Faces of rural poverty in contemporary Rwanda : Linking livelihood profiles and institutional processes

Gezichten van armoede in hedendaags Rwanda

An Ansoms

Universiteit Antwerpen
Faculteit Toegepaste Economische Wetenschappen

Faces of rural poverty in contemporary Rwanda : Linking livelihood profiles and institutional processes

Gezichten van armoede in hedendaags Rwanda

An Ansoms

Proefschrift voorgelegd tot het behalen van de graad van Doctor in de Toegepaste Economische Wetenschappen aan de Universiteit Antwerpen

Door: An Ansoms Promotor: Prof. Dr. Stefaan Marysse Te verdedigen op dinsdag 27 januari 2009 te Antwerpen

An Ansoms Faces of rural poverty in contemporary Rwanda: Linking livelihood profiles and institutional processes, University of Antwerp. ISBN 978-90-8994-004-9 Copyrights © 2009 by An Ansoms

Abstract: This PhD sketches the faces of rural poverty in contemporary Rwanda, linking livelihood profiles to the wider institutional processes. It reflects on how dynamics of rural change relate to differentiation and increasing polarisation in livelihoods of Rwandan peasants. The introductory chapter sets the stage by analysing “Evolutions of growth, poverty and inequality” in post-1994 Rwanda. The two following chapters consider the policy makers’ perspective with regards to rural development. The first chapter, “Striving for growth, bypassing the poor?” provides a critical review of Rwanda’s rural sector policies, which aim to modernize and ‘professionalize’ the rural sector. The chapter points to the risks this involves for the large mass of small-scale peasants. A second chapter, “Reengineering rural society: The visions and ambitions of Rwandan elites”, illuminates a general trend of the Rwandan government’s misplaced belief in the potential to socially engineer rural development. The third chapter offers “A quantitative analysis of rural livelihood profiles” that prevail in the Rwandan rural post-conflict context. The