Country Care Profile: Rwanda
01 Mar 2015
Rwanda
This country page features an interactive, icon-based data dashboard providing a national-level overview of the status of children’s care and care reform efforts (a “Country Care Snapshot”), along with a list of resources and organizations in the country.
demographic_data
12.63 million
Total Population
World Bank 2019
6.35 million
People
Total Population Under 18
Estimate
50.3%
Population Under 18
DHS, 2017
4.3
People
Mean Household Size
DHS 2015
37.6%
Prevalence of Female-Headed Households
2017 MIS
Low-Income Country
World Bank GNI Status
World Bank, 2019
38.2%
Living Below Poverty Line
World Bank, 2016
43.7
GINI Coefficient
World Bank, 2016
0.536
Human Development Index
UNDP, 2019
childrens_living_arrangement
%
Country
NO SOURCE GIVEN
63.9%
Living with Both Parents
DHS 2019-2020
24.5%
Living with One Parent
DHS 2019-2020
10.2%
Living with Neither Parent
DHS 2019-2020
%
Effective
NO SOURCE GIVEN
children_living_without_bio
10.2%
Living With a Non-Relative
DHS 2019-2020
79%
Both Parents Alive
DHS 2019-2020
17%
One Parent Dead
DHS 2019-2020
4%
Both Parents Dead
DHS 2019-2020
44%
Children living below poverty line
Situation Analysis of Children in Rwanda, 2017
i
The percentage of children living in poverty declined from 49 per cent to 44 per cent between 2010 and 2014.
Children with Disabilities
NO DATA AVAILABLE
Country Care Profile, 2021
i
A 2016 assessment found a significant rise in institutionalization, with some 4,339 children with disabilities in residential care facilities.
Street Connected Children
NO DATA AVAILABLE
Country Care Profile, 2021
Children on the Move
NO DATA AVAILABLE
Country Care Profile, 2021
i
Children make up more than half of the refugee population, with approximately 12% of children unaccompanied or separated.
Children Made Vulnerable by the COVID-19 Pandemic
NO DATA AVAILABLE
Country Care Profile, 2021
i
COVID-19 saw a growing number of children in poor families leaving home to beg on the streets. In response, there was a coordinated effort to remove children from living and begging on the streets which resulted in large numbers of children being identified and placed in transit centres.
0 Families/Parents
0 Children
NO SOURCE GIVEN
0 Families/Parents
0 Children
NO SOURCE GIVEN
Total Family-Based Alternative Care
- - Families/Parents
3,393 Children
i
Children placed in formal foster care from 2012 to 2021.
Country Care Profile, 2021
Foster Care
- - Foster Families/Foster Parents
533 Children
i
Children placed in formal foster care from 2012 to 2021.
Country Care Profile, 2021
Formal Kinship Care
- - Families/Parents
1,544 Children
i
Children placed in formal foster care from 2012 to 2021.
Country Care Profile, 2021
Other
- - Families/Parents
1,316 Children
i
Children placed in formal foster care from 2012 to 2021.
Country Care Profile, 2021
Total Residential Care
- - Settings
- - Children
Country Care Profile, 2021
Residential Child Care Facilities
4 Settings
386 Children
i
431 children in residential child-care facilities by April 2021 (this number does not include children with disabilities living in different residential care facilities for children, youth and adults with disabilities)
National Commission for Children, UNICEF, USAID (2019). Care Reform in Rwanda: Process and Lessons Learned 2012-2018
Residential Care Facilities for Children with Disabilities
- - Settings
2,040 Children
National Survey of Residential Centres for Children with Disabilities in Rwanda, 2020
Street Children Reintegrated into Family-Based Care
- - Settings
3,531 Children
i
The National Child Development Agency, National Rehabilitation Service, Kigali City and Districts are working regularly in facilitating the placement of street children into family-based care.
National Child Development Agency (2021). National Rehabilitation Service report
Lancet Global Study Estimate of Children Living in Institutional Care
17,933 Children
Desmond, et al, 2020
adoption
NO DATA AVAIABLE
Country
NO SOURCE GIVEN
0
children
Domestic Adoption
NO SOURCE GIVEN
i
National statistics on the number of children placed in domestic adoption are not available. Statistics are kept at the sector level and not aggregated to the national level.
