“Rwanda Travelogue: Rwandan Values for Post-Genocide Resilience” by M. Christian Green

Aerial of Kigali Convention Center by Emmanuel Kwizera (CC BY-SA 4.0).

I approached attending the recent African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS) 2026 Rwanda conference on “Law, Religion and Youth in Africa” with some amount of trepidation. For someone who was studying law and religion, particularly human rights law, at the time of the 1994 genocide, now officially referenced as the Genocide Against the Tutsi, Rwanda loomed large as a case study of what can happen when human beings, politics, law, and religion give way to their worst impulses. The world now knows Rwanda as an amazing economic development success story, with steady growth of in GDP of  8% per year going back two decades, which is now said to have approached 10% in 2025 and exceeded 10% in the first quarter of 2026. Rwanda’s commitments to justice and peace are undergirded with restorative justice in the gacaca courts that have become international case studies for transitional and restorative justice. Rwanda even has the highest percentage of women in its Parliament, which has been lauded for drawing on women’s reputedly greater peacekeeping skills.

Rwanda’s path to progress has not been without criticism. In aspiring to a Singapore model of development, Rwanda’s government has been said to have prioritized economic development over human rights. Rwanda has made notable strides in poverty reduction, but a significant portion of the population continue to live in poverty, particularly in rural areas, even as development has benefited many in urban areas and the top economic strata. Women hold power in politics, but not always in their homes and daily life. Still, the indicia of development and the pride that many Rwandans take in their country’s progress are real. And the theme of the conference was highly appropriate, as the country’s strikingly young population gives it a pipeline of young people, most of whom were born after the genocide, poised to take the country in a positive direction toward a bright future.

Kwigira Museum

A side trip that several of us took after the conference revealed some possible sources for Rwanda’s recent progress, at the intersection of law, religion, and cultural norms, that the Rwandan government has been retrieving from the past to apply to the present and future. A group of us visited the Kwigira Museum atop Rwesero Hill in the Nyanza district. Nyanza was the territorial seat of the Rwandan monarchy, and the museum building was constructed from 1957 to 1958 to serve as the royal palace of King Mutara III Rutahigwa, the next to last king before the abolition of the Rwandan monarchy in 1961. The king died under mysterious circumstances in 1959 before he could take residence in the building. The building has interesting connections to law, having served at various times as the Rwandan Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Financial Court, and Prosecutor’s Office. From 2006 to 2018, it served as a national art museum.

Visiting a building used over the years for such important posts of Rwandan governance was itself an opportunity. We had read up on the development of Rwandan social and political values on the ride to the museum. But what was highly interesting for our group, coming from a conference on law and religion, was the exhibition on Rwandan national values that filled the halls.

Rwandan History

Our background reading revealed a crucible of Rwandan norms and values related to law, religion, and governance. As our travel guidebook explained, Rwanda is a land-locked central African nation that was largely untouched by the trade that reached other parts of East and Central Africa and so had relatively little contact with outsiders for centuries in its pre-colonial history. As the travel guide described it, “Before the arrival of the Europeans, Rwandans believed they were the centre of the world, with the grandest monarchy, the greatest power and the highest civilization. . . . Rwanda had remained untouched by events unfolding elsewhere in Africa. Tucked away in the centre of the continent, the tiny kingdom was ignored by slave traders; consequently, Rwanda is one of the few African countries that never sold its people, or its enemies, into slavery. There is no record of Arab traders or Asian merchants, numerous in other parts of East and Central Africa, having penetrated its borders.” Rwanda is said have remained “isolationist and closed to foreigners” until the 1890s, its people having repelled even the intrepid American explorer Henry Stanley with an arrow attack. This isolation and insularity can be seen as contributing to a distinctive cultural integrity, with some interesting features for governance, law, and social justice.

The Rwandan political structure was centered around a king (mwami) and queen mother (umugabkazi), the latter of whom had considerable power. This powerful female political presence was of interest to our all-female tour group. At the intersection of law and religion, there was also a class of spiritual and ritual leaders, the abiiru, who possessed power to reverse the king’s decisions if they conflicted with a magical Esoteric Code. Notably, both the queen mother and the abiiru had to be drawn in rotation from different clans from that of the king, which seems to have been another way to ensure balance of power among the kingdom’s various social groups. Indeed, the power of the queen mother, the veto power of the abiiru suggested the existence of separation of powers and checks and balances to prevent too great an aggregation of authority—and centuries before Montesquieu penned The Spirit of the Laws and nations held No Kings protests.

