Rwanda

Known as the land of a thousand hills, Rwanda’s stunning scenery and warm, friendly people offer unique experiences in one of the most remarkable countries in the world. With an estimated total population of 12.3 million people, Rwanda is a relatively young country. 50 percent of the Rwandan population is under 20 years old, with the median age standing at 22.7 years old.

The first of only two countries in Africa to embrace a universal school feeding program

In September 2021, Rwanda committed to scale up the national school meals program from 640,000 children to ~3.6 million children

About Rwanda

Rwanda has set a bright example by committing to universal school feeding

The first of only two countries in Africa to embrace a universal school feeding program

In September 2021, Rwanda committed to scale up the national school meals program from 640,000 children to ~3.6 million children

Rwanda Pilot Project

Extensive research and development was conducted to produce high-quality FWG as a Rwanda homegrown innovation

Product Development

Consumer research, product development, relevant new equipment and quality analysis

Cost-neutrality

The higher extraction rate from the production of FWG creates cost savings. These savings are sufficient to absorb the cost of more drying (to increase shelf life) and fortification. As a result, FWG maize flour can be produced at the same cost as refined (and unfortified) flour

Shelf Life

Tests conducted on the final product confirmed the extension in the FWG flour shelf life from 20-25 days to 4.5 months

Color, Taste & Texture

Color issues are addressed through Social and Behavior Change Communication. Taste and texture were addressed during the product development. Specifically, the texture of the flour was made finer and, as a result, able to meet consumer preferences for smoothness and taste

Product Development

Consumer research, product development, relevant new equipment and quality analysis

Cost-neutrality

Shelf Life

Tests conducted on the final product confirmed the extension in the FWG flour shelf life from 20-25 days to 4.5 months

Color, Taste & Texture

Overview
Stakeholders Collaboration
SBCC

The Rockefeller Foundation supported a pilot project in Rwanda to replace refined maize flour in school meals with FWG flour. The pilot, implemented by Vanguard Economics in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP), developed an FWG maize flour for procurement by WFP for its school feeding program. The first objective of this pilot was to produce FWG maize flour at the same cost as refined flours and at a better quality than local whole grain alternatives. Specifically, the quality (color, taste, texture and shelf life) needed to be significantly better than existing whole grain maize flours produced in rural micro-mills, whilst the cost of producing FWG maize flour needed to be the same as the cost to produce refined flours.

The pilot covered 13,765 students from 18 schools in two of these districts and provided 30 metric tons of FWG flour for use in meals over one school term. During the pilot, the selected students were served ugali made from FWG maize flour twice a week for lunch, instead of ugali made from refined flour. The FWG maize flour was tested and conformed to the WFP required specifications with respect to food safety, microbiological wholesomeness, proximate chemical composition, and content of micronutrients78. In addition, the product was registered with the Rwanda Standards Board and registered for Rwanda Standards Board’s (RSB) S-mark accreditation and was in the process of getting its Rwanda FDA approvals.

The Rwanda pilot project presented the first step towards implementing a large-scale, budget-neutral shift in school feeding in Africa towards fortified whole grain foods.

The pilot demanded significant coordination efforts across a range of stakeholders, which included various government ministries and institutions, district-level officials, schools and project partners. Each partners’ understanding and commitment to the cause of the project resulted in the flexibility required from each partner during implementation.

The Rwanda pilot required close collaboration and coordination between five key partners:

The Funder: The Rockefeller Foundation.
The Project Manager and Research and Evaluation Partner: Vanguard Economics.
The FWG Flour Producer: Minimex.
The Institutional Buyer and Distributor: The World Food Programme, Rwanda.
Knowledge and Communication Partner: Gardens for Health International.

The next critical objective of the Rwanda pilot was to shift consumer preferences from refined flours to healthier, FWG flour. This was achieved through the following process:

Consumer insight studies to understand existing consumer preferences towards refined and whole grain flours.
A Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) campaign, designed using the outputs of consumer insight studies, to emphasize the nutritional benefits of FWG flour to consumers and improve attitudes towards whole grain flour and fortification.
An assessment (baseline and endline) of the effectiveness of the SBCC campaign in shifting consumer perceptions of and attitudes towards FWG flour.

