Our Country
Primary 6 · Social and Religious Studies
Our Country
Lesson 2 of 4
13 min
Umutoni is filling in a form for a school trip. It asks for her village, cell, sector, district and province. She stops. "Why do I need five names just to say where I live?" Her father laughs. "Because Rwanda is organised like a family tree, from the big branches down to the small twigs."
Every place in Rwanda sits inside five levels of local government:
| Level | Kinyarwanda (one / many) | How many in Rwanda |
|---|---|---|
| Province (or the City of Kigali) | intara / intara | 4 + the City of Kigali |
| District | akarere / uturere | 30 |
| Sector | umurenge / imirenge | 416 |
| Cell | akagari / utugari | 2,148 |
| Village | umudugudu / imidugudu | 14,837 |
The village (umudugudu) is the smallest unit and the one closest to you. Villagers elect their own leaders, and many problems are solved there before they ever reach the district.
| Province | Districts |
|---|---|
| Northern (5) | Burera, Gakenke, Gicumbi, Musanze, Rulindo |
| Southern (8) | Gisagara, Huye, Kamonyi, Muhanga, Nyamagabe, Nyanza, Nyaruguru, Ruhango |
| Eastern (7) | Bugesera, Gatsibo, Kayonza, Kirehe, Ngoma, Nyagatare, Rwamagana |
| Western (7) | Karongi, Ngororero, Nyabihu, Nyamasheke, Rubavu, Rusizi, Rutsiro |
| City of Kigali (3) | Gasabo, Kicukiro, Nyarugenge |
On the map above, the thick black line is Rwanda's border with other countries. The thin red lines are district borders, and each province has its own colour. The scale bar at the bottom shows that 100 km on the ground is only a few centimetres on the map.
Try this: put your finger on the City of Kigali. Move it to the right into the Eastern Province, then up to the top right-hand corner of Rwanda. That corner is Nyagatare District, where Mugisha lives. It touches both Uganda and Tanzania.
Tip
The 5-8-7-7-3 rule. North 5, South 8, East 7, West 7, Kigali 3. Say it like a phone number: five-eight, seven-seven, three. It always adds up to 30.
Answer: The Southern Province.
Answer: Gasabo, Kicukiro and Nyarugenge.
Answer: District, sector, cell, village.
Answer: The Western Province.
Answer: 416.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
The numbers of sectors, cells and villages were checked against the Ministry of Local Government figures reported by the Commonwealth Local Government Forum. The rest of the lesson is written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Put the levels of local government in order, from the biggest to the smallest.
Tap the cards in the right order.
