated
the EFA action plan (MINEDUC, 2003). The same year, the government devolved
responsibility for education from a central authority to the community level, with dis-
tricts administering schools in their own district (MINEDUC, 2013b). Matters of educa-
tional access and quality fell within the remit of individual schools (MINEDUC,
2008b). The government called for communities to commit more than financial aid:
they were asked to take ownership and to revitalize their schools through Umuganda
(monthly unpaid labor) (MINEDUC, 2015a). The Education Sector Policy (2003) intro-
duced the Sector Wide Approach (SWAp). SWAp is known for subsuming all spheres of

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education into one sector, to prevent redundancies and leverage this sector’s extant
resources (MINEDUC, 2003). Policies translated into strategies for sector and subsector
planning through SWAp were published in 5-year Education Sector Strategic Plans
(ESSPs) (MINEDUC, 2008b). Capitation grants removed financial deterrents for school-
aged children and adolescents to access primary (P1-6) education in 2003; 100,000 chil-
dren enrolled in P1 that year. In 2009, sweeping change came in response to the Nine-
Year Basic Education (9YBE) policy, reforming mandatory basic education from 6 to 9
years, and annexed lower secondary (S1-3) (MINEDUC, 2008c). This Policy was touted
as ‘the foundation for HRD in Rwanda’ (MINEDUC, 2008b, p. 3). Parliament estab-
lished the Rwanda Education Board (REB) by ministerial order Law No. 44/2010 (MINE-
DUC, 2015a). Curriculum design, material and equipment provision and the
inauguration of unitary standards in education are among the functions of the REB
(MINEDUC, 2013a). With basic education expanded, ESSPs 2008-2012 and 2010-2015
prioritized reforms in post-basic education, technical and vocational education and
training (TVET) and tertiary education (MINEDUC, 2010). In 2012, 12-Year Basic Educa-
tion (12YBE) extended capitation grants and fee-free education to 12 years taking in
upper secondary (S4-6) (MIFOTRA, 2015). 12YBE is not a replacement for 9YBE, only
an optional upgrade. Coinciding with Vision 2020’s notion of a ’knowledge-based
economy’, the 12YBE permits a child to stay in school until they reach 18 and can exit
with employability skills (UNDP, 2015).
The government allotted RwF100 billion to the 2015/16 education budget (Nuwama-
nya, 2015c). There are 808 Rwandan Francs to one US$(XE, 2016). Rwanda was
awarded the 2012 Commonwealth Education Good Practice for its innovative fast-
tracking strategies of its 9YBE plan (UNDP, 2014). Today, Rwanda’s primary school
enrolment rates are among the highest in Africa, with a 2013 total of 2,402,164, which is
96.9 per cent of the age group (MINEDUC, 2015a). Primary enrolment increased from
2093 in 2000 to 2650 in 2015. Similarly, secondary school enrolment grew by 350 per
cent from 125,124 (2000) to 566,370 (2013). Its infrastructure grew from 363 schools in
2000 to 1455 in 2013 (MINEDUC, 2015b). At the time of writing, a competency-based
curriculum was being rolled out piecemeal at the primary and secondary levels
(UNDP, 2015).