Given prevalent negative attitudes towards whole grain flour among Rwandan consumers, a Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) campaign accompanied the introduction of FWG in schools. This was designed and delivered by Gardens for Health International (GHI), a local company with expertise on social marketing work with schools. The social marketing campaign was targeting school children and their families, school cooks, teachers, and the wider school community. The SBCC campaign was designed to increase awareness of nutritious food in general and more specifically, the nutritional gains of consuming fortified wholegrain flour compared to refined flour.

Campaign messages

to increase awareness of the health benefits of whole grain flour and fortification

Social and Behavior Change Communication Posters

Successes
Scale Up Plans & Progress

The Rwanda pilot successfully demonstrated the potential to introduce FWG through institutional channels and laid the foundation for a scale-up reaching 3.4 million pre-primary, primary and secondary school children in 8,300 schools and early childhood development centers (ECDs) across Rwanda.

The fortified whole grain pilot project successfully demonstrated the following:

Production of high quality and long shelf life FWG maize flour is achievable at the same cost as refined flour. Furthermore, FWG flour can have better color, taste, and texture compared to existing whole grain flours on the market.
Shifted consumer preferences can be nudged (school children and parents) towards whole grains and fortified foods through well designed social and behavioral communication campaigns within selected school communities and through a consumer insight study.
The power of procurement can be leveraged. The project distributed the new FWG maize flour to 18 schools through the World Food Programme, improving the meals and diets of 13,765 lower and upper primary Rwandan school children over one school term.
Successfully demonstrated the potential to introduce FWG budget-neutrally through institutional channels, achieve important dietary gains as a result and simultaneously generate a market for at-scale commercial production and supply.

The learnings from the pilot lay the foundations for a scale-up of this project to reach 3.6 million pre-primary, primary and secondary school children in 8,300 schools and early childhood development centers (ECDs) across Rwanda. Achieving this will require several new tracks of effort, including;

Inclusion of Government as Partners.
Inclusion of FWG flour in Procurement Systems and Inclusion of Multiple Institutional Buyers.
Increasing Production Capacity of selected millers.
Design of a Recognizable Universal Brand for High-Quality FWG Maize Flour.
Integration of social marketing.

During this phase of the project, it is intended that FWG flour production and availability will expand to cover all districts of Kigali municipality and expand into Gastibo district. In parallel, as the participation of private millers is essential to the programme, this phase of implementation will also increase the number of companies milling and supplying FWG to match the school demand with adequate supply. This increased capacity is critical to keeping the shift of school meals to FWG cost neutral, reduce risk of single supplier, and lay the groundwork for future expansion of production to match future school coverage.

Upgrade of maize millers - scale-up phase

Minimex Ltd

Minimex Ltd was selected to develop and produce the new FWG maize flour for the Rwanda pilot. Minimex is one of the largest producer of fine maize products in Rwanda. Its existing maize mill has an annual production capacity of 43,000 metric tons. Minimex is representative of many of the medium-size millers in Africa and was selected for its ability to demonstrate the potential of these millers to produce FWG flour easily and cost-effectively.

The Rockefeller Foundation and Vanguard economics are supporting the processor to:

Gatsibo Agro Processing Plant

Gatsibo Agro Processing Plant has joined the Rwanda FWG scale up phase for production of the FWG product for school feeding program. The FWG production is scheduled for April 2023.

The Rockefeller and Vanguard economics are supporting Gatsibo Agro processing Plant to;

RWACOF

RWACOF has joined the Rwanda FWG scale up phase for production of the FWG product for school feeding programe. Vanguard is supporting RWACOF in acquiring the necessary equipment and systems to enable production of FWG by April 2023

The Rockefeller Foundation and Vanguard economics are supporting the processor to;

Cellion Ltd

Cellion Ltd is one of the processors with the biggest production capacity. They already have most of the equipment, licenses and systems to enable them produce FWG product.

The Rockefeller Foundation and Vanguard economics are supporting the processor to: