The national integrated child rights policy serves as the coordinated and harmonised policy of the government relating to all activities covering children’s rights. It is backed by the need to improve the rights of children to health, education, and protection, as a consequence of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis. It is guided by 7 principles: every child matters, children are a priority, children deserve the best, children can, and should participate, exploitation and abuse of children should not be tolerated, the government should be accountable, and coordination of all actions.

The plan guides all actions channelled towards ameliorating the conditions of street children. It does not push for long term institutional care, as it seeks to promptly protect and reintegrate children into their families and/or communities, as well as prevent children from ending up on the streets. This relates to the rights of the child outlined in the 1989 International Convention ratified by Rwanda.

The adverse effects arising from the 1994 genocide, chronic poverty, and the threat of HIV threatens the fundamental right that ought to be enjoyed by various orphans and vulnerable children in Rwanda. The 4-year strategic plan works to integrate issues relating to orphans and vulnerable children into all national policies and implementation frameworks, to ensure children’s rights are realised today and in the future.

The 1994 genocidal activities against the Tutsis have destroyed the social fabrics of the Rwandan people, leaving children without the necessary family love and affection they need. Widows and orphans have also been forced to take on the role of household heads, usually played by parents and men. The government of Rwanda recognises the importance of family as a bedrock of sustainable development. The 4year strategic plan aims to continue promoting family as the basis of Rwanda society.

Transformation of the country from an agriculture-based to a knowledge-based, driven by a sound Rwandan population is the vision of the government. The plan recognises that the first 3 years are the most important in the life of a child and seeks to propose interventions to aid children in becoming the best version of themselves.

The government of Rwanda has placed a premium, and shown commitment towards gender equality and building an inclusive society. It has ensured the integration and mainstreaming of gender issues into all relevant national policies, guidelines, strategies, and interventions. However, the Rwandan culture limits the extent to which females mingle in society, thus limiting their access to mentorship opportunities to improve their chances in life. The national strategy, therefore, seeks to bridge this gap by providing a clear pathway for the conduct of mentorship programs for young women and girls.

The Rwanda national action plan builds on the implementation experiences of the previous action plan of 2009-2012. It is aligned with other national, regional, and international instruments, laws, and ratifications geared towards gender equality and women empowerment. Meaningful contribution of women in governance and all institutions is the objective of this plan.

The genocidal activities of 1994 had their toll on the citizens, especially women and girls. Gender-based violence threatens rights to education, health, wellbeing, legal, as well as economic rights. This strategic plan highlights the federal government’s resolve to address gender equality issues and general human rights, as its effect the socioeconomic development of the country.

This national plan for gender and family promotion leverages the experience garnered from the implementation of the first and second phases of the economic development and poverty reduction strategy (EDPRS). As the country transitions towards its new vision 2050, for attaining high-income status, the 6year strategic plan, being cross-cutting and multisectoral, seeks to facilitate the attainment of the national goals backed by a stable and harmonious family structure and gender-neutral and inclusive society. It pushes to achieve, among others: strengthened families, participation of women in governance, financial performance for women and girls, and effective management of child abuse and gender-based violence.

Gender-based violence in Rwanda is linked to several factors, including; cultural beliefs, traditions, and the genocidal activities of 1994. The policy addresses the misconception around the concept of gender applying to women alone, the issues of awareness creation, reporting system, as well as coordination and harmonisation efforts. The policy seeks to maximise the capacity to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, as a tool to socioeconomic development and promotion of human rights.

This represents the national policy for addressing issues related to orphans and other vulnerable children. It makes provisions for the trampling of the human rights of these groups of children. It generally aims to ensure children grow up in environments that help them blossom into their best forms.

The strategy notes that despite the efforts and interventions of the government, a significant proportion of the population still lives in abject poverty, or are vulnerable to poverty. The strategy sets out interventions across 2 main spheres: regular and predicable cash transfer to support people living in, and vulnerable to poverty; and ensuring unhindered and unconditional access to basic public services such as education and health.

The contingency plan draws on historical facts and experiences of floods and landslides in coming up with scenario managers and assumptions to combat such issues as they may arise. The plan prioritises places and regions especially prone to floods and landslides. Its overall objective is to ensure a timely and coordinated response to floods and landslides disasters, in a bid to minimise their effects on citizens, properties, and the environment.

The plan expressly addresses the management activities to be carried out by stakeholders when handling disaster situations. Prominent disasters faced in Rwanda include; droughts, fire, floods, earthquakes, landslides, heavy rain with strong winds, lightning and thunderstorms, traffic accidents, diseases and epidemics.

This serves as a revised policy to the national disaster management policy of 2009. The policy sets out to establish the guiding principles for stakeholders. It highlights the roles, institutional structures, authorities, and key processes crucial to mounting a coordinated approach at decision making and effective response and management of disasters.

The contingency plan charts the course of action to be taken as part of efforts to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from droughts. The National Contingency Plan for Drought is a multi-sectoral plan to maximally reduce drought impacts via institutional coordination, enhance monitoring and early warning capabilities, water shortage impact assessments, and preparedness, response, and recovery programs. The plan identifies an integrated, regional approach to addressing drought and drought action levels.

“The law provides for the general principles governing general offences and penalties in Rwanda. It governs, among other things, the degradation or destruction of property belonging to others; the destruction or degradation of trees, crops and agricultural implements; removal or displacement of geodetic signals or landmarks; Removal, displacement or degradation of the terminals; abuse, injure or kill pets. The law also makes provisions for all genocidal offences against humanity committed between October 1990 and December 1994”.

The law states that the primary responsibility of disaster management in Rwanda falls on the government. It has 16 distinct guiding principles for disaster management situations. The law places a premium on people with disabilities in the areas of relief and assistance services. It categorises disasters into 4; Category 1, relating to sector disaster, managed with sector resources; Category 2, relating to disasters occurring at the district level, and managed with district resources; Category 3, relating to disasters occurring at the district level, and managed with resources of the ministry in charge of disaster management; and Category 4, relating to disasters out of the reach of the country’s resources.

Attaining an inclusive, united, democratic, and prosperous country is one of the long term visions of Rwanda. It thus becomes important to ensure the women in the country are empowered towards the promotion of their socio-economic wellbeing and effective and unhindered political participation. The national gender policy sets out as a multisectoral government policy, providing the overarching principles to be integrated into the policies and guidelines of all actors, decision-makers, and stakeholders in the country. It seeks to incorporate gender issues into the country’s economic development and poverty reduction strategy (EDPRS), to ensure prompt attention is paid to the policy during implementation. The policy’s overall objective is to promote gender equality across all sectors in Rwanda.

The law establishes the Office for the promotion of development in Rwanda (RDB) and determines its mission, its organization and its functioning. It is to be supervised by the office of the President of the Republic.