In its social structure, Rwandans were divided into three groups: the Tutsi, the Hutu, and the Twa. The Tutsi were cow herders who occupied a superior status, since cows were the main form of wealth in a society that lacked a monetary system. The Hutu were largely peasant farmers who occupied a secondary spot in the status structure, serving as vassals to Tutsi chiefs. The Twa were a small, pygmy, originally hunter-gatherer population, whose artistic skills in pottery and as dancers and musicians eventually gave them special status at court. The overall system was based on ubuhake, a clientelist system in which superiors provided protection to inferiors who rendered services. Ubuhake was based on voluntary and revocable private contracts that could take place among the Tutsi or between Tutsi  and Hutu, and they permitted switching loyalty to one chief of another. This fluidity in ubuhake contractual arrangements was also apparent in socioeconomic and even marital status. Hutus who acquired cattle could become Tutsi and take Tutsi wives; Tutsis who fell on hard times might become Hutu and take Hutu wives. Twa were less able to change status, unless the king awarded them Tutsi status for some achievement.

These three groups are presented today as largely non-conflictual and fluid throughout Rwanda’s social history. The absence of conflict between Tutsi and Hutu continues to be part of the official portrayal of the country’s history, as presented at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, for example. The prevailing historical narrative is of colonization under the Germans and Belgians in which Rwanda’s social groups were racialized and made into distinct ethnic groups in ways that eventually fed the 1994 genocide, which was the event that brought Rwanda to the attention of much of the world. But, as we shall see, if all one knows about Rwanda is the genocide, one may not know all there is to know about Rwanda, especially when it comes to certain values of a juridical and spiritual nature that predated the genocide and are now drawn upon to continue the country’s progress. At least that was our conclusion after the Kwigira Museum tour.

Rwandan Values and Home Grown Solutions

So, what are some of these Rwandan values? Many of the values in Rwanda’s program of Home-Grown Solutions (HGS) (also referred to as Home Grown Initiatives) are said to fall under the broad brush of the slogan “self-reliance in community,” as announced by the very name of the Kwigira Museum. This seems related to, but also different from, the other set of values cited in much of the African continent—namely, Ubuntu, “I am because we are.” Those values are worth exploring, in order to understand their importance as a whole.

Kwigira, for which the museum is named, is the idea of “self-reliance in community,” the main framework for HGS that the museum is meant to highlight. Kwigira involves individual self-reliance and confidence, but also a willingness to help others. It is often paired with the concept of kwiyubaka, which involves resilience, rebuilding, and repairing of what was broken.

Itorero (full name Itorero ry’Igihugu) is a cultural and civil education program that was introduced in Rwanda in 2009. Based on educational program in patriotism, social relations, dancing, martial arts, and leadership conducted during the country’s monarchical past to train youth for military defense of the country, the values of the pre-colonial Itorero schools are now used to train youth in group and collective values. The concept is also the focus of an entire department of the Rwandan government’s Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUMBWE). (The same ministry contains departments on national unity and community resilience and memory and genocide prevention.)

Ubudehe involves practices of coming together to show mutual support to solve community problems. It is a program of collective action, mutual support, and socioeconomic classification used to reduce poverty, provide social protection programs, and to allocate resources fairly based on social need. It is based on a five-part socioeconomic classification of assets and needs from the wealthiest to the poorest citizens, with those in the first and second tiers, with the most need, being able to benefit from government assistance. So ingrained is this concept in Rwandan society that when I asked a driver later in the trip about how health care is provided in Rwanda, his immediate response was to run down the five ubudehe classifications, describing how health care is funded and provided to people in each class. Ubudehe is, clearly, a concept from the past with present-day relevance.

Umuganda,  which translates roughly to “coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome,” refers most directly to a Rwandan practice of community service, which started in the period after independence in 1962 and was implemented as a nationwide program in 2007, taking place on the last Saturday of every month. Like ubudehe, it fosters collaboration, communication, and teamwork among Rwandans, brining them together around common goals. It is seen especially in projects of classroom construction and cleanliness around the country. The work typically is followed by grassroots community dialogues on government policies.

Gacaca (“justice on the grass”) is a value for which Rwanda has become globally known. It is a traditional system of community-based justice, with many connections to notions of restorative justice that is credited with having been used by the Rwandan government to process more than a million genocide cases. The use of the courts was initiated by the Genocide Law of 1996, but later terminated in 2012.The use of gacaca courts was based in part in frustrations with the slow process of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The gacaca courts have not been without criticism, but some scholars of peacemaking still maintain that there are useful lessons to be learned from their work, even as others argue that the courts ultimately failed to produce restorative justice and reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda.

