Publications

Beekeeping has been carried out across many generations in Rwanda and plays a critical role in the livelihoods of the rural communities, although it has long remained traditional and of subsistence in nature. This is changing as beekeeping is increasingly taken up as a business enterprise; access to finance is however a key challenge for small entrepreneurs. SNV therefore initiated a Value Chain Financing Study (VCF) assessing the financial needs of current and potential beekeeping entrepreneurs, available opportunities from financial and other institutions, and identifying existing gaps hindering beekeeping entrepreneurs from accessing available financial services. The study also identified several best practices for adoption by SNV and other stakeholders towards enhancing the performance of the sub-sector in a sustainable way.

In June 2010 SNV, together with IFAD, organised a conference on ‘brokering knowledge for upscaling best practices in Inclusive Markets Access in East & Southern Africa’, which brought together over 70 participants from 11 African countries from donor, public and private sector to share experiences. This report summarizes the main issues discussed during the conference, of which the main focus was seeking to bring about systemic change for larger-scale sustainable inclusive markets with a wider significance.

This annual report provides more detail of the strategic position choices SNV made in East and Southern Africa in 2007 and illustrates our approach with case studies from our practice.

Report on the feasibility study for a biogas support programme
in the Republic of Rwanda (2005).

This study evaluates the feasibility of setting-up and implementing a National Biogas Programme in Rwanda (desk study, field visits, discussions, etc.).

Study findings indicated that rural households depended for more than 90% on fuel wood to meet their daily energy needs, and that it has become increasingly difficult to satisfy this demand due to the increasing population and strict legislation for reducing fuel wood consumption. The conditions for dissemination of biodigesters as found by the study are on a technological (e.g. water availability; zerograzing; daily temperatures of over 20 0C), economic (e.g. scarcity of traditional cooking fuel, fuel wood and charcoal; dairy farming as the main source of income; access to credit; use of organic fertiliser), social (e.g. role of women in domestic decision-making, livestock keeping and participation in training programmes), and institutional level (e.g. political will of the Government to support the programme; existence of farmers associations; accessibility of farmers through Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). From all factors mentioned, it has been suggested that access to credit for farmers is the only condition that was not present at all in the country, for which a finance mechanism providing credit under
reasonable conditions needed to be immediately established.

The report presents a comprehensive analysis of all factors needed to establish and implement the programme, as well as thorough recommendations as to how to improve the weak areas (e.g. technology, commercialization, integrated farming are only some of the areas for which references are provided).

This country paper on Rwanda presents the manner in which financial aspects to help farmers get access to biogas technology were taken in consideration by developing a microfinance loan product. The study describes an investment subsidy, a carbon rebate, and a bank loan as the main mechanisms used to finance the biogas plants, where Banque Populaire du Rwanda was the main financial institution.

A comprehensive SWOT analysis of the current financial instruments is presented in this study (interviews, observations, and a desk study were conducted). It revealed that some of the main benefits were the motivation farmers got to invest in biogas (investment subsidy), ensured payment to the programme (carbon rebate), and low interest rates (bank loan). Among others, the main investment subsidy weakness was its fixed amount. Some of the drawbacks of the bank loan were the repayment risk associated, and for the carbon rebate that it was not easily understood. The opportunities associated with the both the subsidy and the bank loan included the ability to adjust the terms according to individual needs, and with the carbon rebates-investment from big companies. Threats existed as well: the real possibility for the subsidy to be lowered after the first phase, the methodology used for the carbon rebate was becoming obsolete, and for bank loans - that they relied on subsidised sources of finance in Rwanda.

Based on the SWOT analysis, thorough recommendations as to the next step in the biogas programme in Rwanda are presented.

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, with the financial support of the Netherlands Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), organised a two-day international workshop on ' the Financing of Domestic Biogas Plants' during the period 23-24 October, 2008. The workshop conducted in Bangkok, Thailand, was attended by 68 participants from 21 different countries in Asia, Africa, Central America and Europe. 

The overall objective of the international workshop was to exchange a maximum of information about the use of financial instruments for financing domestic biogas plants among the participants, practitioners, bankers, researchers and policy makers, and to arrive at clear status of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the use of the various financial instruments among the participants. 

