Are the MDGs enough? Donor perspectives and recipient visions of education and poverty reduction in Rwanda

Achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs) forms the central focus of many donor agencies’ policies, resulting in a renewed focus on basic education. This paper explores the different perspectives of donors and the Government of Rwanda (GoR) with regard to education and training. GoR discourse mirrors the international poverty reduction agenda, yet it is looking well beyond this goal. Striking a balance between providing basic education in line with the poverty reduction agenda and providing higher levels of education and training to attain broader socio-economic goals results in an internal struggle between different policy priorities and viewpoints, and an external struggle with donor agencies whose influence over policy processes is considerable. Nevertheless, a closer look at individual donors in Rwanda reveals that their actual activities demonstrate a less than clear focus on the MDGs, begging the question of just how pertinent the MDGs are.