3
children
Inter-country Adoption
NCD report
i
The country has allowed inter-country adoption, 2017.
NO DATA AVAIABLE
Effective
NO SOURCE GIVEN
91.9%
Children with Both Parents Alive
DHS 2019-2020
6.3%
Children with One Parent Alive
DHS 2019-2020
0.4%
Children with Both Parents Dead
DHS 2019-2020
Country
NO SOURCE GIVEN
Effective
NO SOURCE GIVEN
NO DATA AVAILABLE
Social Welfare Spending
NO SOURCE GIVEN
Alternative Care Policy in Line with the 2009 Guidelines
No Data
Strategic Plan for the Integrated Child Rights Policy 2019-2024; Law No. 32/2016
Commitment to Deinstitutionalistion
Yes
Hope and Homes for Children (HHC) pilot deinstitutionalisation project, initiated in 2012
i
The pilot deinstitutionalization project implemented by the non-governmental organization, Hope and Homes for Children (HHC) in 2012, with the support and oversight of the Rwandan government authorities at the national and district levels, played a critical role in providing convincing evidence that deinstitutionalization processes were possible in Rwanda. (Country Care Profile, 2021).
Comprehensive Child Protection Law
No Data
Law No. 71/2018 of 31 August 2018 relating to the protection of the child
Continuum of Alternative Care Services Available
Yes
Foster Care, Kinship Care, Short-Term Foster Care, Domestic Adoption, Supervised and Supported independent living, Emergency Foster Care, Informal Family-Based Care, Guardianship, Temporary Shelter for Street-Connected Children, Specialised foster care for children with disabilities, Intercountry Adoption, Residential Care (as a last resort)
Data System
Partly
Information Management System for reintegrated children and the Inshuti Z’Umuryango digital reporting system are available.
i
"To date, several different mechanisms have been used to collect information related to child protection and care, but these have yet to be collated into one central database...As part of the care-reform process, a mapping exercise on existing information management systems was conducted. The aim of the study was to develop a clear understanding of the current child protection information system in Rwanda, including a comprehensive mapping and analysis for the current or planned case management and information systems across different government departments, NGOs, universities and other key stakeholders. Findings and recommendations validated in July 2013 were intended to be used to inform the process of establishing a comprehensive information management system within the NCC." (Country Care Profile, 2021)
Existence of a Regulatory Body and Regulatory System
Yes
NCD
i
"Specifically related to the child-care reform process, the NCDA is responsible for overseeing the creation of a system of alternative care options and the strengthening of the national child-protection system. This includes developing, coordinating and monitoring new regulations related to childcare." (Country Care Profile, 2021)
Gatekeeping Mechanism/Policy
Yes
Inshuti Z’Umuryango (IZU)
i
"Gatekeeping mechanisms were initially developed and piloted in several districts and sectors across the country…Beginning in 2015, the government launched community based child protection structures (IZU) that include para social work volunteers responsible for identifying, monitoring and following up at risk families in the community and families where a child has been reintegrated or has been placed in foster care at village, cell and sector levels." (Country Care Profile, 2021)
Means of Tracking Progress with Reforms
No Data
NO SOURCE GIVEN
i
Monitoring and evaluation procedures are in place.
Moratorium on Admission into Institutions for Children Under 3
No Data
NO SOURCE GIVEN
Moratorium on New Institutions
No Data
NO SOURCE GIVEN
National Action Plan to Guide Reforms
Mostly
Cabinet Brief: Strategy for National Child Care Reform (2012); Tubarerere Mu Muryangyo!
i
Led by the government, with active support from UNICEF, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and faith-based organizations (FBOs), the Tubarerere Mu Muryangyo! (TMM) initiative is the guiding framework for the reform process and drives the implementation of the national strategy for care reform. However, "children with disabilities were not specifically included in the initial phase of the TMM. The second phase of the TMM marked a concerted effort to reunify children with disabilities and return children with disabilities to their families." (Country Care Profile, 2021)
National Standards of Care
No Data
NO SOURCE GIVEN
Prevention of Separation Services Available
Yes
NO SOURCE GIVEN
i
"TMM put in place a range of mechanisms to prevent children from entering residential care facilities. This includes improved entry requirements and case management, awareness raising, the development of emergency foster care, and close monitoring of remaining facilities to ensure that new children do not enter care. These efforts have been enhanced by mass closure of institutions, a two-year mass media campaign, the development of emergency foster care, work with teenage parents, and closely monitoring remaining facilities to ensure new children do not enter care."
