
































5100-Article Text-16396-1-11-20201211


http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

58 

Regenerative Post COVID-19 Recovery Measures: 
The Case of Rwanda 
 
Alaa Ben Abdallah1 and Rudi Michiel Ackerman2  

1 International Business and Trade, African Leadership University, Kigali, Rwanda 
2 International Business and Trade, African Leadership University, Kigali, Rwanda 
 
1a.benabdall@alustudent.com 
 2rudi.ackerman23@gmail.com 
 
Received: 15/09/2020 
Revised: 12/11/2020 
Accepted for publication: 07/12/2020 
Published: 18/12/2020 

 

Abstract

Governments worldwide are scrambling to combat both the biological and economic effects of the 

global COVID-19 pandemic. Given urban unemployment and poverty induced by the global pandemic, 

this paper asks if developing countries could use regenerative agriculture as a form of poverty alleviation. 

By using Rwanda as a case study, this paper analyzes two of the existent home-grown poverty alleviation 

initiatives for rural food security: Girinka (Have a cow) and Akarima k’igikoni (Kitchen Gardens). We 

investigate if the rural Akarima k’igikoni initiative could be implemented in urban areas. Using descriptive 

statistical data gathered during the pandemic in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, we found rainwater collection 

practices already well established. We find that many households already separate waste, but that only 

some households practice composting and home-gardening. We conclude with several recommendations 

on how the Rwandan government’s commitment to sustainable development and urban agglomeration in 

the Vision 2050 strategy can be achieved. Using already well-established policy mechanisms like the 

“Umudugudu” (=Village) network and the Akarima k’igikoni initiative, Rwanda can better weather the 

economic effects of the global pandemic. These mechanisms present a valuable opportunity for Rwandan 

businesses to invest in composting activities and regenerative practices in their buildings and waste 

management systems. Other developing countries can also learn valuable lessons from an environmentally 

sustainable and home-grown poverty alleviation policy. 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

59 

 

Keywords: Sustainability; COVID19; Rwanda; Vision 2050; Regenerative Agriculture; Circular Food 
Systems; Decentralisation  

1. Introduction 

The effects of the global Coronavirus pandemic are yet to be fully quantified, but undeniably had a 

detrimental effect on the economy and its people (Nicola et al., 2020). As many economies failed the 

people they are supposed to serve - from health systems and education to sustenance and job security - the 

pandemic has taught us that there is no option of going back to normal; sustainable practices are not just 

a nice-to-have but a must-have. The destructive scale of climate change is projected to far exceed the 

damages caused by the Coronavirus since it endangers our own existence on earth. Climate change-

induced temperature increase is “predicted to reach up to 3.25°C by the end of the century” (Bendito and 

Twomlow, 2015), which is 1.25°C above the degree limit to control climate change repercussions (2°C) 

(Koch, 2014). Because of their heavy reliance on rain-fed crop production, developing countries and more 

specifically African countries will disproportionately experience the disastrous effects of climate change 

such as the frequent droughts and floods and increasing wind speeds that affect, sometimes irreversibly, 

the crops as well as the initial poverty of the population and limits the capacity to adapt (Mikova et al., 

2015).  Ironically, while humanity struggled with the economic, social, and biological effects of the virus, 

the biosphere seemed to recover (NASA, 2020). It is disappointing that it had to take a global pandemic 

for us to pause our environmentally destructive economic activities. This pause gives us all a valuable 

moment to reconsider our actions and policies.  

In this paper, we will show the key role that sustainability can play in the recovery process after 

COVID19 for developing countries. By using Rwanda as an example, we will show in the literature review 

the historical efficacy of regenerative initiatives such as the Girinka project. In sections four and five we 

will use data from a field research study conducted in the midst of the lockdown to show that Kigali may 

be ready for expanding the Akarima k’igikoni project (a more recent regenerative agriculture project 

launched in 2019) as part of a post-COVID19 recovery process in peri-urban centres. Finally, we present 

policy recommendations in section six and summarise our findings based on obstacles identified in our 

field research in section seven. 

 There are various important solutions that Rwanda has implemented to recover from economic and 

social hardship after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. One such solution was to implement 

a form of home-grown universal basic income called the Girinka project - a system by which all families 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

60 

received a milk cow as a food source. After the food security brought about by the Girinka project, and in 

order to further diversify vitamin intake, the Akarima k’igikoni initiative was implemented - a kitchen 

garden based on circular food system principles. Both these initiatives were supported by the Umudugudu1  

network and umuganda - an innovative and uniquely Rwandan community service event that proved a 

very effective way of enacting national policies locally. 

Our research builds upon these and other measures. However, our recommendations only represent one 

piece of the sustainability puzzle - more research into the circular economy, biomimicry, green businesses 

and renewable energies needs to still be done to help develop a sustainable macroeconomy. We build upon 

the research done on circular food systems by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation (2019). A more 

comprehensive review of terms such as regenerative agriculture, circular food systems and composting 

can be obtained from their comprehensive Cities and Food for Circular Economy report (see Ellen 

Macarthur Foundation, 2019 and Nijman, 2020). 

 Our solutions offer guidance around circular food systems that are home-grown, regenerative, and 

supportive of the urban agglomeration agenda of Rwanda’s Vision 2050 development strategy. It is 

important to realise, as Kolinjivadi put it (Kolinjivadi, in Selby and Kagawa, 2020:3); “[both COVID-19 

and climate change] are rooted in the same abusive economic behaviour, and both have proven to be 

deadly for humans”. It is therefore imperative that our economic recovery measures after the pandemic 

also address (and not further exacerbate) our environmental impact. 
 

