Circular Construction in Rwanda

The Government of Rwanda is currently implementing the project “The Urban Economic development initiative (UEDi)” which is a five-year funded program (2019-2024) implemented by Enabel through NIRDA and other public agencies. In this framework, NIRDA and the Ministry of Environment (MoE) want to pilot the Circular Economy in the construction sector as one of the priorities. Enabel has commissioned EnergyVille / VITO to support the Government of Rwanda in 2022-2023 in the development of guidelines for implementation of circular economy approaches in the construction sector. Further tasks are to implement the guidelines in an incubation / coaching trajectory with local Made in Rwanda (MiR) building material producers, and to exchange knowledge on circular economy approaches in the construction sector.

The project consists of the following main activities:

• A situational analysis research on circular economy in the Rwanda construction sector, including the relevant actors, construction materials and products, local drivers and the policy framework in Rwanda.
• The elaboration of circular economy guidelines in the Rwanda construction sector.
• Incubation/coaching trajectory of 10 private sector actors who produce Made in Rwanda (MiR) construction materials: 
  • Development of evaluation criteria for the selection of the producers.
  • The implementation of the developed guidelines among the 10 selected producers in an incubation/coaching trajectory.
  • Comparing the Business-as-Usual scenario versus several circular economy implementation scenarios through the means of commercial scans (business models), LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), LCC (Life Cycle Costing) and circularity scans.
• Capacity building for the Rwanda stakeholders.

On 8 December 2022, EnergyVille / VITO will co-organize an Accelerator Session at the World Circular Economy Forum 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda, with a possibility to attend virtually.