Technical and vocational education and training

TVET gives young people and/or the unemployed a hands-on, heuristic approach to
learning, and formal qualifications (IPRCs, 2016; UNDP, 2015). TVET curriculums aim
to remedy deficits in human capital and labor shortages (UNDP, 2015). TVET is not its
own level of education, but instead, an alternative career path to 12YBE, embedded
within secondary and tertiary education (MINEDUC, 2013b). TVET was often
shunned, afforded no real budget, and those involved held the development of human
resources as falling inside the purview of the private sector (MIFOTRA, 2007; WDA,
2015). Rwanda’s first TVET Policy (2008), consonant with Vision 2020, EDPRS I/II, and
the ESSP 2008–2012, signalled a significant shift in TVET reform (MINEDUC, 2010).
First, TVET was shoehorned into one umbrella TVET system (IPRCs, 2016). Second,
vocational training was reoriented to be responsive to labor market demand. It fol-
lowed a corpus of protocols to optimize service delivery, certification and accreditation
(Musobo & Gaga, 2012). Third, this policy set in motion the beginnings of two autono-
mous authorities under the aegis of MINEDUC: the Workforce Development Authority
(WDA), which sowed the seeds of the TVET strategy nationwide; and Integrated Poly-
technic Regional Centers (IPRCs), which became expertise hubs for TVET on a region-by-
region basis (EUEI PDF, 2012).
State allocation of TVET expenditure saw a threefold increase from RwF19 billion in
2011/12 to RwF48 billion in 2013/14, one-fifth of the total education budget (UNDP,
2015). Presently, the WDA’s existence is contingent upon this continued unilateral
financing. The WDA is searching for tenable alternatives to finance TVET (WDA,
2015).

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 TVET centres comprise Technical Secondary Schools (TSSs), Vocational Training
Centers (VTCs) and IPRCs, described below. Added together these centres have
increased in number from 60 in 2009 to 387 as of September 2015 (Nuwamanya, 2015c).
Sixty-eight per cent of TVET provision is private, 22 per cent public and 10 per cent
government-sponsored (WDA, 2014). TVET enrolment has risen from 52,386 in 2010 to
93,024 in 2014; the ESSP 2017/2018 projects a higher 2018 target of 134,185 (WDA,
2015). The number of trainers involved in TVET has increased from 398 in 2010 to
3595 in 2014, improving the student to trainer ratio to 25:1 in 2015 (MINEDUC, 2015b).
Rwanda’s TVET is comprised of three tiers: (1) TSSs; (2) VTCs; and (3) IPRCs
(Rwanda Education Portal, 2016). Together VTCs and TSSs have been lauded as Rwan-
da’s ‘grassroots TVET providers’ (MINEDUC, 2013b, p. 35). VTCs dispense lower sec-
ondary (S1-3) graduates and/or youth out-of-school, short competency-based modules
6-to-12 months long, from Level 1 to Level 3 (TVET Certificate 1), and longer-term cer-
tificates and diplomas, over a duration of 1-3 years (MINEDUC, 2015a). Community-
based VTCs have nearly tripled from 61 locations in 2010 to 174 in 2014, 62 per cent of
which are privately run (MINEDUC, 2015a). In a similar vein, enrolment also tripled
from 6184 in 2010 to 21,566 in 2014 (UNDP, 2015). This rise in enrolment is due in part
to meeting the EDPRS II objective of attracting rurally-raised young people to off-farm
jobs (MIFOTRA, 2015). TSSs connect technical vocational subjects to upper secondary
students (S4-6) up to Level 5 (TVET Certificate 3) (MINEDUC, 2015b). TSSs have
surged in numbers from 77 in 2010 to 179 in 2014, with a total enrolment of 66,113
(UNDP, 2015; MINEDUC, 2015a). IPRCs offer senior upper secondary graduates (S6)
diplomas (Level 6), and advanced diplomas (Level 7), a TVET Certificate 5; a notch
below a university degree (MINEDUC, 2015c). Polytechnics have grown from 2 in
2010, with only 546 enrolled, to 12 in 2014, where enrolment soared to 5345 (MINE-
DUC, 2015b).
Recurrent growth has surely benefitted TVET; however, TVET continues to be beset
by problems concerning the employability and quality of its graduates, who are new
labor market entrants. 71.6 per cent of employers were satisfied with TVET graduate
performance (see ESSP 2013/14-2017/18), a number the State would like to see grow to
81 per cent before the current policy expires (WDA, 2015). In these surveys, the private
sector criticizes graduates’ lack of social and cognitive acuity and technical and practi-
cal competence (MINEDUC, 2015c), ability (MINEDUC, 2013b), analytical and problem
solving skills and lack of awareness to anticipate and respond to customer needs
(MINEDUC, 2013b). Instructional materials and equipment are lacking, leaving TVET
instructors little recourse other than to impart theoretical knowledge, rather than twin-
ing learning with the relevance and realities of the workplace (Musobo & Gaga, 2012).
As a consequence, TVET is being debased and is alleged to be ’second-rate education’
(WDA, 2015). Low salaries and lack of incentives have allowed the siphoning off of
qualified TVET trainers to the private sector, paying as much as four times more than
the public sector (MINEDUC, 2008a). The WDA worked concertedly with TVETs using
the following two-pronged approach: first, to correct the quality of instruction with the
introduction of the TVET Trainer Qualification Framework; and, second, to pioneer train-
the-trainer divisions within IPRCs (MINEDUC, 2015c). TVET has now ‘emerged as one
of the most effective HRD strategies that Rwanda has embraced in order to train and
modernize the technical workforce for national development’ (WDA, 2015, p. 3).

