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VVOB Rwanda and new Minister of State working towards SDG4
21/11/2016

On October 4, Isaac Munyakazi (small image, left) was appointed the new Minister of State in charge of Primary and Secondary Education. He welcomed VVOB Rwanda’s Programme Manager Jef Peeraer (small image, second from the left) to his office for a discussion on the Ministry’s partnership with VVOB and VVOB’s work in the country, and the future of this positive cooperation.

On the same wavelength

Newly appointed Minister of State Munyakazi has reinforced Rwanda’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goal on inclusive and equitable education for all and has acknowledged that he will make sure that Rwanda’s positive trend towards attaining this goal continues. He also hopes to reduce drop-out and repetition rates during his term.

During VVOB’s visit to the Minister of State, in which the latter’s advisor and the Director-General of the Rwanda Education Board (REB) also participated (small image, right), many subjects were discussed. VVOB Rwanda’s Programme Manager Jef informed him about VVOB’s activities in Rwanda since 2003, and the Director-General of the REB explained the role VVOB played in putting School Management and School Leadership on the Ministry of Education’s agenda.

In 2017, VVOB will begin work under its new five-year programme, which Jef presented to the Minister of State. School leadership will remain a central area of focus in VVOB’s work in Rwanda. A new area of focus will be the induction of newly qualified teachers and linking pre- and in-service teacher training.

The Minister of State was both attentive and positive about VVOB’s plan of action the coming years. He is, for example, most interested in finding ways to incentivise head teachers to follow the training programme on effective school leadership among other things. He also agreed with our plans to carry out a context analysis on gender in the six districts where VVOB will implement its new programme.

It is clear that Isaac Munyakazi’s policy agenda aligns with VVOB’s work, which is why the meeting with Jef Peeraer was very constructive. VVOB looks forward to strengthening and deepening its partnership with the Rwanda Ministry of Education.