Report of a field investigation on settlement patterns and housing in the Republic of Rwanda

support for, a proposed Government of Rwanda plan to create 30 rural marketing, service, and employment centers and to restrain migration to the capital city of Kigali. The study found that Rwanda has villages, small towns, and secondary cities capable of acting as nuclei for rural centers and that a considerable amount of analytic and planning work in this direction has been accomplished over the past several years with expatriate help. However, the Government of Rwanda has neither made use of these resources nor established an institutional framework for creating rural centers or decentralizing urban development. Further foreign help would not be productive under these circumstances. The study also found that although the number of squatter settlements in Kigali is extraordinarily high, the Caisse Hypothecaire, the main shelter institution, has completed only 200 dwelling units in 8 years and these have been geared to high-income groups. Given this latter commitment and Rwanda"s lack of both a nationwide inventory of housing and a housing policy, A.I.D."s Housing Guaranty Program is inapplicable. Significant opportunities may exist, however, to strengthen Rwandan shelter institutions through technical assistance and training. Appendices include typologies of settlement types and facilities and of the cost and materials of shelter in Kigali.