Dignity and Self-reliance in Rwandan Society
Senior 1 · History and Citizenship
Dignity and Self-reliance in Rwandan Society
Lesson 1 of 4
22 min
Source A. "In order to build the nation, promote national culture and restore dignity, Rwandans, based on their values, initiate home-grown mechanisms to deal with matters that concern them."
Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 2003, revised in 2015, Article 11 ("Home-grown solutions").
Source B is a set of numbers: how Rwanda planned to pay for its national budget in 2024 to 2025.
Source A links dignity to finding Rwandan solutions to Rwandan problems. Source B shows how far the country pays its own way: a measure of self-reliance.
Worked example: reading a budget chart
Definition
Dignity (agaciro): the worth that every human being has, and the self-respect and respect from others that go with it. Agaciro means value or worth. Example: Article 13 of the Constitution says "a human being is sacred and inviolable".
Definition
Self-reliance (kwigira): the ability of a person, family, community or nation to meet its own needs mainly through its own effort and resources, rather than depending on others. Kwigira means to do for oneself.
Definition
Dependency: relying on others, such as relatives, donors or foreign aid, for needs you could meet yourself. A dependency mindset waits for help instead of looking for solutions.
Definition
Home-grown solution: a way of solving a problem that Rwandans developed from their own culture, values and history (Article 11 of the Constitution). Example: umuganda, community work (Lesson 2).
| Level | Dignity (agaciro) looks like | Self-reliance (kwigira) looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Individual | respecting yourself and others; honesty; refusing to be humiliated or to humiliate | studying, learning a skill, working, saving part of what you earn |
| Family | treating every member, girls and boys alike, with respect | growing food, running a small business, budgeting, saving in a group (ikimina) |
| Community | caring for the vulnerable without looking down on them | solving local problems together, as in umuganda |
| Nation | being respected by other nations; pride in Rwandan identity and culture | paying for the country's needs mainly from its own resources; making and selling its own products |
Important
In December 2011, at the ninth Umushyikirano (the annual National Dialogue Council), citizens proposed that Rwandans should save together for their country's future. The Agaciro Development Fund was launched on 23 August 2012. Its name means "dignity". It was started with voluntary contributions from Rwandans at home and abroad and friends of Rwanda, and it now operates as a national investment fund. Its purpose, in the Fund's own description, is to build public savings for self-reliance, to protect the economy from shocks, and to speed up development.
The Fund shows how the two ideas of this unit are joined: saving for the nation's own needs (self-reliance) is presented as a matter of national worth and respect (dignity).
Can a person, or a country, be self-reliant and still accept help from others? Where is the line between healthy cooperation and dependency? Give one example from school life and one from national life.
Tip
Memory hook: "Agaciro is worth; kwigira is work." Dignity is about the value you have; self-reliance is about the effort you make. The two grow together.
Agaciro Development Fund: "Agaciro Kanjye" ("My dignity"), a song with lyrics (in Kinyarwanda) from the Fund's own channel. Listen for the words that link dignity to work and saving, and note one line you can explain in English.
Practice
Sources and credits