Higher education institutions

The Rwandan Higher Education Qualifications Framework has approved a seven-level hier-
archy of qualifications conferred by higher education institutions (HEIs): certificate of
education (Level 1); diploma in higher education (Level 2); advanced diploma in
higher education (Level 3); an ordinary degree (Level 4); bachelor degree with honors
(Level 5); master degree (Level 6); and a doctoral designation (Level 7) (UNDP, 2015).
Of the 45 HEIs registered in 2014, 17 were public and 28 private (UNDP, 2015). Enrol-
ment in private institutions surpassed that of public for the first time in 2012, 43,717
and 40,731, respectively (MINEDUC, 2015b). This trend is indicative of how higher

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education provision in Rwanda is moving toward the private sector. Rwanda’s post-
independence period produced less than 2000 university graduates between 1963,
when the National University of Rwanda opened, and 1994 (MINEDUC, 2008c). Only
modest expansion of HEIs has occurred during Rwanda’s post-genocidal recovery.
Rwanda’s first meaningful foray into improving HE came with passing the 2005 Law
Governing the Organization and Functioning of Higher Education. The operational man-
date, duties, and responsibilities of private and public HEIs are couched in the lan-
guage of this Law (MINEDUC, 2008b). Partly originating in this Law, the semi-
autonomous National Council for Higher Education had its official genesis in ministerial
order Law No. 23/2006. It has since been rebaptized the Higher Education Council
(HEC) with the directive to assess and accredit HEIs, and ensure the same quality
assurance standards are rigidly adhered to throughout the system (MINEDUC, 2010).
Continued reform followed closely on the heels of the Higher Education Policy (2008).
This gave expression to the catalytic role played by HEIs in nurturing the development
of the nation’s human resources (MINEDUC, 2008c). In 2008, 44,000 students were
enrolled in an HEI. Enrolment has since doubled to 87,013 (2014) (UNDP, 2015). ESSP
2013/14-2017/18 is projecting enrolment to swell to 102,777 by 2017: namely, by: (1)
cogently linking educational and rural needs, (2) expanding HEIs in rural zones, and
(3) making full-time, part-time, open, distance and e-learning options accessible to all
Rwandans (MINEDUC, 2013b).
In 2013, seven public independent HEIs, including the NUR, amalgamated to form
the multi-campus/-disciplinary University of Rwanda (MINEDUC, 2013b).
Presently, 24.2 per cent of post-secondary graduates are either unemployed or under-
employed (MINEDUC, 2013b).

