August 1, 2006
A mobile in every pocket is motto of Rwanda
Rwanda is in the midst of an extraordinary development plan to leap into the 21st century, informs The Guardian.
More "mobile in every pocket" than "chicken in every pot", the Vision 2020 project aims to rapidly transform a depressed agricultural economy into one driven by information communications and technology. If it works, the percentage of Rwanda's workforce involved in farming will drop from 90% to 50% in 15 years. By then the country should be the regional ICT hub - a kind of Singahttp://www.textually.org/textblog/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&id=13093&blog_id=1&saved_changes=1pore of the Great Lakes.
Two-thirds of Rwandans live below the poverty line, half are illiterate and four in five live in rural areas. Aids and the 1994 genocide have created tens of thousands of orphans. Technology is not the main priority, say some.
But government officials insist that not only is their plan viable, but that there is no alternative. As one of Africa's most densely populated countries, large-scale farming is impossible. There are few valuable minerals or oil deposits. The country is landlocked. "We are at a huge competitive disadvantage to our neighbours," Albert Butare, the minister of communications and energy, told the Guardian. "Our people are the one resource we have, and we must develop them."
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2006/08/013093.htm