2. Context of the COVID-19 pandemic 
 

Rwanda responded to international concerns around the novel SARS strain by installing handwashing 

stations in and around public transportation hubs, restaurants, commercial centres and banks in its major 

cities by 11 March 2020. The government tested all incoming air travellers and confirmed the first case 

on 14 March 2020 - a foreign national travelling to Rwanda. On 16 March, the government declared all 

large gatherings, education and religious institutions to be closed in the country to limit the spread, and 

introduced social distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing rules. These were strictly adhered to with 

 
1 The closest translation for Umudugudu is “village”, and is the smallest administrative division in Rwanda. An umudugudu 
normally consists of around 200 - 1000 people, and come together on the last Saturday of every month for Umuganda, a 
collective community service event. Some Umuganda days are used for neighbourhood cleanup, repairing of houses or public 
infrastructure, or the planting of vegetable gardens (akarima k’igikoni). For more on the umudugudu and umuganda, see 
Uwimbabazi and Lawrence (2013) 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

61 

penalties like spending a night in the local stadium while being recited the dangers of the virus, among 

others (Asala, 2020). On 20 March, a full lock-down was implemented with all international flights 

suspended, non-cargo travel between provinces prohibited, all non-essential travel banned and all 

incoming travellers were subject to 14-day mandatory quarantine. Only essential services businesses were 

allowed to operate and movement was strictly enforced with a daily curfew of 9pm-5am. Our own data 

(Figure 1 below) shows that income levels in our sample dropped by an average of 76 per cent in the 

sample taken for Kigali during this time of lockdown - mostly because of how hard-hit the informal 

economy was. Gradually, the Rwandan government relaxed certain restrictions and opened up segments 

of the economy - most notably the tourism and hospitality industry - which is Rwanda’s largest source of 

foreign reserves (AOEC, 2020). By 1 July 2020, most domestic business activities had been allowed to 

resume (people were asked to work from home if possible and strict social distancing and mask-wearing 

policies were in place for those who could not). By 1 August 2020, international flights and tourism had 

been allowed to resume, subject to strict quarantine and social distancing policies. For the purpose of this 

study, when we refer to ‘lockdown restrictions’, we generally refer to the period between March 2020 and 

July 2020. The data used in this study was collected in the first week of July 2020. As such, it shows the 

behaviour of households within the peri-urban areas of Kigali after the worst lockdown restrictions have 

started to lift, as well as their responses during lockdown.  

 

Our study shows that the right conditions are in place in Kigali’s peri-urban areas to make use of 

decentralised regenerative agriculture as a way of poverty alleviation. Most respondents have the right 

abilities and practices in place to use productive home gardens for sustenance. This is a particularly 

relevant insight following the depths with which the global pandemic has exposed the thin margin on 

which much of the informal economy survives. As a developing capital with large peri-urban areas and a 

large informal economy (Ackerman, 2020), Kigali is a good model for other developing capitals in sub-

Saharan Africa. It is also among the fastest growing economies, and the government has a strong focus on 

industrialising within environmental limits. Our study therefore opens up an avenue for further 

investigation for developing countries who may also seek to establish regenerative agricultural practices. 

But it is only the start - more research needs to be done to establish if this is an effective tool for poverty 

alleviation, and if it can be sustainably scaled in urban centres. Our study merely shows that the potential 

for implementation exists. 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

62 

 

 
3. Literature Review 
 3.1. Regenerative Agriculture Overview 
 

 The agricultural industry is immensely diverse and has been one of the most defining activities of 

humankind’s development and our impact on the biosphere (Kinahan, 2009). The most common form of 

commercial agriculture is what can be called ‘monoculture’, where a single crop is planted at a large scale; 

fauna and soil minerals are artificially controlled. The monocrop, once harvested, often leaves the fields 

completely barren, and artificial fertiliser is then needed to plant the next crop. This is contrary to natural 

regenerative systems where no external inputs are needed to ensure growth (Anderson, 2019). By 

mimicking natural systems in agriculture, a regenerative circular food system does not need external inputs 

in the longer run. This may mean planting a diversity of crops that give and take different minerals from 

the soil, and integrating livestock in agricultural practices more efficiently to mimic natural fauna 

fertilisation.  

 

Regenerative agriculture has emerged as a compelling field of research and an environmentally fit 

approach “to adjust our sight to the needs of the new ecology” (Anderson, 2019:2). As such, ‘disrupting 

linear agricultural production’ has been a large focus within the research on the circular economy, which 

evolved into investigating the efficiency of circular food systems. A 2018 study done by Lundgren and 

LaCanne (2018:1) on corn production found that “regenerative fields had 29 per cent lower grain 

production but 78 per cent higher profits over traditional corn production systems”, which implies that 

“regenerative farming systems provided greater ecosystem services and profitability for farmers than an 

input-intensive model of corn production” (LaCanne and Lundgren, 2018:1). The Ellen MacArthur 

Foundation report on Cities and Circular Economy for Food estimates that for a metropolitan city like São 

Paulo in Brazil to relocate its farming systems into regenerative practices will yield “USD 67 million cost 

saving in health due to reduced pesticide exposure and lower air pollution”, and “USD 25 million worth 

of soil saved from degradation in conventional farming practices” (Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 2019:49), 

and help avoid 92,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas yearly among many other benefits on the individual and 

communal level (Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 2019). This study hopes to contribute towards the efforts 

at expanding regenerative agriculture in cities. 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

63 

 

What then constitutes a circular food system, and how could we test its viability? Nijman (2020) and 

the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2019) suggests implementing a circular system rests on three principles; 

1) design out waste, 2) keep products and materials in use and 3) regenerate natural systems. Nijman 

(2020) applied these principles to regenerative agriculture and considered three variables in a study on 

East African agricultural practices; 1) the propensity to use organic waste as compost, 2) the propensity to 

reuse agricultural materials (such as jerry cans and paper bags) and 3) the prevalence of regenerating 

natural systems (through practices like aquaponics or agroforestry). Because our study is considering 

households, and not farmers, our study looked at slightly different variables to consider the same three 

principles. We looked 1) at the the propensity to separate waste (which is an essential step in designing 

out waste that ends up in a landfill), 2) what most households then do with the waste they separate (is it 

reused or does it end up in a landfill), and 3) we asked if households capture rainwater (which is a 

prerequisite for implementing a regenerative urban agricultural system and mimics natural water 

catchment systems). In addition to these three main areas of investigation, we also considered if alternative 

water sources are available to test the assumption that rainwater collection is a prerequisite in urban 

agriculture. 

 
 3.2. Recovering from previous challenges; the Girinka Programme 

 
Girinka, which translates to "have a cow," is a Rwandan government initiative launched in 2006 that 

consists of giving one dairy cow to every low-income family as part of a poverty alleviation strategy. By 

June 2016, 248,566 cows had been distributed to poor households (Mudingu, 2017). "One Cow brings 

nutrition, sustenance, and employment, providing a stable income for a family and is a source of soil 

nutrients via manure to assist small scale cropping activity” (Nyabinwa, 2018:1). 