Workforce Development Authority

The WDA originated in the passing of Law No. 03/2009, and today draws breath from
MINEDUC (MINEDUC, 2010). The Law brought the WDA into existence, in part, to
harmonize TVET provision and to preside over regulatory and accreditation standards
and curriculum development. The WDA is the nation’s strategic response to resolving
issues related to human capital accumulation (MINEDUC, 2010; Twagiramungu &
Ngendahayo, 2011). In 2012, The National TVET Qualifications Framework was intro-
duced to ease horizontal, vertical and diagonal mobility of students by setting the
equivalency of different national qualifications (MINEDUC, 2013b; WDA, 2015).
MINEDUC, in league with the WDA, created the Skills Development Project (SDP) on
October 6, 2011; expired on May 31, 2016 (WDA, 2013). With a World Bank injection of
$30 million, the SDP was realized in three components (Nuwamanya, 2014a): The first,
enlarged technical access and capacity by piloting demand-responsive, competency-
based curriculums in seven public VTCs, honing in on eight priority occupations with
acute skills deficits e.g. hospitality/tourism and construction (WDA, 2013). The result-
ing outgrowths of the SDP served as benchmark catalysts for how best to align training
and employer demand for technical and practical skills (WDA, 2013). The second com-
ponent, monitored and assessed the first component’s performance outcomes. This
data was used for readjusting strategic policy, ‘by providing sound analyses concern-
ing key aspects of the training system and the labor market’ (WDA, 2013, p. 5). The
third component, ’Rapid Skills Delivery’, installed competitive sub-grant Skills Devel-
opment Facilities as stopgaps to speedily reduce skills shortages in priority occupations
(WDA, 2013). More than RwF2 billion in grants was awarded to 50 rival institutions,
providing 4000 employees with skills pertinent to their industry. As an example, 99
trainees were matriculated in a 3-month firefighting course (Nuwamanya, 2015a).
However, as a mechanism for ensuring the supply of training matches the demand,
the SDP has done little to assuage the country’s skills deficit (WDA, 2013).
To help marry TVET training to the market economy, the Ministry of Public Service
and Labour (MIFOTRA) spearheaded the National Employment Program (NEP) in 2014.
The NEP is a strategic effort supporting the EDPRS II aim of turning out 200,000 off-
farm jobs annually by 2020 (UNDP, 2015). Skills development is one of four pillars of

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the NEP. The WDA prescribes the training methods to this pillar (Nuwamanya,
2015d). In 2014/15, 7000 trainees undertook Massive Vocational Training, Rapid Response
Training and/or Industrial-Based Training (IBT) (Nuwamanya, 2015d). An additional
6800 were trained in 2015/16 (Nuwamanya, 2015c). In February 2016, Chinese-based
C&H Garment Ltd signed its first 6-month contract with the WDA, to the tune of
RwF394,574,115, to transition 600 Rwandans to paid employment as soon as their train-
ing is completed.

Multi-sector capacity building program

In 2003/04, at a cost of US$77 million, the Multi-Sector Capacity Building Program
(MSCBP), bolstered institutional capacity-building for knowledge creation in the public
sector. The tactical objective of the MSCBP was to fill apparent gaps in long-term HRD
(MIFOTRA, 2007). In 2005, the Human Resource Development Agency became the Human
Resources and Institutional Capacity Development Agency (HIDA), tasked with MSCBP
governance (NCBS, 2016). Two years later, HIDA issued nationwide skills audits to
diagnose gaps in human capital, with the intent to identify the interventions best suited
to resolve human capacity shortages. From these findings a national skills development
policy was planned (MIFOTRA, 2007). A review of federal papers uncovered no sup-
porting evidence of a nationwide skills development policy ever having existed. The
next year, however, two salient skills-centric policies were released: TVET Policy
(2008), and Higher Education Policy (2008). HIDA was unable to develop capacity-
building as a stand-alone institution and stakeholder consultations led to the responsi-
bilities for capacity-building in the public and private sectors being managed sepa-
rately (Mugabo, 2011). Two institutions were set up: an appointed Public Sector Capacity
Building Secretariat, now the National Capacity Building Secretariat (NCBS), which was to
‘comprehensively address skills and capacity deficits’ in the public sector (MIFOTRA,
2015, p. 4); and, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), responsible for coordinated
capacity interventions in the private sector (Mugabo, 2011). Sector Skills Councils
(SSCs) emerged from the work of the RDB. SSCs are advocates for and promote the
interests of the private sector as regards skills development (MINEDUC, 2013b). Each
sector designates its own SSC. The work of these councils center around: (1) certifying
subject-matter proficiency acquired through training, (2) setting occupational stand-
ards, and (3) discussing sector-specific skills gaps (MINEDUC, 2013b; Nuwamanya,
2015c). The NCBS now coordinates the functions of SSCs (MIFOTRA, 2015).