This brief report summarises the purpose, schedule, presentations and outcome of discussions related to the workshop. The workshop proceeding includes the summary of plenary presentations, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis carried out by the participants on different aspects of financing domestic biogas plants (e.g. investment subsidy and credit). 

Further there was a presentation of country papers by participants of China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Rwanda. Additionally, two papers on carbon credit and financing biogas plants were presented. Finally, Country action plans were prepared by respective participants. The evaluation results clearly indicated that the workshop has been highly successful in achieving its objectives.

This report presents the findings, conclusions and recommendations of a mission designed to investigate the National Domestic Biogas Programme (NDBP) prospects in Rwanda. The key actors in the discussion were the Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA), Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV/Rwanda), and the Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE/Kigali).

In terms of the feasibility of NDBP, it was concluded that Rwanda is in great need of alternative technologies for cooking as the current consumption of wood is unsustainable. It was, therefore, determined that programmes for improved cook stoves and biogas plants were a viable combination. On a
similar note, it was recommended for MINIFRA and the proposed Rwanda National Energy Agency (ANER) to organize a workshop for assessing how programmes for cook stoves and biogas plants can benefit from each other. Further, the involvement of financial institutes offering attractive biogas credits would be crucial for the success of the programme. For the national prioritisation of the energy sector it was determined that developing such a sector has a vital role in reducing poverty and increasing economic development. Contractual agreement findings named ANER as a key player at national level, where GTZ would provide financial and technical assistance, SNV-capacity building services to NDBP through ANER, and MININFRA-funds and other required (policy) support. To avoid the gap between the demo phase and the rest of the programme, GTZ should enter into a temporary agreement with MININFRA for implementing NDPB.

The Rwandan dairy sub-sector has undergone dramatic and dynamic progress after the 1994 war and genocide. Of recent years a number of initiatives from the government, development partners and private investors have been growing. Although the dairy industry has been growing fast, its faced with a number of constraints that provide the challenges for development but equally provide the opportunities for actors who want to invest in the sub-sector.
This report summarises the trend for the last 10 years to 2020 along the national development strategy and how the dairy sub-sector can provide investment opportunities along the value chain. Dairy is a profitable and one of the best investments that can work properly in the rural areas due its benefits not only as a source of income but also as a way of providing food security and support of crop production through manure.

This Brief presents an overview of the current status and ongoing developments in the Joint Action Development Forum. Apart from some encouraging examples it also highlights the need for further practice and learning to achieve the full potential of the JADF.

Rwanda National Domestic Biogas Programme: mid term review (2009) 25 pages. - soon available -

This study deals with the scope of the National Domestic Biogas Programme (NDBP) in Rwanda, and more specifically serves as a reliable database on energy needs of rural integrated farming households. A survey was used to thoroughly assess individual households’ situation regarding energy, sanitation, health, environmental protection and agriculture, and income generation.

96.5% of surveyed households practiced subsistence or small scale market agriculture, and 99% of those used firewood for cooking fuel. However, 89% would use energy generated from animal and toilet waste for cooking and lighting, and bio-slurry as a fertiliser. Based on the survey results specific challenges and issues needing further attention were identified. NDBP activities included the introduction of biogas lamps in the programme and promotional campaigns at district level involving local authorities.

As for the selection criteria for potential implementation areas, it is important that the cattle keeping system is not the only indicator for the local biogas market potential, as even under zero grazing conditions the available biomass could be insufficient for a satisfying biogas production. For subsidies and micro-finance scheme, the efficient use of animal urine as mixing agent was said to play a key role to save water, together with rainwater harvesting. Further, a key priority for NDBP was to closely monitor the carbon credit market as it constantly develops and brings new opportunities. The rationale behind recommendations as well as detailed survey findings and future steps required can be found in the report.

Implementation plan national programme on domestic biogas
in Rwanda (2006).

This study outlines the implementation plan prepared for the National Domestic Biogas Programme (NDBP) in Rwanda. The study has concluded that NDBP required efforts in various fields to achieve a sustainable domestic biogas sector.