The programme is also in line with the Rwanda Government’s priorities for the Transformation of 

Agriculture (PSTA). On the one hand, as income generated from milk production increases, farmers' 

abilities to invest in crop production have been on the rise as well as their ability to take loans and 

participate in development (Unicef, 2012). On the other hand, new cattle breeds have been developed for 

higher milk yields, and manure was used for crop fertilization and biogas (Unicef, 2012). Girinka can be 

perceived as a form of a universal basic income (UBI). However, since it was non-monetary and culturally 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

64 

appropriate (developed in Rwanda, for Rwanda), it is an interesting and regenerative approach to UBI for 

a country with limited fiscal ability.  

This program was not only created to serve economic purposes but also as a social project to reconstruct 

Rwanda and reconcile communities after the tragic genocide against the Tutsi in 1994. "If a cow is given 

from one person to another, it establishes trust and respect between the giver and beneficiary” (Mudingu, 

2017:2). Girinka's social dimension has a profound impact on Rwandans' perception of each other because 

it utilises the cultural significance around the act of giving cows in Rwandan culture - giving cows is 

traditionally reserved for marriage, where families are ceremonially linked together in the future. In 

addition, the programme also encourages the use of communal cow sheds as another aspect of fostering 

connection and knowledge transfer for beneficiaries who are not knowledgeable about cow breeding.  

The programme has also contributed to changing the mainstream Rwandan mindset from "looking at 

cattle as a status symbol (the more cows one had, the better) - to a source of income and livelihood” 

(Mudingu, 2017:2). By changing this social perception, the negative effects of conspicuous consumption 

decried by Veblen are avoided (Veblen and Banta, 2007) - most notably that of conspicuous waste. This 

is an important point, as governments attempt to redefine consumption and consumerism in an effort to 

achieve decent living standards. Rwanda has shown that by looking inward - at its own cultural roots - the 

negative consumption patterns that the developed world is now trying to redress, can be avoided. However, 

as Rwanda gradually urbanises, it is becoming increasingly important to adapt this rural-suited initiative 

to a more urban setting. With limited land in urban areas, a more appropriate alternative for the future 

needs to be applied. 

 
 3. 3. The Akarima k'igikoni Programme 
 

In an effort to reduce malnutrition, Rwanda's government launched the Akarima k'igikoni initiative as 

part of a model village planning program in the whole Southern Province in 2019. Child malnutrition is a 

prominent health issue in Rwanda, with “only 18 per cent of children aged 6-23 months are fed in 

accordance with the recommendations for infant and young child feeding practices” (Ahishakiye et al., 

2019:1). Akarima k'igikoni which translates to "Kitchen Gardens" hopes to provide food diversity 

especially to young children in order to address poor diets (Kanamugire, 2019).  

Not much has been written on this initiative because of its recent implementation. However, it forms 

part of a series of bigger grassroots strategies for poverty alleviation (such as the Girinka programme, 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

65 

among others). For Akarima k'igikoni, the government provides staff, materials, and seeds to build kitchen 

gardens in each house of the village. There are 338 households sheltering a population of 1525 people 

who benefited from this program to-date in Gishyushye Village (Kanamugire, 2019). The Akarima 

k'igikoni program also invests in training people on gardening skills and general knowledge of seeding 

plants. 

Since Akarima k'igikoni uses a participatory approach to build communities, it is seen as building trust 

between civil society and government - as both work together for the betterment of living conditions and 

self-sustained living. The government collaborates with the citizens to build the kitchen gardens in all the 

households of the model village by training them on gardening practices, so they can also help their 

neighbours in the process. It even involves the community in organising campaigns to collect seeding 

plants and gardening materials or funds to buy them. "The Executive Secretary of the Rukoma Sector, 

Nkurunziza Jean de Dieu, urged the people that no one else should make the model a model village except 

for the people themselves” (Kanamugire, 2019:1). The Akarima k'igikoni is a practical biophilic solution 

to malnutrition that brings Rwandans together and connects them to their agricultural roots. 
 
4. Research Method 
 

We conducted a series of questionnaire-based interviews in the Bibare, Masoro and Kinyaga cells, 

which fall under the Gasabo District within Kigali City province. These areas are all located around the 

newly developed Special Economic Zone / Innovation City, and as such, could be typified as peri-urban.  

All data is derived from completing these questionnaires through a verbal interview conducted in 

Kinyarwanda or English by native speaking fieldworkers, who documented responses (for the full 

questionnaire, see Appendix 1). A sample size of 151 was used, making the data statistically significant. 

Where respondents declined to give information, the data point was excluded (see Appendix 1 for the 

sample size of each question). In general, our sample reflects key similarities with the 2019 census data 

for Kigali, making the data representative with three major exceptions. Our data has an over-representation 

of people with secondary school education and above. It also has an over-representation of those working 

in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles. Those working in agriculture are 

underrepresented - most likely because few farm holdings and many commercial centres were located in 

the areas where data was collected. In addition, Gasabo has the 2nd highest labour participation rate of all 

districts in the country, explaining why we have a slight over-representation of labour force respondents 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

66 

in our sample compared to the national average. (NISR, 2020:8). The data collection was funded by the 

African Leadership University and remains the property of the university. 
 

