About the programme
The Rwanda Economy Digitalisation Programme is an initiative to support a sustained shift to an inclusive, digitalised economy. Cenfri works with policymakers and private sector decision-makers by leveraging insights from data analysis to improve decision-making, catalyse innovation, and ultimately, improve livelihoods.
The programme, which is hosted by Cenfri, is driven by a partnership with the Government of Rwanda and the Mastercard Foundation. It builds on our initial analysis of digital payments trends and behavior as a window into the digitalisation of the broader economy.
Overview: How the programme works
We catalyze data-driven policymaking and private sector decision-making through four areas of work:
Programme approach to data-driven decision-making:
For data work linked to policymaking, the following approach is typically followed:
Priority sectors:
The programme focuses on four priority sectors, Agriculture, Retail and Merchant Tade, Tourism and the Education sectors. Through collaboration with custodians of data in these sectors, the programme analyses data against the objectives of the ministries and agencies in charge to provide solutions on how digitalisation and improve efficiency in these sectors.
In addition to these sectors, the programme is working on the transport and telecommunication sectors to drive digitalisation and facilitate in integrating the data-driven approach. The intention is to focus on more cross-sectoral collaboration to address challenges facing the Rwandan economy.
The Programme works with key public and private organisations to build capacity in leveraging data to achieve the ministries’ mandates and business objectives.
Areas of work:
 | Agriculture: Agriculture features in the SMART Rwanda Masterplan, where the objective is to transform agricultural practices to enhance productivity and increase commercialisation and industrialisation. Many implementation activities that leverage digitalisation for productivity growth have been initiated, such as the Smart Nkunganire System (SNS) and the Smart Kuhangara System (SKS). The programme collaborates with the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) to help drive the agricultural policy agenda. This is done through data analysis of the subsidy schemes and assessing their effectiveness in supporting smallholder farmers. Additionally, we have developed an Esoko dashboard that enables MINAGRI and Ministry of Trade and Commerce (MINICOM) to track commodity prices. This empowers them to identify commodities and regions requiring targeted interventions and assess the impact of food inflation in the country. |
 | Retail traders and their customers: Collaborating with the MINICOM, RDB, RURA, BNR and the private sector, we leverage merchant and mobile money data to gain insights that help identify areas where support for digitalisation and enhanced digital payments for merchants are needed. We analyse data to identify formal and informal sector merchants, regional distribution, digital payment adoption, and cross-border trading. |
 | Tourism: The tourism industry plays a pivotal role in driving Rwanda's economic growth. The programme collaborates with the Rwanda Development Board, Rwanda Convention Bureau, the Directorate of Immigration, and the private sector to gather and leverage tourism data to identify areas of high tourist activities and demand for related services. We examine the role of digital payments and associated financial services in reinstating confidence among domestic and international travellers. Additionally, we scrape data from platforms like Airbnb, TripAdvisor, and Google Maps, providing insights into facilities, locations, pricing, and user reviews. These insights help the stakeholders identify areas of improvement in the tourism sector. |
 | Education: The programme collaborates closely with the Ministry of Education to obtain comprehensive data that can further enhance school efficiency through digitisation. By leveraging data obtained from Urubuto - a digitised school management system provided by BK TecHouse – and the School Data Management System (SDMS), we are able to analyse student performance, dropout rates, regional trends, areas of progress, teacher qualifications, tenure, gender distribution in STEM subjects, class sizes, etc. Our insights provide MINEDUC with the ability to make informed decisions based on reliable data and be able to meet their national objectives. |
| Transport: Fostering sustainable urbanisation is a focal point of vision 2050 and public transport is a key enabler for achieving it. The formalisation and digitalisation of public transport operations is at the core of streamlining Kigali’s public transport system to achieve sustainable urbanization. The programme collaborates closely with MININFRA RURA, CENTRIKA and other parties to identify areas in which the public transport can be improved and digitized to increase efficiency and ease mobility. The use of data generated empowers stakeholders to make well-informed decisions, including strategic planning for increasing bus capacity, optimising bus routes, and prioritising dedicated lanes. Through these initiatives, the aim is to bolster efficiency, ease mobility, and contribute to the achievement of the objectives of a sustainable urbanization. |
Programme partners
The programme provides policy analysis to policymakers and private sector decision makers, but the ultimate policy decisions and implementation rests with the Government of Rwanda and the private sector authorities.
In partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, MINICT, Cenfri and 71.4 as a key data partner are working in close collaboration with key government institutions such as MINAGRI, MINICOM, MINECOFIN, MINEDUC, NAEB, RAB, RDB, RCB and ICT Chamber.
For more information, visit the Rwanda Economy Digitalisation Programme, or email fmushimire@minict.gov.rw or numutoni@minict.gov.rw.