Promotional and marketing activities were to be undertaken by building contractors and mason teams. For construction, maintenance and repair, registered commercial construction companies were chosen as the most appropriate actors. The financing plan for biodigesters included an investment subsidy ($300) and farmers’ contribution, where the objective of the subsidy was to attract potential farmers and in the same
time avoid excessive Financial Internal Rates of Return (FIRRs). Farmers’ contribution was decided to come from either bank loans or own financial reserves. Further, applied research and development would focus on the development and testing of plants and appliances modifications to reduce costs and improve reliability. Training of all involved parties was also deemed essential as the biogas technology is a new
concept in Rwanda.

The estimated benefits from implementing NDBP included significant workload reduction, considerable annual savings of fuel wood and charcoal, reductions of CO2 emissions, annual savings on plant nutrients (NPK) because of bio-slurry, and others that are analyzed in detail in the report. Risks and potential challenges have also been identified, as well as ways to resolve them. Among these is the lack of firm data in constructing reliable predictions on effective demand, high material and transportation costs, insufficient information available on companies that fulfil the conditions to participate in biodigester construction trainings.

The need for domestic energy and fertilisers in the present rural household situation is identified as the main prospect to further the dissemination of biogas in Rwanda:

• An ever increasing population results in a growing demand for firewood and the consequent depletion of forest resources makes access to fuel wood depletion of forest resources and the growing demand will make access to fuel wood increasingly difficult;
• A high percentage of rural households are small farmers who are using the dung produced by their animals for fertilising their soil;
• The technical conditions in Rwanda, like soil texture and temperature, are very well suited for anaerobic digestion, however, in some regions the availability of water can be a constraint;
• Fixed dome biogas technology is well introduced in Rwanda and reasonably documented. With some minor modifications and adjustments, this technology can be used for widespread dissemination;
• Among the visited organisations in Rwanda who have biogas related activities, there is willingness to establish a national programme along the same lines as the Nepal programme;
• In the rural areas the presence of entrepreneurs is limited. However, there are many organisations active such as, dairy cooperatives and other farmers associations. Furthermore, there are numerous permanent rural development organisations like church based institutions. Such organisations can play a crucial role in the introduction of the technology.

The National Domestic Biogas Programme (NDBP) was jointly developed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and SNV and is housed in the Ministry. The Programme’s objective is to develop a commercially viable domestic biogas sector with the dual objectives of contributing to the wellbeing of rural families while reducing pressure on natural resources. The NDBP has a target of 3,000 rural households (20,000 people) using biogas by 2011.

About 170,000 young people start their working life each year without sufficient qualifications and therefore have only a limited chance to integrate successfully into the economic cycle . It is with this in mind that the Domestic Biogas Program of Rwanda, supported by SNV, has invested heavily in employment creation and support for small businesses.

This case study looks at how vocational skills development has been institutionalised in the Rwandan biogas sector using a multi-stakeholder approach, and how this is contributing toward establishing a commercially viable biogas sector. The case underlines how a partnership approach can achieve significant results with relatively limited input from SNV.

They key outcomes are very positive amongst others stating that there is better and more accessible training facilities and services through the decentralised structure provided by IPRCs and there is increased employability and entrepreneurship, the two objectives of the Rwanda VOSD strategy , in all 30 districts through the establishment and additional skills development of 71 biogas companies.

Rwanda produces the prized Arabica Bourbon coffee, highly sought after in specialty coffee markets world over. The process of getting this coffee from the farms to the cup is, however, a complex one—probably best appreciated by taking a holistic view of the coffee value chain. This report, takes you through the coffee journey and demonstrating how SNV and other actors support smallholder farmers to surmount various obstacles along the chain. That unique mug of coffee in your hands will begin to look a whole lot different when you see in it the challenges faced by coffee producer cooperatives, and when you know that the money you pay for it helps transform lives in the picturesque hills of rural Rwanda.

Today we work with 30 cooperatives that have coffee washing stations and 15 coffee unions, representing 69,000 coffee farmers. These cooperatives are now more profitable operations, producing higher quantities of better quality coffee. Some have also been awarded at the national Cup of Excellence, the world’s most esteemed competition for top quality coffees.