Strengthening the National University of Rwanda's capacity in GIS and remote sensing

Sector

Regional natural-resource based development

Budget

The maximum budget for this project is € 800,000.

Organisations

This project has been developed by the National University of Rwanda (NUR). The tender for this project expired on 12 November 2010. Nuffic has awarded this tender to the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente, which has formed a consortium with the Department of Human Geography and Planning of Utrecht University, Ardi University (Tanzania) and the Institute of Environment and Natural Resources of Makarere University (Uganda).

Project description

Sixteen years after the genocide, Rwanda has made significant progress, but it is still largely an underdeveloped, subsistence-based, agrarian economy with almost two thirds of the population living below the poverty line. The government has succeeded, however, in rehabilitating infrastructure, restoring public services and re-establishing safety and basic conditions for economic growth. The longer term ambition is to convert Rwanda into a knowledge-based middle-income society capable of competing in the regional and global economy.

An essential cornerstone of Rwanda’s national development strategy is to exploit, as much as possible, the opportunities offered by science, technology and ICT.

Within this framework, both the National Information and Communication Infrastructure plan (NICI 2010) and the Rwandan Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation (2006) state as a main goal that a national Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Applications Project is to be set up to introduce GIS applications in all relevant Ministries and Government agencies/parastatals, in order to support their operational and administrative procedures for service delivery.

In this context, it is crucial that the National University of Rwanda (NUR) develop the capacity to deliver GIS graduates and training in GIS-related fields. The Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Research and Training Center (CGIS) was founded in 1999 as a cross-cutting unit closely interconnected to the Department of Geography. Although the capacity in GIS at NUR has been strengthened over the past years, it requires further development in order to meet the current needs of the economy, the environment and the management of land.

Within the limits of the allocated budget, this NICHE project aims to strengthen the capacity of NUR to provide quality education, research, consultancy and services in the field of GIS, with a strong focus on labour market requirements and gender mainstreaming. The project's main aims are to:

• upgrade and diversify the capacity of the academic staff;
• consolidate and further develop the study offer;
• establish a sustainable applied research, consultancy and services capacity.