Rwanda and the APRM

Rwanda acceded to the mechanism on 9 March 2003. The country's self-assessment process took place against the backdrop of nearly ten years of coming to terms with the devastation caused by the ethnic genocide which occurred in the country in 1994. Determined to demonstrate his government's commitment to eradicating the vestiges of ethnic segregation which lead to the genocide and the progress that has been made since those tragic events, President Paul Kagame identified the APRM as a valuable national process in this regard, and as a result was one of the first countries to accede to the mechanism. Rwanda was therefore the second country, after Ghana, to undertake the process of self-assessment, establishing national structures and launching its self-assessment process as early as January 2004.

The Rwandan experience of self-assessment and peer review demonstrated the complexities of the process and technical competencies required in order to efficiently and comprehensively engage in the APRM. The Rwandan model of engagement with civil society and the corporate sector has been criticized by some as not being sufficiently inclusive of these stakeholders, and of relying heavily on the contributions of government and state institutions to complete its self-assessment report. Another unique and controversial decision adopted during the Rwandan self-assessment process was the contracting of two South African technical agencies to assist in editing the final Country Self-Assessment Report (CSAR). The Rwandan government justified this decision citing a lack of technical expertise internally within the country of a suitable level to delegate the task of editing the final report to a local technical agency. Of additional interest, the responsibility of coordinating the national APRM process as the country's APRM Focal Point was delegated to the office of a private individual, Mr. Aimable Kabanda, a former mayor and civil servant. Mr. Kabanda was supported in his duties by an office staff. The Rwandan self-assessment experience demonstrates some of the challenges facing countries with infrastructural and skills deficits, and the fact that the country was able to ultimately produce a report which the APR Panel of Eminent Persons found satisfactory is a credit to the country's resolve and commitment to the process.