DW Akademie in Rwanda

Since the Rwandan genocide of 1994, Rwandans have had a great distrust of the media. During the terror, in which ethnic Hutus massacred Tutsis, many newspapers and radio and TV stations acted as mouthpieces for the Hutu, broadcasting hate and propaganda. As a result, freedom of the press and freedom of information are protected under the country's constitution. In practice though, this has led to rigid controls on the media, at times serving the ruling party’s aim to stay in power. Self-censorship among journalists is pervasive as a result of threats and fear of government repression. Reporters researching politically sensitive topics are systematically hindered in their work. Nevertheless, there is great potential for reform in Rwanda's media landscape. In 2013, more liberal media legislation was introduced, triggering the establishment of many new private radio stations and newspapers. The law also led to the creation of a self-regulating media body, the Rwanda Media Commission (RMC). Although the state radio broadcaster dominates the media market, private media outlets are steadily gaining influence.

Our activities
Given Rwanda's recent violent history, DW Akademie's projects in Rwanda were initially focused on peace-building and conflict-sensitive reporting. Several long-term projects brought together reporters from Rwanda as well as journalists from countries in Africa's Great Lakes region to exchange ideas on how the media should deal with conflict. In October 2015, DW Akademie held a one-week Media Dialogue in Kigali with participants from Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi. With financial support from the German Development Ministry (BMZ), another long-term project, to run from 2016 to 2018, will seek to strengthen the media skills of young people in order to enable them to take a more active part in the sociopolitical dialogue. The four community radio stations in the country will be given help in developing new youth-oriented formats. In 2014 and as part of the Rwanda Media Project, DW Akademie and the KWETU Film Institute launched a media design training program. The film institute also holds workshops in cooperation with the Oscar-winning German film director, Volker Schlöndorff and the European Film Center Babelsberg. Also in 2014, DW Akademie helped the Rwanda Media Commission to develop training material for its code of ethics.

Funding sources: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), German Foreign Office (AA)

Country coordinator: Julia Elvers-Guyot

Operational locations: Kigali

Local partners: Ejo Youth Echo (EYE), Rwanda Community Radio Network (RCRN), Pax Press, Youth Association for Human Rights Promotion and Development (AJPRODHO-JIJUKIRWA), KWETU Film Institute