Abunzi are mediation committees that, like the Gacaca Courts,  emphasize conflict resolution and justice at the local level by respected and trusted leaders. They work toward the development of leadership and values of openness and transparency in the process. The mediation committees are now conducted by under the auspices of the Rwandan Ministry of Justice. Notably, at least 30% of mediation committee members must be female. The national Abunzi Committees are provided for in Article 141 of the Rwandan Constitution.

Imhigo are performance contracts with an emphasis on open competition and setting targets and goals to be achieved. According to one study, “Imihigo had its roots in a pre-colonial Rwandan cultural practice whereby leaders or warriors would publicly vow to achieve certain goals and face public humiliation if they failed.” It was reintroduced by the Rwandan government in 2006 as a practice of requiring government officials to sign contracts to achieve specific development targets. The practice  has been credited with improving accountability and citizen participation in community programs. In the words of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, “Imhigo is about transforming the lives of every citizen.”

Umwiherero is a Rwandan cultural practice that involves retreat to a secluded place. Like imhigo, it is said to promote accountability, strategic solutions, and progress. Umwiherero is yet another practice that has been adopted by the Rwandan government in the form of National Leadership Retreats.

Agaseke is a traditional Rwandan basket-weaving practice (impressive examples were on display at the museum) that is said to promote peace and reconciliation. The amazake basket is now the centerpiece of the Rwandan national seal. Given its status as a folk art passed down from mother to daughter and the fact that women continue to be the primary makers of the baskets, it has been come to stand for both peace and women’s empowerment.

Umushyikirano refers to meetings where people can share experiences, exchange ideas, and question each other. In post-genocide Rwanda, umushyikirano was institutionalized in 2003 as a national dialogue through the National Umushyikirano Council, the functions of which are laid out in Article 140 of the Rwandan Constitution. The umushyikirano generates considerable interest among the Rwandan population, and efforts have been made to include Rwanda’s diaspora population.

Agaciro, meaning “dignity” or “self-worth” in Kinyarwanda, is our last stop on the Kwigira list, and it has resonance with the kwigira concept in emphasizing self-reliance. In its connection to dignity, it emphasizes the agency of the person. At the national level, it is now the name of the national sovereign wealth fund, the Agaciro Development Fund, where it reflects Rwanda’s concern not to be dominated by external assistance.

Law, Religion, and Kwigira

One could ask, whether critically or cynically, how it is that a nation with these values descended into genocide. Current narratives emphasize the shock of colonialism, the creation of a racialized and ethnicized population, and tensions between Hutus and Tutsis that were simmering in the years before the genocide but were not of ancient vintage or intractable nature. While the genocide was accomplished in a terrible flash of three months in 1994, there had been precursor attacks in the years immediately prior. Some of the most compelling accounts today point to a highly deliberate process, even a conspiracy, of key individuals and institutions.

A sticking point remains the response of religious organizations, particularly the Christian churches, to the genocide. There was discussion at the ACLARS conference of the reputed lesser participation of Rwanda’s Muslim communities in the genocide. But a personal visit to two churches that became sites of mass atrocities, at Nyamata and Ntarama, now listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, brought accounts of how the European priests in charge were evacuated from the country during the genocide. (At Nyamata, there is, notably, a grave and memorial to an Italian Catholic nun, Antonia Locatelli, who tried to warn of the genocide in advance.) Scholars have also identified patterns of participation by priests and the Church in the genocide. The abiiru spiritual leaders of Rwanda’s pre-colonial past may have had power to overrule bad policies, but many of Rwanda’s religious leaders on the cusp of the twenty-first century did not.

But what the Kwigira Museum suggested through its inventory of Rwandan values was that while religious, political, and civil society forces may have tragically failed Rwanda in 1994, there was a repository of values in Rwanda’s culture that is now serving as a crucial reservoir for resilience. While at a stoplight on my last day touring some final and worthwhile sites at the Kigali Public Library and the Rwanda Art Museum before boarding the plane home, I noticed workers picking their way through the road medians and plucking every brown leaf from the carefully cultivated yellow lilies and blue acanthus flowers laid out in the colors of the Rwandan flag. This painstaking process, too, seemed a testament to kwigira and agaciro and to the pride and resilience of the Rwandan people—and the Kwigira Museum, as on blogger has put it, is a place where “history meets hope.”

---

---

Recommended Citation

Green, M. Christian. “Rwanda Travelogue: Rwandan Values for Post-Genocide Resilience.” Canopy Forum, July 10, 2026. https://canopyforum.org/2026/07/10/rwanda-travelogue-rwandan-values-for-post-genocide-resilience/.

Recent Posts