Support for Careleavers (in Legislation and in Practice)
No Data
NO SOURCE GIVEN
social_work_force
Workers
NO SOURCE GIVEN
Country
Social Work Degree Programmes
Yes
Country Care Profile, 2021
Social Service Workforce Training
Yes
Country Care Profile, 2021
Workers
NO SOURCE GIVEN
Effective
A national workforce assessment and analysis carried out within the past four years
No Data
NO SOURCE GIVEN
A system of licensing/registration of social service professionals
No Data
NO SOURCE GIVEN
key_stakeholders
Key Stakeholders
Add New DataCountry
Government
i
The NCDA (formerly the NCC) is a mandated government body responsible for overseeing the care-reform process including deinstitutionalization, expansion of alternative care and strengthening of the child protection system. The NCC has overall responsibility for childcare reform, and for the implementation of the TMM. NCC also has responsibility for facilitating the implementation of the family law and relevant ministerial orders governing adoption and foster care. In this regard, NCC coordinated the implementation of the first Integrated Child Rights Strategic Plan (2011-2016).
i
MIGEPROF houses the NCC and is involved in, and supportive of, activities led by NCC. The governing body of the NCC comprises a Board of Commissioners, an Executive Secretariat and an Advisory Council.
Program Coordination Team (PCT)
i
The PCT’s main objective is to promote cohesion and coordination in the child-care reform effort. It is chaired by the NCC and co-chaired by UNICEF.
Other line ministries or government entities
i
National Police, Rwanda Defence Force, Rwanda correctional facilities, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Local Government Authorities, Imbuto Foundation, National Institute for Statistics.
The Child Rights Observatory Office
i
The Child Rights Observatory Office was also established within the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) and is responsible for child-rights advocacy. The Child Rights Observatory supports the NCHR to receive and handle cases of child rights violations.
Civil Society Organisations
i
UN and NGOs provide technical assistance in system strengthening, child-care reform, deinstitutionalization, prevention, household economic strengthening and other service provision in support of family strengthening, alternative care and deinstitutionalization.
i
UN and NGOs provide technical assistance in system strengthening, child-care reform, deinstitutionalization, prevention, household economic strengthening and other service provision in support of family strengthening, alternative care and deinstitutionalization.
i
A network of Christian faith-based organizations working to encourage and advocate for the active engagement of faith-based communities and actors in advocating for family-based care in support of the larger reform effort.
Children’s Forums
i
Formal structures at the cell, sector, district and national levels where children are able to share their concerns, opinions and suggestions on issues that directly affect their lives.
Child protection committees
i
Community-based groups involved to different degrees in the identification of vulnerable children and families, service provision, gatekeeping and monitoring. Also Malaika Mulenzi (Guardian Angels, i.e. foster parents) and Inshuti Z’umuryango (Friends of a Family); these are community based para social work volunteers that form part of a new government initiative to identify, prevent and respond to child protection concerns within the community. They also have the responsibility of following up cases of reintegration.
i
UN and NGOs provide technical assistance in system strengthening, child-care reform, deinstitutionalization, prevention, household economic strengthening and other service provision in support of family strengthening, alternative care and deinstitutionalization.
i
UN and NGOs provide technical assistance in system strengthening, child-care reform, deinstitutionalization, prevention, household economic strengthening and other service provision in support of family strengthening, alternative care and deinstitutionalization.
USAID, Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF)
i
Donors support care reform, early childhood education, prevention and economic strengthening, social protection.
Global Fund
i
Donors support care reform, early childhood education, prevention and economic strengthening, social protection.
UK DFID
i
Donors support care reform, early childhood education, prevention and economic strengthening, social protection.
