April 23, 2008

Graceful. Wise. Regal. Empowered in her station. Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, the Mayor of Kigali, blends traits commonly associated with African royalty with contemporary leadership and a vision for a progressive Rwanda.

Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira is a veterinarian by training. She received her Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine degree (1992) from Makerere University in Uganda and her Master of Veterinary Science degree in Animal Production and Economics (1996) from James Cook University in North Queensland, Australia. But, her calling has always been civic service. From 2003 - 2006, she served as a member of Rwanda's parliament, after which she assumed the Mayorship of Kigali.

As a very important side note, the Rwandan government has purposefully infused the country's top leadership with women. In part, this was done in an effort to help stop the violence.

In Rwanda's new constitution, 24 out of 80 seats in the parliament's lower house are reserved for women. In the 2003 general elections, 15 additional women were voted into non-reserved seats. Six of 20 seats are reserved for women in the upper house. As a result, Rwanda now leads the world rankings of women in national parliaments (49% representation compared to the world average of 15%).

Our meeting with the mayor on Wednesday morning came at her request, and it started an important series of conversations throughout the day. After she provided us with an overview of the Kigali governmental structure, I asked the Mayor if she could, among all the opportunities facing the city, prioritize for us the most pressing needs.

Her top priority was the allocation and ownership of land. Before this last September, the concept of owning property in Rwanda was a foreign concept. Now, people can purchase land for periods of time with options to renew (similar to how land is bought and sold in Hawaii). This has opened a completely new market (i.e., real estate), but it has also created an incredibly complicated task in terms of city planning.

Following the introduction of land ownership, the Mayor explained that the next pressing need is the safety and security of people on their land.

Finally, she emphasized something we have heard repeatedly throughout our trip: vocational training to solve the high rates of unemployment. She outlined three categories of people needing training: (1) those with no schooling who are unemployed, (2) those with schooling without jobs, and (3) those with jobs who are underemployed.

After a while, she said that there was actually a fourth category that perked the SEP team's ears. She stated that there are people like herself who are educated and positions of responsibility but who still need training and mentorship.

At the end of our meeting, this subtle outreach was made explicit. Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira unashamedly asked the group for help. She requested that we find someone who would be willing to live in Kigali for six months on a "modest stipend" to, among other things, help her renovate Kigali's highly lacking legal system and to assist in city planning.

While none of us are currently in a position to relocate to Rwanda, we do plan to offer her ongoing consultation through SEP members Mike Poulos, Senior Partner at the world's largest law firm, DLA Piper (http://www.dlapiper.com/), and (very good friend of The Chicago School) Phil Utigard, Executive Vice President of Transwestern, one of the nations largest commercial real estate firms (http://www.transwestern.net/).