Table 1. Sample comparison with Kigali population, where available, from NISR data in 2019 

Indicator Sample Result 
Source: own data 

Kigali / *National Population 
Source: NISR 2020 

Unemployment* 12.6% 15.2% 

Informal Sector* 
(as percentage of total 
active labour force) 

 70.5% 
  

75.8% 
  

Sectors Agriculture2       0.8% 
Industry            11.4% 
Services            87.9% 

Agriculture        7.3% 
Industry           19.29% 
Services          73.4% 

Industries Agriculture (1.1 %) 
Wholesale and retail trade, 

repair of motor vehicles and 
motorcycles (49.5 %) 

Construction (8.6 %) 
Manufacturing (3.2 %)  
Transport and storage (14.0 %) 

Agriculture (7.3 %) 
Wholesale and retail trade, 

repair of motor vehicles and 
motorcycles (20.2 %) 

Construction (10.8 %) 
Manufacturing (1.0 %)  
Transport and storage (8.0 %) 

Education of Labour 
Force* 

None             22.0% 
Primary         31.1% 
Secondary    34.1% 
Tertiary         12.9% 

None             47.2% 
Primary         29.5% 
Secondary    16.2% 
Tertiary          7.2% 

Source: NISR (2019) and Own data (2019) 
 
We analysed the data using descriptive statistics only, mainly because that was sufficient to answer the 

research questions. More can certainly be done to better understand the full picture of the lockdown on 

Kigali (see Ackerman, 2020) 

 

 
2 Note that agriculture here refers to market-oriented agriculture only - subsistence agriculture was excluded from the labour 
force entirely by both the NISR and this study in line with ILO practice. 
*Kigali data not available; figure here is for Rwanda nationally. 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

67 

Figure 1 shows the average self-reported daily income levels of our sample, adjusted for Purchasing 

Power Parity to US Dollars. Our data shows that there is a clear negative impact on income levels for our 

sample because of the Coronavirus pandemic, which supports international literature around the negative 

effect of the pandemic on the economy. However, respondents self-reported income, and not expenditure, 

as is best practice for poverty research. As such, the data may not be useful in the literature on absolute 

poverty prevalence in Rwanda - which was not the purpose of this study. For a more comprehensive review 

of the poverty prevalence, debates and measurement challenges in Rwanda, see Fatima and Yoshida 

(2018). For our study, we can only conclude that there is a negative effect on the income levels of our 

sample. More research should be done, using best-practice consumption-based surveys, to determine the 

full effect of the lockdowns on income levels during.  

 
Figure 1. Composition of average self-reported daily income levels of sample (adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity) 

 
Source: Own data (n=121) 
 
 

5. Results & Discussion 

5.1 Akarima k’igikoni  
 
Our first area of investigation is to determine the prevalence of these kitchen garden practices among 

the households in our sample. As an initiative only recently started primarily in the Southern Province, we 

did not expect to see many households make use of this regenerative agricultural practice in Kigali. Our 

findings confirmed this expectation - only 5 per cent of respondents reported using their vegetable garden 

as a way to get food during the lockdown time. Since only 1 per cent of respondents reported working in 

agriculture, it shows that more people have vegetable gardens at home than work in agriculture - but only 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

68 

by a very small margin. This finding highlights two points; firstly, that vegetable gardens and decentralised 

food systems are an underutilised form of subsistence in Kigali, even in times of crisis. Secondly, it shows 

the opportunity for expanding the Akarima k’igikoni initiative in urban areas, since very few people 

currently make use of it. 

5.2 Waste categories after separation 

Our second area of investigation was around the underlying social practices needed to make a success 

of decentralised, regenerative food systems. As outlined by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation (2019), 

having a well-established waste separation culture is a key ingredient for successful implementation of 

regenerative agriculture. The second step after waste separation is the effective use of composting. Thirdly, 

access to water is important for vegetable gardening, and finally access to skills and knowledge. In our 

study, we tested these practices3.   

Considering the first step of waste separation, our data shows that around 21 per cent of the respondents 

separate their household’s waste from their general waste. This can be broken down into the categories 

shown in Table 2. This means that the practice of separating household waste is already somewhat 

established (comparatively, only 7 per cent of households in Copenhagen, Denmark demonstrated a high 

waste separation potential (Pedersen and Manhice, 2019), while 8.13 per cent of South Africans reported 

separating waste with a slightly higher involvement for urban households at 11.18 per cent (Oyekale, 

2017). In addition, respondents were also asked which common packaging items they frequently do not 

throw away but instead reuse for another purpose. Respondents were given a list of options, and 55.4 per 

cent of respondents reported reusing packaging frequently for another purpose (Table 4). This also points 

to a strong culture of reusing items, which is a part of waste separation as well. It shows that Rwandan 

culture already includes aspects of reusing and recycling, which is only now starting to take root in Europe 

and the developed world (see Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 2019; Broerse et al., 2014). 

 
Table 2. Percentage of respondents who separate their waste before disposal 

Does not separate waste 78.81% 

Separates waste 21.19% 

 
3 We did not test for skills and knowledge in our study because of the complexity around reliably ascertaining the level of 
knowledge/skill. As a proxy for this, we consider simply the number of respondents who reported using their vegetable 
garden as a form of subsistence and support - indicating that enough knowledge and skills exist in order to provide sufficient 
produce for subsistence. 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

69 

 

Categories 
into which 
waste is 
separated4, as 
a % of total 
respondents 

Glass 0.66% 
Organic 

Waste 17.22% 

Paper 1.32% 

Plastic 3.31% 
Source: Own data (n=151) 

 
Respondents were also asked how they dispose of their waste (Table 3). Only 3.3 per cent of total 

respondents reported composting their waste5. However, the vast majority of people (72 per cent) depend 

on the government’s waste collection, where most of the waste goes through municipal channels and end 

up in landfills. We can therefore conclude that very few people in our sample made effective use of 

composting, and there is, therefore, a big opportunity for the Akarima k’igikoni to expand this knowledge 

in urban areas in order to create more circular waste systems. Since around 17.22 per cent of respondents 

separated organic waste, yet only 3.3 per cent used it for composting, it also represents an important 

business opportunity for waste management and compost creation businesses in Kigali. The consumer 

behaviour already seems to separate out waste, but no value is currently being created from this practice. 