Training and development in the private sector

Structure of the private sector
Of the 114,000 companies logged in the 2013/14 Establishment Census, 92.6 per cent
were micro-enterprises and only 608 were medium or large enterprises (MIFOTRA,
2015). Sole entrepreneurs constitute much of the informal sector (MINEDUC, 2015c).
This comprises the self-employed and those that work for them and is largely inde-
pendent of formal employment and taxation. The Private Sector Federation represents
72,000 companies in the private sector in all matters germane to TVET and HE (MIFO-
TRA, 2015; PSF, 2016). For the most part, the private sector has not engaged in work-
place training and no figures are available to show the percentage of private firms
undertaking training, or those liable to offer internships and attachments (MIFOTRA,
2015). Medium and large firms provide the vast majority of internship and apprentice-
ship placements (MIFOTRA, 2015). Tracer studies indicate that approximately 75 per
cent of employers do not cooperate with Rwanda’s TVET providers (MIFOTRA, 2015).
The 2010 national skills audit registered the private sector’s shortage of skilled man-
power at 60 per cent. The figure was 91 per cent in the construction sector. Tourism
and hospitality registered the greatest of the human capacity challenges with a 96 per
cent deficiency in mid-level management positions (MINEDUC, 2014). To narrow the
chasm between specialist demand and supply in tourism/hospitality, the publicly
funded Remera Hospitality and Tourism Academy was opened in 2009 (WDA, 2014).

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Since its inception, more than 2500 existing hotel and restaurant employees have
attended this academy’s 1-month training scheme. Trainees are taught a number of
best practices for providing quality customer service. Trainees are also furnished with
practical and professional knowledge in all facets of hotel operations, such as, front
office management, housekeeping and culinary, food, and beverage skills (Nuwama-
nya, 2014b).

