Musanze, November 15th, 2012 – The Embassy of Japan and UNDP-Rwanda organized a joint visit to the future Rwanda Peace Academy (RPA) site in Nyakinama, Musanze, to monitor progress of the building’s construction. Mr. Kondo Shigeru, the Japanese Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, and Mr. Auke Lootsma, Country Director of UNDP-Rwanda, were given a site tour by the Director of RPA, Lt. Col. Jill Rutaremara.

The construction, which started in December 2011, is scheduled to end in December 2012. Members of the Rwandan Defense Force work together with civilians  construct of the future RPA headquarters in Nyakinama. The construction of this building created work for more than 100 people in the area, most of whom are women. Mr. Kondo and Mr. Lootsma remarked that the construction is progressing well, after visiting the future classrooms, library, and auditorium.

The Rwanda Peace Academy is a project of the Ministry of Defense, which will offer courses and research programs relevant to post-conflict challenges in Africa. The project is funded by the Government of Japan and UNDP-Rwanda and aims to reinforce regional capacity for conflict prevention and conflict management.

 In the future, the Government of Rwanda is planning to transform the RPA to the level of a regional center of excellence in the areas of peace building and conflict management. The institution’s courses will aim to engage in relevant research and exchange of regional and global expertise and knowledge, as a way of enhancing the understanding of critical peace and security issues.  Some programmes to be offered by the institution include a Masters programme in Peace Building and Post-Conflict Resilience, degrees in the protection of civilians, governance and security, the protection of women, and peace and leadership.