 
Table 3. Waste disposal methods used, as percentage of total 

Selling waste 1.34% 

Burning waste 2.68% 

Composting 3.36% 

Own landfill 19.46% 

Waste Collection 75.17% 
Source: Own data (n=149) 

 

 
4 Note that the categories do not add up to the total, because some respondents separate into more than one category, and 
were therefore counted in both categories. As such, this table can be understood to mean that 17.22 per cent of respondents 
separated organic waste from their general waste, while 1.32 per cent separated paper from their general waste. Some of those 
who separate organic waste also separate paper, and so on. 
5 This may under represent the total composting practices in our sample. The 3.31 per cent shown here refer to respondents 
who reported using their organic landfills as compost. However, of those who reported separating organic waste from their 
general waste 30.77 per cent reported making their own landfill with the organic waste, which is essentially an ineffective 
form of composting without using the compost itself. Therefore, those who make organic landfills and those who compost 
make up 8.68 per cent of total respondents. 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

70 

Table 4. Percentage of respondents who reported reusing the below material for another purpose before disposing of it 

Does not reuse packaging frequently 44.6% 
Reuses packaging frequently 55.4% 

   

Products frequently 
reused, as percentage of 
those who reported 
reusing products 

Paper Bags 50.36% 

Cardboard Boxes 12.23% 

Plastic Bottles 11.51% 

Plastic Containers 10.79% 

Glass bottles 7.91% 

Plastic Bags 6.47% 

Glass Jars 4.32% 

Paper Cups 3.60% 

Plastic Cups 1.44% 

Metal Tins 0.72% 
Source: Own data (n=139) 

5.3 Water access and rainwater collection 

Finally, we also tested the reliability of access to water. On a macroeconomic level, access to clean 

water is a prominent issue in Rwanda despite the government’s efforts to date. 5.1 million people still lack 

clean water (WaterAid, 2020), and approximately 60 per cent of rural households drink untreated water 

(World Bank Group, 2020:92). Although Rwanda has done much to remedy this in the face of the global 

pandemic by installing simple handwashing stations at most public spaces, these numbers are still 

concerning. 

The water problem was clearly observed in the respondents’ answers as well; 78.6 per cent reported that 

they experienced some water cuts for 4 of the days in the week or more6. It is possible that this high 

reported loss of access to water is as a result of the ongoing construction at the nearby Special Economic 

Zone, but it still points to an underlying problem of consistent water access even in peri-urban areas of 

 
6 Respondents were simply asked how often they experienced water cuts in an average week. They were not asked about their 
source of water, but the phrasing implied the source being that of piped water from the Rwandan Water and Sanitation 
Corporation (WASAC). It is common in the area for people to walk to a WASAC well nearby to collect water in containers 
that is then used in homes. Our study did not differentiate between respondents who had water piped into their homes, and 
people who collected water outside of their home from a WASAC tap. 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

71 

Kigali. It, therefore, suggests that expanding an Akarima k’igikoni initiative in the urban centres 

necessitates fully addressing the water access issues. 

Another alternative to the centralised water supply is decentralised water entrapment, primarily using 

rainwater. Rwanda has a relatively high annual rainfall7, making this is a viable option for many 

households. Our data reveals that most households (Figure 2) already entrap rainwater in some way, 

making rainwater harvesting during COVID19 a vital source of survival. As the government's efforts to 

expand access to clean drinking water materialise, it is essential that the practices of rainwater harvesting 

remain - rainwater plays a critical part in the support of a further expansion of Akarima k'igikoni. Hence, 

it is a good time to introduce the practice of Akarima k’igikoni while people still collect rainwater and as 

government efforts increasingly provide access to grid network drinking water. 

Figure 2. Rainwater management at the household level 

 

 

Source: Own data (n=151) 

6. Policy Recommendation: Expanding the Akarima k'igikoni Programme 

The very successful home-grown Girinka project is unsuited for the growing urban agglomeration 

agenda of Rwanda’s Vision 2050. Urban spaces host many malnourished children, with stunting in urban 

 
7 See https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/country/rwanda/climate-data-historical 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

72 

areas in Rwanda documented at 27 per cent (Bosteels and McDonough, 2016). This paper recommends 

that the government boost the outreach of the home-grown Akarima k'igikoni program after COVID 19 

as both a recovery measure and a way to address the malnutrition problem in urban areas. It is also a key 

ingredient for making the Vision 2050 sustainable and equitable - with further agglomeration and 

urbanisation of Kigali and other cities, it is important for a circular food system to be well embedded in 

order to avoid the crippling environmental destruction experienced by the developed world (World Bank 

Group, 2020). Other developing countries experiencing rapid urbanisation may do well to learn from the 

Rwandan case - balancing environmental concerns with development is an important global priority. 

As our data shows, there is a somewhat well established waste sorting culture, but not yet a well 

established composting culture in Kigali. Training should be done to teach people composting habits and 

ways to use organic waste. Similar interventions have been done using Umuganda, and we propose using 

this as a channel for large-scale education and changing of cultural practices. Phasing out waste from these 

households and diverting it away from landfills is a valuable step towards circular agriculture. This aligns 

with the Vision 2050 priority of investing in human capital. According to the strategy, human capital is a 

very “safe” investment, since “human capital is a portable asset that can have powerful effects on people’s 

welfare and mobility” (World Bank Group, 2020:70).  

 

Apart from changing composting behaviour, it is also essential that the requisite spaces for gardens be 

incorporated into new developments. Rwandans should be able to also integrate these kitchen gardens in 

corporate workplaces. The so-called ‘living buildings’ created by Google and other larger corporations 

(GER, 2019) are an important trend to follow. Google’s efforts to make their campus more waste efficient 

have "prevent[ed] more than 1 million kilograms (2.25 million pounds) of pre-consumer food waste in its 

cafés around the world, totalling over 3 million kilograms (6.6 million pounds) of food waste prevented 

since 2014” (GER, 2019:41). Google keeps producing more innovative solutions towards sustainable 

business office spaces. Translating the living buildings to a Rwandan context could similarly enable 

Rwanda to be a front-runner in green urbanisation. The newly built African Leadership University campus 

in Kigali’s Innovation City has adopted measures to encourage reusable water containers instead of single-

use bottles, with plans to expand green spaces with food-producing plants for circular campus food 

production, among others. Similar development should be done in other parts of Kigali, and the 

government should take a more active lead in ensuring that the new developments in Kigali Innovation 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

73 

City are representative of global best practice. The Akarima k’igikoni should not only be limited to 

households but can be woven into the fabric of Rwanda’s urban scene. Rooftop gardens and green spaces 

is a great step towards building a Rwanda at the forefront of green innovation. We propose that businesses 

pilot these green buildings for further analyses of their effect as part of a decentralised food system for 

urban centres in developing countries. Incorporating these food systems into the industrial symbiosis of 

the eco-industrial parks proposed by Caycedo (2019) in Rwanda would be a great place to start. In a rising 

COVID-induced business competition, green practices, sustainable buildings, and regenerative circular 

urban planning all reflect different models for Corporate Social Responsibility; an excellent competitive 

advantage to businesses (Urmanaviciene and Arachchi, 2020). CSR does not have to be limited by charity 

or philanthropy, the need for more innovative and strategic models is evidently urgent and pivotal 

(Urmanaviciene and Arachchi, 2020) to sustain the economic interests as well as the social and 

environmental commitment of Rwandan businesses.  

