Renewable energy projects and rural community development in Rwanda A case study of Musanze district

Abstract

The research project entitled ―Renewable Energy Projects and Rural Community Development in Rwanda‖ comprises objectives of the study both general and specific including i)To investigate the accessibility of renewable energy projects to rural community ii) To establish various limiting factors to access renewable energy projects iii) To determine the relationship between renewable energy projects and rural community development. The significance of the study to different stakeholders was also tackled and it included significance of the study to researcher, community, academics, development partners and government. To have this done independent variables which is renewable energy projects indicated by cost of generation, pay-back period, quality of renewable energy projects and availability of renewable energy projects, dependent variables was rural community development (increased business start-ups, more employment for people, improved quality of living, more schools enrolment’s, demographic impacts) and intervening variables which was government subsidy, policy and donor supports was incorporated to make sure that there is a cause-effect relationship between them. The sample size of 100 respondents was chosen from the total population of 71,511 and data collected was analysed using SPSS software. Findings revealed that renewable energy projects have contributed to rural community development in Musanze district because there is relationship between renewable energy projects and the economic growth of rural community. Also recommendations were made to various stakeholders in order to advocate and support programmes that aimed at the deployment of renewable energy technologies in rural areas and integrate them into wider rural development programmes to ensure sustainability and harmonization.