Impact of foreign aid on rwanda's socio-economic development as guided by Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 “Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger”:case of Gasabo District

4.2.2 Data from Observational schedules

The target group/s were Donor Community and beneficiaries as depicted in the pictures below that were taken at Kimironko and Rutunga sectors respectively.

Source: photo by the Researcher

In light of the limitations that were experienced in order to gain entry into some specific groups of respondents, the researcher resorted to using the observational method which is hailed by Dooley (1995), for its ability to generate first hand data. Several Donors were approached in advance to avail time for an interview on the effectiveness of their operations and they accepted in principle (Please see annex). However, when the time came for them to be interviewed they were almost conspiratorially mum? about. They all kept their cards close to their chests, citing one reason or the other as excuses. Some Donor officials referred all matters to higher officials

who would in turn refer the researcher to other higher officials until it became impossible; thus politely denying the researcher access to their operations. Upon further pressing for access, the researcher was then advised by some officials who vowed to remain anonymous as a condition for disclosure that all Development Partners officials were made to sign an oath of secrecy upon entry as a critical precondition for employment. It would seem therefore, judging from their unprecedented reservations that this oath of secrecy is stronger than the Official Secrecy Act.

On second analysis it would seem that this reticence is deliberate: to shut off the public from the internal operations of the organisations. Some of the government officials who work with the Donors pointed out that the organizations declared their intentions and were helped by Government to channel their aid to particular areas but they never really disclosed the sources of their finance, the amounts and how those amounts were broken down among the organisations employees, the boundary partners and the intended beneficiaries. Because of this information blackout it becomes difficult to dismiss some of the arguments by pessimists? who claim that some of the NGOs are created to ease unemployment in their homelands so that the bulk of the monies disbursed benefit directors (who are almost always citizens of guest countries), and also that the intended beneficiaries receive only but a trickle, thus making aid merely a façade hiding ulterior motives which are never disclosed to host governments.

Some critics take the argument even further, stressing that the majority of such NGOs are essentially political institutions working to effect regime changes in host countries in line with foreign policies of guest countries to keep subordinate countries under perpetual dependency, thus sustaining the horse-rider relationships between them.

If the above observations are anything to go by, NGOs then cease to angels of mercy; rather they become messengers of doom. It then explains why their activities are shrouded in secrecy, thus also buttressing reservations by some government officials that foreign aid does not in the long run improve the socio-economic development of Rwanda, but that, rather it encourages dependency. A brief analysis of the responses of target beneficiaries may prove the contrary.

Kimironko Sector is one on the Sectors constituting the District of Gasabo which forms a part of the urban Section of Kigali City. This Sector has Centre Cesar; a women cooperative involved in various economic activities that include tailoring, handcrafts as well as an internet café. The artisans, about 86 in total, create key chains, pen, USB key and cell phone holders from beadwork. During the school vacation, they are joined by around 70 secondary students to continue their work. There are another 12 artisans who embroider various motifs for greeting cards and wall hangings, and more than 14 tailors who produce dresses, shirts, pants, school uniforms and a really nice line of sleep wear for sale in Canada and Rwanda. The school aged children of the widows receive sponsorship from Canadians to continue their primary and secondary educations, infants come to the center with their mothers during the day, and toddlers too young to attend school go to the daycare built by the center ( http://www.in2eastafrica.net). One may observe that after 1994, Rwanda? socio-economic development was to be taken into account by all stakeholders.

One of the group member described poverty as something bad which happen to people whereby
one is in a situation where you have No clothes, no food, no body oil, where he/she is afraid of
others, hopeless and no confident of yourself. «Poverty destroys our welfare, one cannot sit and

chat with others comfortably; you feel empty when you are poor even if you have been to school. You cannot even talk in public, leave a life without future, without objectives; with poverty you don?t even think, no constructive ideas».

More information given by one respondent aptly was that poverty for a Rwandan especially the genocide widow is the strength you got to work and do whatever possible to get something for your family (mean to get food and other living necessities in need). «Even if I am poor, I want to work hard and change the welfare of my family, all my household for the better», she said. Another went further to claim, «Poverty creates bad things, bad habits, I think even genocide was caused by poverty; people were poor somehow, financially, economically, and mentally.» Poverty can make people work tirelessly, trying to get something even if is not enough. The poor always have to think of something to do, even the cheapest job, which some are shamed to do for example the prostitution.

Given this background, the Sector of Rutunga occupies the rural section of Gasabo District. The villagers generally agreed that any aid including foreign aid is welcome. Notably, all of them never seemed to think of aid in terms of development at national level. They conceived aid only in terms of their local poverty, leaving this impression to the researcher that only those who are well up have the indulgence of analysing whether aid came with strings, the nature of the strings etc; the real poor did not. Such an impression leaves a feeling of guilt even on the researcher: Perhaps government needs to do more to raise the standards of living of its people so that they can be able to see things in a broader light than the castles of their skins.