From 9th to 11th March 2019, the 16th Leadership Retreat was held at RDF Combat Training Center-Gabiro, in Gatsibo District. This retreat was chaired by His Excellency Paul KAGAME, the President of the Republic of Rwanda.

In his opening remarks, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Rwanda thanked all participants and recalled that the Retreat serves as an opportunity to:

•    Reflect further on their responsibilities as leaders for the better fulfilment of those responsibilities;

•    Adopt strong strategies to address weaknesses identified in the performance of various public and private institutions;

•    Put in place strategies to strengthen the collaboration between different public, private institutions as well as other stakeholders in order to support our country in achieving its vision of working towards self-reliance. 

His Excellency the President of the Republic urged participants in the Retreat as well as all Rwandans, to actively participate in preserving the security of our country which is the foundation of the development.

Following presentations were delivered to the participants in the 16th Leadership Retreat:

a)    Report on the implementation of the resolutions of the 15th National Leadership Retreat;

b)    A reflection on Rwanda’s development trajectory; 

c)    Africa and global geopolitics;

d)    Investment for recapturing the domestic market;

e)    Increasing agricultural productivity for growth;

f)    Improving the quality of education;

g)    Improving the quality of health.

After discussions, the following resolutions were taken:

1.    To fast-track construction of basic infrastructure to locally avail services for Rwandans in their communities. 

2.    To evaluate the performance of government shares in various companies and explore measures to increase profitability.
 
3.    To examine and put in place measures aimed at addressing challenges that impede the implementation of Made in Rwanda Policy. 

4.    To increase efforts for agricultural productivity focusing on:
 
        i. Extension services; 
        ii. Competitiveness of locally produced products including the issue of taxes and fees; 
        iii. Research and development on crops and plant varieties;
        iv. Reduce agricultural imports especially for commodities that could be produced locally; 
        v. Facilitate private sector regarding investment opportunities particularly in the production of raw materials for industries.
 
5.    To increase the capacity utilisation of milk collection centers and partner with the private sector to identify market opportunities including schools. 

6.    To exploit underutilized irrigated land leveraging efforts of young agricultural professionals while improving land use planning and settlement.

7.    Strengthen programs to improve the quality of education focusing on: 

        i. Construction of more classrooms to reduce overcrowding; 
        ii. Recruitment of more qualified teachers for primary and secondary schools; 
        iii. Regular update of education curricula iv. Revamp the school feeding program.

8.    To hold accountable school leaders and other concerned officials involved in mismanagement and embezzlement of school resources. 

9.    To expedite development of new strategies for financial sustainability of the Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI/ Mutuelle de Santé). 

10.    To address constraints hindering the quality of health services including: 
        i. Quality of training for medical professionals, 
        ii. Strategies to incentivise medical professionals and 
        iii. Review electricity and water tariffs in health facilities.