 

In order to support this expansion of the Akarima k’igikoni, the issue of water access needs to be 

addressed. Several initiatives are currently being implemented to solve the water problem in Rwanda like 

the WaterAid Rwanda initiatives or the DelAgua Rwanda Project, but their timeline is relatively long. The 

DelAgua Rwanda Project, for instance, aims to distribute 600,000 advanced water filters to the poorest 30 

per cent of households over 20 years (DelAgua, 2020). WaterAid Rwanda has also resorted to training 

programmes in collaboration with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) for state and non-state 

practitioners (engineers, consultants, planners, academicians, and researchers) on sustainable and 

affordable rainwater harvesting (RWH) in Rwanda. The purpose of this training overlaps with the vision 

of managing rainwater in a decentralized way for every household to become self-sustainable with 

consistent access to water. 

This paper supports the governmental push for a holistic decentralized approach to water access in 

Rwanda through rainwater harvesting and treatment. The government should invest in equipping areas, 

where there is an existent culture of water collection, with domestic water filters and water collection tanks 

over the first phase and expand the project with training programs over the second phase. Rainwater 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

74 

harvesting practices have been implemented in some public institutions in Rwanda and have proven to be 

very efficient in driving sustainability and water-sufficiency8.  
 
A note on the Girinka Programme 
 

As outlined before, the Girinka project was a widely successful project for what was a very rural 

Rwanda post-1994. All our recommendations support the UNICEF recommendation that the project 

should be upscaled with more donors and partners involved (Unicef, 2012). The Girinka program should 

be reintroduced in Rwanda after the pandemic with a significant focus on government training and skilling 

activities on cow breeding, composting, and self-managing waste for more sustainable households. 

Educating the population and developing its human capital is a key driver of economic growth (Zeynalli, 

2020); it establishes communication and ensures the alignment between the government’s vision and the 

people’s needs. Although our study did not investigate the project or its application in rural Rwanda, it is 

still part of regenerative agriculture, which is aligned with our recommendations. The production and use 

of cow manure also have considerable spillovers into the rest of the agricultural value chain. However, 

considering the grazing and land required to rear cows, it remains a rural solution. Our recommendations 

aim to address the growing urban areas.  

The implementation of proper measurement systems diminishes the high risks of wasted time and 

resources (Urmanaviciene, 2020). Therefore, we advise that the implementation of these and the previous 

recommendations be coupled by social impact assessment measures that inform sustainable future 

governmental planning and policymaking. 

 
 
7. Summary and Conclusions 
 

In this paper, we discussed the potential expansion of the Akarima k’igikoni initiative into urban and 

peri-urban areas in Rwanda. We investigated the past application of initiatives like the Girinka project and 

the Akarima k’igikoni initiative. We considered current cultural practices in the peri-urban area of Kigali’s 

Gasabo District. We found that although most people reuse packaging material frequently, only some 

portions of the population separate waste. We can conclude that more education should still be done to 

 
8 For the full report on the potential of rainwater harvesting in the whole of Rwanda, see Matto and  Jainer (2019). 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

75 

support a successful expansion of the Akarima k’igikoni programme, starting with education around 

organic waste disposal and composting. Very few people seem to use vegetable gardens for sustenance, 

and it, therefore, represents a vastly untapped opportunity for urban food security and circular, 

regenerative agriculture. We also recommend expanding the Akarima k’igikoni in corporate spaces and 

office parks by adapting the ‘living building’ concept to a Rwandan context. We found surprisingly 

prevalent rainwater entrapment practices that could support the expansion of Akarima k’igikoni in peri-

urban areas. Sustainability can no longer be treated as an externality - it should be a primary driver for 

policymaking. Our recommendations contribute towards linking the various threads of food security, 

sustainable decentralised and regenerative agricultural systems, and urban agglomeration. 

 

Limitations of the study 

It is important to note that our research was focused in the peri-urban areas of Kigali’s Bumbogo, 

Masoro, Kinyaga and Bibare areas within the Gasabo District. These areas are located in and around the 

new Special Economic Zone and Kigali Innovation City developments. It, therefore, does not fully 

represent the more urban, affluent and densely populated areas of Kigali City, nor rural Rwanda at all. 

Considering the literature on the Akarima k’igikoni, the practice of kitchen gardening seems to be more 

widespread in the rural Southern Province. This study considers its application in peri-urban Kigali in 

order to add to the discourse around sustainable agglomeration of urban centres, as outlined in Rwanda’s 

Vision 2050 document. 

Finally, this study’s data was collected in the first week of July 2020. It is therefore located in the midst 

of an ongoing pandemic and as such, subject to change during this time. Although questions concerning 

the topic of this study were phrased to elicit general responses and behaviours notwithstanding the 

pandemic, it is entirely possible that the time of collection may have skewed the results. We cannot yet 

know if respondents were more, or less likely, to practice regenerative agriculture during the pandemic 

time. 

Acknowledgements 

We express our great appreciation to the African Leadership University in Rwanda for sponsoring this 

research and for the coordination support from its International Business and Trade, and Operations 

departments.  Special thanks to all the research team members –who are also students at ALU- who helped 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

76 

in collecting data (Blessing Maima Caine, Christian Nsengimana, Euphemia Nusone Perkins, Fiona 

Uwase, Hassan Damafin Sedekie Jackateh, Oluwasijibomi Adesina, Solomon Mutagoma). We would also 

like to thank Mr. Aseda Ohene-Adu, a faculty at ALU for his assistance in analysing the data. 

 

References 

Ackerman, R. M. (2020). The informal economy during COVID-19 - the case of Rwanda. Working Paper. 

Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19P0j8CPfT7-zteGjxp5wpfTgsen5WdTj/view?usp=sharing 

Ahishakiye J. Bouwman L. Brouwer I.D. Matsiko E. Armar-Klemesu M. Koelen M. (2019). Challenges and 

responses to infant and young child feeding in rural Rwanda: a qualitative study. Journal of Health, Population & 

Nutrition. 12/12/2019, Vol. 38 Issue 1, p1-10. Available at: 

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=69dbc0e1-98b7-4faa-bd3c-2036b640b58c%40sdc-v-

sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=140314405&db=a9h 

Anderson S. (2019). One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture. 

University of Nebraska Press.  

Bendito, A., & Twomlow, S. (2015). Promoting climate smart approaches to post-harvest challenges in 

Rwanda. International journal of agricultural sustainability, 13(3), 222-239. Available 

at:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14735903.2014.959329 

Bosteels J., and McDonough C. (2016). Report Finds Malnutrition Rates In Rwanda Have Improved, But More 

Work Is Still Needed. World Food Programme. Available at: https://www.wfp.org/news/report-finds-

malnutrition-rates-rwanda-have-improved-more-work-still-

needed#:~:text=The%20Comprehensive%20Food%20Security%20and,the%20last%20analysis%20in%202012. 

Broerse, J.E.W., Van der Ham, L., Tielemans, B., Mazzonetto, M., (2014). Engaging citizens to shape EU 

research policy on urban waste. Ecsite: Brussels. Available at 

https://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_featured/voices_for_responsible_research_and_innovation_engaging

_citizens_to_shap.pdf [Accessed 10 September 2020] 

Caycedo, S. (2019). The development of eco industrial parks in Rwanda. Working Paper. FONERWA. 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

77 

Chang, D. (2020). Coronavirus: normal was the problem. The Ecologist. Available at: 

https://theecologist.org/2020/apr/17/coronavirus-normal-was-problem 

DelAgua. (2020). Project Rwanda. Available at: https://www.delagua.org/projects/rwanda 

Ellen Macarthur Foundation. (2019). Circular Economy for Food Cities. Available at: 

https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/CCEFF_Full-report-pages_May-2019_Web.pdf 

[Accessed 10 September 2020] 

Fatima F., Yoshida N. (2018). Revisiting the Poverty Trend in Rwanda 2010/11 to 2013/14. World Bank 

Group. Available at:http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/137651536845936223/pdf/WPS8585.pdf  

GER: Google Environmental Report 2019 

Google Environmental Report 2019. (2019). Available at: 

https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/google_2019-environmental-report.pdf 

Kanamugire E. (2019). Kamonyi: Akarima k’igikoni gafatwa nk’urukingo rw’imirire mibi. Available at: 

http://imvahonshya.co.rw/kamonyi-akarima-kigikoni-gafatwa-nkurukingo-rwimirire-mibi/ 

Kinahan, D. (2009), ‘Struggling to Take Root: The Work of the Electro-Culture Committee of the Ministry of 

Agriculture and Fisheries Between 1918 and 1936 and its Fight for Acceptance', Reinvention: a Journal of 

Undergraduate Research, Volume 2, Issue 1, 

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/go/reinventionjournal/archive/volume2issue1/kinahan 

Koch M. (2014). Climate change, carbon trading and societal self-defence. Real-world Economics Review, 

(67), 52-66. Available at: https://portal.research.lu.se/ws/files/3691268/4438598.pdf 

Kolinjivadi V.; Selby D., Kagawa F. (2020). Climate Change and Coronavirus: A Confluence of Two 

Emergencies as Learning and Teaching Challenge. Available at: 

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=cbf9fc15-be05-4f47-b298-

433e67d2027a%40sessionmgr4008 

LaCanne CE, Lundgren JG. (2018). Regenerative agriculture: merging farming and natural resource 

conservation profitably. PeerJ 6:e4428 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4428 

Matto M. Jainer S. (2019). Potential of Rainwater Harvesting in Rwanda: A deep-dive into Best Management 

Practices of Rainwater Harvesting Systems in Kigali. Centre for Science and Environment. Available at: 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

78 

https://waterportal.rwb.rw/sites/default/files/2019-

04/Potential%20of%20Rainwater%20Harvesting%20in%20Rwanda%20report-Final.pdf 

Mikova K., Makupa E., Kayumba J. (2015). Effect of Climate Change on Crop Production in Rwanda. Earth 

Sciences.   Vol. 4, No. 3, 2015, pp. 120-128. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20150403.15  

Mudingu J. (2017). Girinka Programme transforms livelihoods, reconciles communities. Rwanda Agriculture 

Board (RAB). Available at: 

https://www.minagri.gov.rw/fileadmin/user_upload/SUCCESS_STORY/article_about_Girinka.pdf 

NASA. (2020). NASA, Partner Space Agencies Amass Global View of COVID-19 Impacts. Available at: 

https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2998/nasa-partner-space-agencies-amass-global-view-of-covid-19-impacts/ 

NASA. (2020). The Effects of Climate Change. Available at: https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/ 

Nicola M., Alsafi Z., Sohrabi C., Kerwan A., Al-Jabir A., Losifidis C., Agha M., Agha R. (2020). The socio-

economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19): A review. Available at: 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1743919120303162 

Nijman, E. (2020). Towards circular food production systems in East Africa. [Master’s Thesis, Radboud 

University] 

Nyabinwa P. (2018).One Cow per Poor Family Program “GIRINKA”. Republic of Rwanda Ministry of 

Agriculture and Animal Resources. Available at: https://www.minagri.gov.rw/index.php?id=28 

Oyekale A. S. (2017). Determinants of households’ involvement in waste separation and collection for 

recycling in South Africa. Environment, Development and Sustainability. Available at: 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317935213_Determinants_of_households'_involvement_in_waste_separ

ation_and_collection_for_recycling_in_South_Africa 

Pedersen J. T. S., Manhice H. (2019). The hidden dynamics of household waste separation: An anthropological 

analysis of user commitment, barriers, and the gaps between a waste system and its users. Available at: 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652619309916#! 

Temple J. (2020). The Climate Is Also A Casualty. MIT Technology Review. Available at: 

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=d1d6d7b7-65d3-4e60-8eac-

c69121468014%40pdc-v-sessmgr05  



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

79 

Unicef. (2012). Equity Case Study: Rwanda - One Cow per Poor Family. Available at: 

https://www.unicef.org/equity/archive/index_65274.html 

Urmanaviciene, A., & Arachchi, U. (2020). The effective methods and practices for accelerating social 

entrepreneurship through corporate social responsibility. European Journal of Social Impact and Circular 

Economy, 1(2), 27-47. https://doi.org/10.13135/2704-9906/5085 

Urmanaviciene, A. (2020). WISEs’ Social Impact Measurement in the Baltic States. European Journal of 

Social Impact and Circular Economy, 1(2), 48-75. https://doi.org/10.13135/2704-9906/5091 

Uwimbabazi, P., Lawrence, R. (2013). Indigenous Practice, Power and Social Control: The Paradox of the 

Practice of Umuganda in Rwanda. Alternation: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Arts and Humanities. 

20(1). pp. 248-272 

Veblen T., Banta M. (2007). The Theory of the Leisure Class. OUP Oxford. Available at: 

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzMxMzk4NV9fQU41?sid=3bab6adf-2dc7-

4faf-80a6-393c85381ce9@sessionmgr4007&vid=2&format=EB&rid=2 

WaterAid. (2020). WaterAid Rwanda. Available at:  https://www.wateraid.org/where-we-work/rwanda 

World Bank Group. (2020). Future Drivers of Growth in Rwanda Innovation, Integration, Agglomeration, and 

Competition. Available at: http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/522801541618364833/pdf/Future-

Drivers-of-Growth-in-Rwanda-Innovation-Integration-Agglomeration-and-Competition.pdf 

Zeynalli, L. (2020). The impact of stimulating the development of Human Capital on Economic 

Development. European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy, 1(1b), 38-52. 

https://doi.org/10.13135/2704-9906/4562 

Appendix 1. Questionnaire  

NOTE: The full questionnaire included questions relevant to the impact of the ALU campus in that area, 
as well as questions related to environmental practices. Since those questions were not used in this specific 
study, they are not listed below. For a full list of all questions asked, contact the authors directly. 

 
Demographic Questions 

1. Gender (n=151) 
❏ Female 
❏ Male 
❏ Other………………….. 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

80 

❏ Prefer not to say 
 

2. Age (n=141) 
❏ ………… 
❏ Prefer not to say 

 
3. Nationality (n=151) 

❏ Rwandan 
❏ Other………………………... 

 
4. If not Rwandan, what are they doing in Rwanda? (n=2) 

❏ Working 
❏ Visiting 
❏ Studying  
❏ Other…………... 

 
5. Where do you stay/live (Cell and sector)? (n=149) 

……………………… 
 

6. Highest level of education attained? (n=147) 
❏ Primary 
❏ Ordinary level 
❏ high school or equivalent 
❏ Tvet, Polytechnic institute 
❏ Associate degree/ Diploma 
❏ Bachelor’s degree 
❏ Post-graduate degree 
❏ Did not attend school 

 
7. What languages do you speak? (n=151) 

❏ Kinyarwanda 
❏ English 
❏ French 
❏ Kiswahili 
❏ Others………... 

  
8. Employment status (n=151) 

❏ Self-employed 
❏ Employed 
❏ Retired 
❏ Unemployed 
❏ Other………….. 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

81 

 
9. If employed, what is the nature of your employment? (n=42) 

❏ Permanent employment contracts (formal) 
❏ Fixed-term employment contract (formal) 
❏ Casual employment  (informal) 
❏ Seasonal employment (informal) 
❏ Daily employment  (informal) 

 
10. What sector have you been working in for the past six months? (n=137) 

……………………………………………………………………………... 
 

11. How many people live in your household? (n=150) 
……………………………………... 
 

12. How many people depend on you? (n=150) 
…………………………. 
 

13. What are the sources of your household’s income? (n=140) 
 ……………………………………….... 
 

14. What was the last monthly income before Covid-19 lockdowns (Feb 2020) for each source mentioned 
above? RWF (n=142) 

 ……………………………………….... 
 

15. What is the average monthly income during the Covid-19 lockdown (Mar-May 2020) for each source 
mentioned above? RWF? (n=133) 

 ……………………………………….... 
 

16. What is the average monthly income now after Covid-19 lockdown(Jun 2020) for each source mentioned 
above? RWF? (n=124) 

 ……………………………………….... 
 

17. Did your business shut down due to the COVID pandemic? (n=95) 
❏ Yes 
❏ No 
❏ Partially 

 
18. Did you lose your job due to the COVID pandemic? (n=84) 

❏ Yes 
❏ No 
❏ My pay was cut, but still employed 

 
19. How did you manage to get income for survival during the time of lockdown restrictions? (n=151) 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

82 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………... ……………………………………………………… 

 
20. How do you dispose of your garbage/trash? (n=149) 

❏ Waste Collection 
❏ Burn 
❏ Own landfill 
❏ Composting 
❏ Other……. 

 
21. Do you separate your waste before putting it away? (n=151) 

❏ No  
❏ Organic Waste 
❏ Plastic 
❏ Paper 
❏ Glass 
❏ Dangerous Waste 
❏ General 

 
22. How much does it cost to dispose of your waste? RWF? (n=126) 

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………  
 

23. Which of these things do you not throw away? (n=139) 
❏ Paper Bags 
❏ Cardboard Boxes 
❏ Paper Cups 
❏ Plastic Containers 
❏ Plastic Bags 
❏ Plastic Bottles 
❏ Plastic Cups 
❏ Glass Jars 
❏ Glass Bottles 
❏ Aluminium Cans 
❏ Metal Tins 
❏ Other…………………….. 

 
24. Are you negatively affected by the industrial zone? (n=146) 

❏ No 
❏ Air/Smoke 
❏ Noise 
❏ Water 
❏ Garbage/Smell 



http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index  
 

European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy - ISSN: 2704-9906  
DOI: 10.13135/2704-9906/5100 Published by University of Turin http://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/ejsice/index 
EJSICE content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License   

83 

❏ Visual 
❏ Other……………………….. 

 
25. How many days in a week do you not have water? (n=146) 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……… 

 
26. How does your Household manage the rainwater? (n=151) 

❏ No Measure 
❏ Collect it 
❏ Redirect it into a ditch 
❏ Other…………………. 

 