IKEA Foundation
i
Donors support care reform, early childhood education, prevention and economic strengthening, social protection.
i
Donors support care reform, early childhood education, prevention and economic strengthening, social protection.
i
UN and NGOs provide technical assistance in system strengthening, child-care reform, deinstitutionalization, prevention, household economic strengthening and other service provision in support of family strengthening, alternative care and deinstitutionalization.
Effective
Other Relevant Reforms
Add New DataEffective
NO SOURCE GIVEN
drivers_of_institutionalisation
Drivers of Institutionaliziation
Add New DataCountry
Push Factors
Death of both parents
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021)
Death of mother
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021)
Abandonment
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021). "While, according to institutional records, abandonment was the main recorded reason for entry in 68 per cent of cases, it is important to note that ‘abandonment’ is a broad term and does not provide concrete reasons or risk factors. A further compilation and review of evidence from detailed child and family assessments showed that the root causes of placement in residential care facilities included: unwanted pregnancies; the circumstances of female domestic workers; lack of knowledge concerning the damaging effects of institutionalization; family conflicts or marriage breakdown; death of parents; and lack of family cohesion."
Poverty
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021)
Unwanted pregnancies
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021)
Circumstances of female domestic workers
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021)
Lack of knowledge concerning the damaging effects of institutionalization
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021)
Family conflicts or marriage breakdown
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021)
Lack of family cohesion
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021)
Pull Factors
Perceived attractiveness of services offered by institutions
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021)
Proximity to institutions
i
Data Source: Country Care Profile: Rwanda (Changing the Way We Care, 2021). The study noted, “the very existence of an institution increased the likelihood of a child from that neighbourhood to be placed in an institution.” Anecdotal evidence provided by various stakeholders also noted that in the limited number of locations without residential child-care facilities, very few, if any, children from there were placed in facilities in other locations. Thus when there are no residential care facilities nearby, it seems that families find other care options such as kinship or informal foster care.
Effective
key_research_and_information
Key Data Sources
Add New DataCountry
Report on National Assessment of Centres caring for Children with Disabilities in Rwanda
01 May 2016
National Integrated Child Rights Policy
01 Aug 2011
Country Care Review: Rwanda
10 Feb 2020
Prevalence and number of children living in institutional care: global, regional, and country estimates
06 Mar 2020
The Way Forward Project Report
01 Nov 2011
Community-Based Child Protection Mechanisms in Refugee Camps in Rwanda: An Ethnographic Study
01 Dec 2013
Effective
Displaying 1 - 10 of 190
This video explores efforts to enable children with disabilities in Rwanda to grow up in safe and caring families using an integrated approach which saw collaboration between the child protection, health, education and social protection sectors.
Over the past decade, Rwanda has reformed its care system to prioritize family-based care, with recent efforts focusing on supporting children with disabilities through a multi-sector, community-based approach. This short case study explains why this integrated model is important to prevent family separation, outlines the key components of this approach, and provides some lessons learnt from the pilot.
File
The Teenage Mother project is an intervention model to support teen mothers, developed by Hope and Homes for Children (HHC) in Rwanda. The documents provides an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by teen mothers, the prioritization of causal factors, and the implementation of the Active Family Support (AFS) model to address these challenges.
File
An army of trained foster parents are transforming the lives of children who have suffered terrible hardships after being abandoned in institutions
This webinar explored the importance of working across sectors to enable effective care reforms. Speakers focused in particular on work with social protection and education sectors, drawing on examples from Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Rwanda.
Charity says children could be deported as adults before age can be formally determined.
Supporting Mental Wellbeing in Children, Families and Communities - Approaches from Three Continents
In this episode Amanda Griffith of Family for Every Child is joined by representatives of three member organisations who are working to support children's mental health and wellbeing across three continents.
The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC/the Committee), in collaboration with African Union Member States, partner organizations, children and young people, launches the first of its kind Continental Study on Children Without Parental Care (CWPC) in Africa. The study, conducted from 2020 to 2022, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, covered over 43 countries in the five regions of Africa.
File
Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) promotes safe, nurturing family care for children reintegrating from residential care facilities (often referred to as “orphanages”) and prevents child-family separation by strengthening families, reforming national systems of care for children, and working to shift donor and volunteer support away from residential care and toward family care alternatives.
File
In this webinar, a new paper on strategies to prevent family separation is presented. Examples from Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Namibia are presented.