Rwanda's Economic Development: Human Indicators

Muraho,

I have to apologize for an oversight in my post on Rwanda's economy.  As a student of business, its easy to just focus on the hard numbers of GDP growth, per capita incomes, and strategic industries.   While those figures are important and play a critical role in the transformation of an economy, one can't ignore the human aspect of development.  If those important macro figures don't translate to poverty alleviation and better standards of living for the average citizen, then what's the point?  That said, a good friend showed me that my last post failed to mention these indicators.  I was remiss and I hope that the data below adequately illustrates the human side of Rwanda's economic development.  I chose indicators that  roughly resemble those of the Millennium Development Goals and I pulled the data from World Bank.

Human and Environmental Indicators of Rwanda

World Bank

Turongera,

Chris

The Multiple Dimensions of Poverty

Muraho,

UNDP just introduced a new poverty measure in its 2010 Human Development Report.   The new measure, dubbed Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI,) measures deprivations of 10 key areas  in health, education, and standard of living.  A household is considered to be multidimensionally poor if they are deprived of six standard of living indicators or three standard of living indicators and one health or education indicator.  A bit confusing, right?  Stay with me, I'll try to explain.

Components of Multidimensional Poverty Index

Human Development Report 2010

This is vastly different from traditional measures of poverty, such as daily income, which is valuable in its own right, but isn't as robust.  Income poverty measures infer a household's poverty based upon their monetary income.  MPI attempts to directly measure who is suffering from symptoms of poverty, which symptoms they are suffering from, and the intensity of those symptoms.  As such, the measures don't always agree and in fact diverge  in their headcount estimates of poverty.  For example, income based poverty measurements estimate that 39  percent of Ethiopians are extremely poor (live on less than $1.25/day).  While, the Multidimensional Poverty Index estimates that 90 percent of Ethiopians experience extreme poverty in some form or another.  That's a dramatic difference (51%)  and it certainly paints a different picture of poverty in Ethiopia.  However, the reverse is true as well.  MPI poverty estimates in other countries, such as Tanzania and Uzbekistan, are actually lower than the income based poverty estimates.  This indicates that less people may be experiencing extreme poverty than their income would suggest.

Comparing Multidimensional and Income Poverty

Human Development Report 2010

The divergence is logical because the two measures cover different concepts and thus should not be expected to mirror one another.  The different estimates suggests that the resources/services measured by MPI may be free or cost less in some countries, while they are expensive or out of reach in others.  It follows then, that countries that offer more access to resources/services (likely through government supported social services) have lower instances of multidimensional poverty. 

So after all of this, you're probably wondering why this new data set is important.  Sure, it's an interesting measure, but how does it translate to transformation on the ground?  Well, MPI should supplement the traditional measures by providing a more comprehensive view of poverty.  Poverty is a complicated concept and it affects populations in varied ways.  MPI's true value lies in its ability to deliver a more precise and holistic view of poverty in specific locales.  Policy makers, donors, aid specialists, and especially entrepreneurs can then use this data to develop targeted measures that can alleviate specific dimensions poverty. I hope that this was helpful.  If you're interested in learning more, check out the entire 2010 Human Development Report.

Turongera,

Chris

We Finally Moved!

Muraho!

It finally happened! We moved from our apartments in Remera to a beautiful house in Gacuyiro.  For those that don't know, our apartments were unfortunately placed above a club.  I rocked out to bass pumping jams in my dreams seven nights a week for nearly 5 weeks (trust me; it isn't as pleasant as it sounds).  Our new neighborhood is a bit more suburban and definitely quieter.  Here are a couple of picture of our new pad. (I took these before we moved in, so the inside is a bit bare)

Front Lawn

Living Room

Dining Room overlooking Living Room

Bedroom (We have three in total and they all pretty much look like this)

Kitchen (Can't wait to cook!!!!)

Backyard (vegetable garden?)

Side View

Front Lawn

So there it is! Yesterday, I woke up to a beautiful sunny morning and a chorus of chirping birds.  I'll add the view from my bedroom on the second floor later this week (it's gorgeous).  I love this new place.  It feels like home.

Turongera,

Chris

KLM Launches Flights to Kigali

Muraho,

According to this MarketWatch article, KLM has launched service to Kigali 5 days a week.  This is great news!!!  Rwanda is by the far one of the most difficult places to reach.  I had 2 long layovers during my first journey here in 2008 (London Heathrow and Nairobi) and we had 3 during this last trip (DWI, Rome, and Addis Ababa).  This makes for a very unpleasant journey and increases the already expensive ticket price.  Hopefully, KLM's new service will lower the ticket price and remove a bit of the headache associated with traveling here.

Turongera,
Chris