Practice-based training in the workplace

The EDPRS II, ESSP (2013/14–2017/18), and the National TVET Strategy (2013/14-
2017/18) called for increased engagement by enterprises and industry bodies to
increase their provision of practice-based training (MIFOTRA, 2015). Practice-based
training in the private sector is done through any one or combination of the following:
industrial attachment programs (IAPs), internships, traditional apprenticeships (TAs),
and TVET in companies (also known as industry-based training), (MIFOTRA, 2015).
The WDA-led IAP began in November 2011 and was rolled out to ten TVET institu-
tions to introduce competency-based learning in the construction and hospitality-
tourism sectors. IAPs brought together the attachment initiatives of individual training
providers (MINEDUC, 2013b). Students enrolled in formal TVET must complete a
compulsory 2-month IAP, though, only a quarter of TVET students secure attachments.
IAPs give graduates practical exposure (placements) within their chosen industry. Stu-
dents are matched with experienced mentors (MINEDUC, 2013b). IAPs have patently
improved ‘the labor-market relevance of training’ in TVET institutions and HEIs
(MIFOTRA, 2015, p. 18); yet TVET institutions are faced with a sudden cessation in
funding. HEIs are not obliged to involve students in IAPs; nevertheless, there has been
an increase in HEIs crediting attachments.
Internships engage the unemployed in specially arranged work experiences. Intern-
ships deepen technical know-how and build up new occupational competencies,
improving the intern’s chances of obtaining employment (MIFOTRA, 2015). There is
no supplementary academic instruction. The RDB launched the Youth National Intern-
ship Program in 2009 to draw more young people into internships. The NCBS took over
its functions in 2014. Applications far exceed the internships on offer, only 1100 place-
ments being offered in 2015 (MIFOTRA, 2015). Internships are presently not recognized
by MINEDUC or WDA for certification (MIFOTRA, 2015). The revised ESSP (2017/18)
in tandem with the NEP have extolled the virtues of internships for developing learn-
ing in the private sector (MINEDUC, 2013a). Undocumented internships are still seen
as a vital ingredient in the training makeup of individual companies; the extent, how-
ever, is unknown (MIFOTRA, 2015). As a consequence of development partners cutting
back funding, internships in TVET institutions are disappointingly being phased out.
TA is structured, pre-employment training that readies apprentices for paid-
employment (MIFOTRA, 2015). The curriculum is shaped in part by the ‘work con-
ducted in the training enterprise’ (MIFOTRA, p. 5). Currently, TAs are not formally
certifiable. Moreover, no apparatus is in place to recognize the informal learning of
those learning a trade. The government has trumpeted the success of TAs for connect-
ing young people, without formal Post-Basic Education, to work experience and learn-
ing (MIFOTRA, 2015). In line with the ’Skills Development’ pillar of the NEP, short-
term vocational training and TAs will rise to 70,000 (MIFOTRA, 2015). The state-
sponsored Rural Small and Microenterprise Promotion Project (PPPMER) has helped steer
thousands of vulnerable young people into apprenticeships. Critics have lambasted
PPPMER sponsorship for charging upwards of RwF500,000 per head per 6-month
period. The upside of this Project is that 81 per cent of those whom completed their
apprenticeship now hold a permanent job and 36 per cent are self-employed (MIFO-
TRA, 2015). Sponsored apprenticeships have prompted a trend toward informal sector
enterprises evolving into micro-training providers, reforming training as a commercial
activity in exchange for a fee (MIFOTRA, 2015). This training has become common
practice for those residing in rural areas where formal training provision is scarce
(MIFOTRA, 2015). Yet, problems still exist. Larger firms arrange in-house

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apprenticeships but company-specific certification is not recognized by the wider labor
market, so restricting labor mobility (MIFOTRA, 2015).
IBT is TVET provided in, or by companies (MIFOTRA, 2015). A constituent training
unit of the enterprise itself serves as a vehicle for delivering sustainable training. Con-
trary to regular TVET, IBT facilitates learning in the workplace itself. IBT integrates
trainees into production activities under the auspices of a seasoned practitioner (MIFO-
TRA, 2015). In January 2014, IBT was introduced in hospitality and tourism (Nuwama-
nya, 2014a). That same year, 372 workers from four separate hotels, functioning as
satellite campuses, underwent 9 months of competency-based training in front office
and housekeeping (Nuwamanya, 2014a). An IBT framework for the industry is
expected in the imminent future (MINEDUC, 2015c).

Draft national policy on workplace learning 2015–2020

Workplace training has primarily been a phenomenon within the general scope of the
WDA. The National Policy on Workplace Learning to Prepare Rwandan Youth for Employ-
ment was published in July 2015. The idea of drafting a national workplace learning
policy had been discussed since September 2012 (Nuwamanya, 2015b). The govern-
ment earmarked US$27 million with hope of entrenching this policy by 2020. The pol-
icy jumpstarted the ‘development of [a] workplace learning system. . .owned and
driven by employers/industry’ (MIFOTRA, 2015, p. 11). It proposed five broad policy
objectives to realise Rwanda’s workplace learning vision (Nuwamanya, 2015b).

