USAID Launches $6 Million Project to Improve Access to Books in Rwanda

By Emmanuel Bakundukize.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the Ministry of Education, launched a $6 million (Rwf 8 billion) project aimed at providing affordable and accessible books to Rwandans.

The project, titled “USAID Ibitabo Kuri Twese,” was launched on September 18, 2024, and will run for three years. Its goal is to improve the distribution of books from the writing stage to reaching the end-user, including students, teachers, parents, or any reader.

For the government, the project will enhance capacity in book production, provide funding, assist in writing, printing, and distribution. For private sector players, such as authors, publishers, and book distributors, it will provide training and financial support to improve their services.

Yedidya Senzeyi, the Project Coordinator, said, “We have not yet reached the level of producing quality books as we desire. There are also not enough machines for printing books. For instance, in vocational schools, there are no specific programs that teach book publishing. These are the issues we want to address with the Rwandan government.”

The project will also engage financial institutions to explore investment opportunities in the book industry, addressing financial limitations to ensure books are sold at affordable prices.

Over the three years, new bookshops will be established in ten districts across different provinces, making books more accessible and affordable.

Fiston Mudacumura, an entrepreneur with 15 years of experience in book publishing through his company, Mudacumura Publishing House, said that one of the challenges they faced was securing government contracts. Previously, winning contracts required a 100% performance guarantee, but the project, in collaboration with the National Public Procurement Authority, has reduced this to 30%. Additionally, the project will help source paper for book printing, lowering book production costs.

In May 2024, the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB) announced that by September 2024, a variety of books would be available in the Rwandan market at affordable prices, allowing parents and private schools to purchase them.

Dr. Nelson Mbarushimana, Director General of REB, said that USAID Ibitabo Kuri Twese would help accelerate the project, ensuring that parents can buy textbooks by the first term of the 2024/2025 academic year. “Parents will have access to any book included in our curriculum, both in public and private schools, at prices set by contract winners. This project will support that goal. We want books to reach everyone because if you don’t read, you won’t gain knowledge,” he said.

The USAID Ibitabo Kuri Twese project will also increase the number of books in schools, as the Ministry of Education’s 2023 statistics showed that two students in primary schools shared one book, while in subjects like Science and Technology (SET), one book was shared by four students.

In public and government-aided schools, over two million textbooks are available for Kinyarwanda, English, and Mathematics, but there are only 633,795 books available for SET subjects.

theinspirerpublications@gmail.com