Akilah Institute: How Wise can Rwandan Hospitality Get?

Akilah Institute for Women is a two-year college in Kigali, Rwanda.  The school launched in February 2010 with 50 young leaders in the first class. Akilah focuses on training leaders for Rwanda's hospitality industry. In 2009, 1.14 million tourists visited Rwanda. The year before, the industry contributed $214 million toward GDP and is expected to generate $650 million in foreign direct investment by 2020. Despite anticipated growth, Rwanda does not have adequate human resources capacity to fill the hospitality sector's needs.  Recognizing this need, Elizabeth Dearborn Davis and Dave Hughs co-founded Akilah.  When the school launched in February, Elizabeth delivered her address in Kinyarwanda.  Impressive, right? I quizzed Elizabeth about her work and life as a social entrepreneur leading such an ambitious and applause-worthy endeavor.  Her story is inspiring and a lesson in how development should work.  

 

 

 

 

 

After living in Rwanda for 2 years, I clearly saw the lack of opportunities for young women. I met so many young friends who had graduated from high school (already putting them leaps and bounds ahead of the average Rwandan) yet they had no options after this. Any dreams of a professional path were quickly dismissed. It seemed like such a waste of potential. 

 

I was also struck by the shocking inefficiency and waste in the foreign aid system and in development. People receive training in skills that have no relevance to the local economy. NGOs were training people to produce handicrafts that had no foreign market. That is irresponsible and unfair. These Rwandans were spending their time on building a skillset that would be useless once this NGO left. That is not true capacity building. 

 

There is tremendous potential for Rwanda to set an example of a country that has accomplished true economic development and moved away from a dependency on foreign aid. Yet, they still lack the human capital to make this happen. A government report on human capital in 2009 reported that they need to train 5,000-6,000 people per year to keep up with the current demand in the hospitality sector. That is when it all clicked. If we provide the relevant training then women will have the necessary skills and knowledge to find good jobs and to take care of their families.

 

 

Although we certainly know that we are working with a demographic of very traumatized young women, we only recently realized the full implications of this in the classroom. Many of our students survived the genocide and there is a very deep level of trauma and pain that is still very visceral. It periodically surfaces in classroom discussions and our teachers have to find the best way to deal with this. Luckily, one of our local partners (and our neighbors), REACH, focuses on trauma and counseling for survivors. They have been able to provide some counseling to our students. But it will be a constant struggle to determine the best way that we can assist and serve our students so that they are able to move on from this tragedy, while making the most of their educational experience at Akilah.

 

Funding is always a challenge for social entrepreneurs- of course there is never going to be enough for all that we are trying to do. I have found that especially true in my experience with Akilah. Most people that I speak with in the US still think of Rwanda as a conflict zone. It can be difficult to explain the need for higher education and economic development when they imagine a war torn country. I know that there is a lack of understanding about African development among the general population but this can be very frustrating. But I know its our responsibility to educate donors and supporters, and explain the progress that is being made in Africa. It is not about pulling on donors heartstrings and showing them pictures of starving children. We must explain that the most effective way to end poverty is to promote economic development- and the intelligent human capital that will drive that development. 

 

Akilah Institute for Women in Kigali, Rwanda stands on land donated by the government. 

 

 

3. The Rwandan Ministry of Education has graciously provided the land and buildings for the Akilah campus. We will be renovating these old facilities to create a learning and living environment for 800 students, including a training ecolodge and restaurant. Students will work here as part of their diploma and gain more practical training, while also creating another revenue stream for the Institute. We plan to move into this campus mid-2011 and need to raise the capital funds for the renovation of the classrooms, dormitories, and offices. 

 

 

Akilah was born out of the need of the Rwandan private sector and civil society. They expressed their dismay at the lack of opportunities for young women in higher education, and the need for a trained workforce to help develop their economy. They are the ones who inspired and informed our plans. We conducted extensive research in Rwanda before we developed any plans or ideas about what would be the most effective form of education. We definitely didn’t come in with any preconceived notions about what would be best for the country. I think that this really sets us apart from other organizations in Rwanda. We have incredible support from the Rwandan government because they clearly see the direct link between an Akilah education and the development priorities of their country. They know that if they are going to achieve their ambitious development goal of moving from a low to middle-income country, that they must focus on their comparative advantage and develop the service sector.