Modernizing apprenticeships
First, the NCBS, rebranded as the Capacity Building and Employment Services Board
(CESB), will commission an Apprenticeship Task Force, and eight sub-sector task
forces. Cooperative apprenticeships, that couple work-based learning with in-class
instruction, will be piloted by the WDA in eight demand-driven occupations. Educa-
tional packages will be supplied by the WDA to underpin technical capacity-building
of TVET and independent trainers. Legislative and regulatory frameworks will legiti-
mize cooperative apprenticeship by 2020. Second, a CESB-appointed Steering Commit-
tee will modernize TAs in the informal sector. Before the Policy’s 5-year window
closes, the committee, will bring TA pilots into existence in over 100 locations, affecting
10,000 apprentices. To encourage a larger supply of aspiring apprentices, supplemen-
tary instruction will be on offer by third-party providers who will encourage and
develop work-readiness and entrepreneurial and other skills necessary for success.
Capacity-building support will be offered by the WDA to trainers. In 2014, the WDA
and the private sector introduced occupational licensing through Recognition of Prior
Learning (RPL) by qualified tradespersons who can otherwise serve as master trainers.
The RPL has since appraised 150 registered members of the Construction Artisans and
Technicians Association, and awarded certification to candidates exhibiting exemplary
competence in their occupations (Nuwamanya, 2014c).

Improving the management of internships and attachments

First, the Policy plans to create 10,200 internships through YNIP for unemployed
TVET/HEI graduates by 2020. Second, MINEDUC wants to modify the existing curric-
ula so attachments can be accessed year-round, rather than being a year-end phenom-
enon. MINEDUC grants financial stimuli to institutions supplementing training-with-
production. Training-with-production is a credit-bearing method of workplace learning
for students unable to procure attachments who want experience of production or
community projects. Companies are incentivized to partner with educational institu-
tions by signing a long-term Memorandum of Understanding Third, the HEC provides a
clear policy blueprint for a regulatory system safeguarding attachments in HEIs.
MINEDUC will bear the cost of 350 public TVET institutions enlisting industrial liaison
officers. MINEDUC will also defray the costs of those matriculating into attachments.

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Fourth, CESB will instruct 300 teachers in leading career-preparedness modules for
attachments and interns. Last, a Coordination Task Force will be entrusted to refine
internships and attachments when issues surface.

An industry-influenced institutional framework for workplace learning

By early 2017, MINEDUC will have devised a legal scaffold that should underpin the
creation of governance boards and double the private sector’s presence in the opera-
tions of TVET institutions and HEIs. MIFOTRA will set down the constitutional bed-
rock upon which the CESB will house a fully functioning ’Skills Development and
Workplace Learning Unit’ that will bring the governance of SSCs into its fold. Lastly,
MIFOTRA will broaden existing SSC governance boards to become the Industry Train-
ing Governance Board (ITGB). The ’skills development unit’ will be placed under the
rubric of ITGB.

Organization of finance and incentives to buttress the longevity

of workplace learning
First, CESB will amass baseline research regarding how best to galvanize industries
around employee engagement in workplace learning. Second, the Ministry of Finance
and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) will weigh the feasibility of tax rebates, tax
deductibility of eligible training costs, levy-grants and/or sector levy-grant systems,
through a comprehensive stakeholder consultative process. Levy-grant systems require
employers to deposit a definite sum of money into a federal skills development fund.
These same employers, likewise, can access this fund’s capital when they offer training
(MIFOTRA, 2015; Musobo & Gaga, 2012). Apart from emboldening private sector enti-
ties to sponsor employee training, some academics have rallied around a national train-
ing levy (Musobo & Gaga, 2012; Nibigira, 2014). As an example, Nibigira (2014)
proposed that to sustain training activity in the tourism industry, a levy should be cap-
tured as a percentage of total tourism revenues.

Fostering knowledge and public awareness about workplace learning

This is the fifth and final objective of the 2015–2020 Policy. MIFOTRA will locate a
’Communication and Research’ unit within the CEBS, with all appropriate capacity-
building supports in place to advance its mandate. This Unit’s mandate is two-fold:
conduct an evidence-based campaign to raise awareness on workplace learning among
the private sector; and bring the costs and benefits of such learning to the fore.

