Leveraging interoperability for social impact in Rwanda

This brief summarises key learnings from the dialogue on advancing interoperability in Rwanda’s social protection held on March 18, 2025.

You can watch the recordings and download the materials on the event page.

Overview:

With a population of 13 million and a 38.2% poverty rate, Rwanda has nine social protection programmes, managed by four agencies under three ministries. These programmes support various vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities and survivors of genocide. The government’s flagship programme is the Vision Umurenge Programme (VUP) which includes:

• Direct Support: Assistance for vulnerable households without labour capacity
• Public Works: Supporting poor and vulnerable households
• Nutrition-Sensitive Direct Support: Assistance for pregnant and lactating women

Rwanda has employed a community-based categorisation system, known as Ubudehe, to target social protection recipients. However, it is no longer deemed effective in identifying the right beneficiaries and supporting Rwanda’s recent “Sustainable Graduation out of Poverty” strategy.

This learning brief explores Rwanda’s newly launched solution: the Imibereho Social Registry.