§ Sir Alastair GoodladTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance her Department is currently giving to Rwanda; and if she will make a statement. [35747]
§ Clare ShortA £25 million support programme is being targeted at the rehabilitation priorities of the Government of Rwanda.
Technical support is helping the Ministry of Finance to address the key objective of increasing revenue; support for the Ministry of Gender and Social Affairs is helping to tackle problems faced by the large number of female-headed households and support for the Ministry of Education is helping to strengthen their planning and resource allocation capacity. We are providing financial support for the Government's efforts to establish an unarmed community police force and to demobilise members of the armed forces. We are the largest bilateral donor in the area of human rights monitoring and protection in Rwanda.
In addition to our rehabilitation support, we continue to respond to requests for humanitarian assistance and are providing financial support to NGO's involved in food security for vulnerable groups.
We are working closely with the World bank and the IMF. We have financed technical inputs to expert teams advising the Government of Rwanda on longer term economic strategies and are liaising closely with the Government and the International Financial Institutions (IFI) on initiatives being considered to address debt.