Rwanda (1994): a new system that brought prosperity

• The wave: world support and donor money after the genocide; the global push for business reform.

• What was new: "Home Grown Solutions": monthly community work (Umuganda), signed performance contracts for officials (Imihigo), community courts (Gacaca), and an annual national dialogue.

• How it united people: one national identity over ethnic identity, carried by Rwandan traditions.

• Result: GDP per person (PPP) went from $416 in 1994 to about $4,100 in 2025.

• Wikipedia: Economy of Rwanda

• Rwanda Governance Board: Home Grown Solutions

How it stood up government on day one

Rwanda rebuilt from genocide with home-grown institutions: community courts, performance contracts for officials, and a new tax authority. Growth has mostly run at 6 to 9% a year since 2006. Economy of Rwanda

Why it matters: Rwanda rebuilt after mass violence with community courts, performance contracts for officials and data sent by phone.

• Treasury: the Rwanda Revenue Authority was created by law in 1997 and opened in 1998 with 200 staff. By 2017 it had 168,346 taxpayers and expected to collect over RWF 1 trillion (about $1.2 billion) for the first time. RRA
• Investment: a one-stop investment centre and a new investment code in early 1998. Rwanda ranked 38th in the World Bank's Doing Business index in 2020, second in Africa.
• Justice: regular courts could not handle about 130,000 genocide suspects. Gacaca community courts were set up by law in 2001 and began trials in 2002. More than 12,103 courts, with nine-person panels of local judges, heard over 1.2 million cases. Gacaca
• Criticism of gacaca from the source: no right to a lawyer or presumption of innocence, unpaid judges with bribery claims, ruling-party crimes excluded from 2004, and risks to witnesses.
• Performance contracts (imihigo): from 2006, district mayors set targets with action plans and measures. Within a few years every level of government signed them. Exemplars in Global Health
• Health, with data: paying clinics for results began as a pilot in 2002. Births in health facilities rose from 30% (2005) to 69% (2010). A single web-based health data system linked more than 700 facilities in 2012. Community health workers report by text message, with over 9.3 million messages by 2018.
• Results: income per person at purchasing-power parity rose from $416 in 1994 to $3,893 in 2024. Poverty fell from 57% to 45% between 2006 and 2011. Economy of Rwanda