Concluding remarks
The Government of Rwanda has remained strong in its commitment to ‘bring the
world of education and training closer’ to the real world proving ground of the work-
place (MINEDUC, 2015c, p. 12). Rwanda, however, has many training-related chal-
lenges and the aggregate of workplace learning opportunities does not meet the
unceasing demand (MIFOTRA, 2015). Moreover, Rwandan firms lack the capacity and
financial wherewithal to redress training capacity challenges in their own institutions
(MIFOTRA, 2015). Where learning is evidenced, it is typically not sector-certified
(MIFOTRA, 2015). Students are also unsuitably prepared to learn in the workplace.
Many display just a rudimentary grasp of workplace rules and procedures and the
skills that the workplace requires (MIFOTRA, 2015). To temper these concerns, the
Draft Workplace Learning Policy will make work-preparedness modules compulsory
and endorse a range of progressive proposals advocating greater inclusion of the pri-
vate sector in educational provision.
The labor market has been ‘typified by poor understanding, low interest and partici-
pation of the private sector in training and financing of TVET’ (WDA, 2015, p. 9). WDA
staff are disproportionately young and lacking senior management experience (WDA,

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2015). MINEDUC is promoting TVET as an attractive alternative to HE by extending
its career guidance (WDA, 2015).

Academic research on training and development in Rwanda

Maringa, P. W. & Maringa, M. (2013), ‘Quality of TVET in Rwanda in relation to age,
ownership, location and specialisation factors of access and equal opportunity in Ecole
Technique Officiels (ETOs) and Agroceternaires (EAVEs)’, Global Journal of Engineering
Education, 15(2), pp. 118–125.

Training and development institutions in Rwanda

Higher Education Council (HEC): [Link]
Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre Kigali (IPRC): [Link]
Ministry of Education (MINEDUC): [Link]
Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA): [Link]
National Capacity Building Secretariat (NCBS): [Link]
Rwanda Development Board (RDB): [Link]
Rwanda Education Board (REB): [Link] 5 6
Skills Development Project (SDP): [Link]
Workforce Development Authority (WDA): [Link]

List of abbreviations
9YBE Nine-year Basic Education
12YBE Twelve-year Basic Education
CESB Capacity Building and Employment Services Board
EDPRS Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy
ESP Education Sector Policy
ESSP Education Sector Strategic Plan
EFA Education For All
GoR Government of Rwanda
HEC Higher Education Council
HEI Higher Education Institutions
HIDA Human Resources and Institutional Capacity Development Agency
HRDA Human Resource Development Agency
IAP Industrial Attachment Program
IBT Industrial-Based Training
IMF International Monetary Fund
IPRCs Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centers
ITGB Industry Training Governance Board
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
MINEDUC Ministry of Education
MIFOTRA Ministry of Public Service and Labour
MoU Memorandum of Understanding
MSCBP Multi-Sector Capacity Building Program
MVT Massive Vocational Training
NCBS National Capacity Building Secretariat
NCHE National Council for Higher Education
NEP National Employment Program
NTQF National TVET Qualifications Framework
NUR National University of Rwanda
PPPMER Rural Small and Microenterprise Promotion Project
PSCBS Public Sector Capacity Building Secretariat
RDB Rwanda Development Board
REB Rwanda Education Board
RHEQF Rwandan Higher Education Qualifications Framework

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RRT Rapid Response Training
SDFs Skills Development Facilities
SDP Skills Development Project
SSCs Sector Skills Councils
SWAp Sector Wide Approach
TSSs Technical Secondary Schools
TTQF TVET Trainer Qualification Framework
TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
VTCs Vocational Training Centers
WDA Workforce Development Authority
YNIP Youth National Internship Program

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