1/12: Does Rwanda Offer a Post #Pandemic Roadmap? My latest for @Africa_com on the lessons we can learn from Rwanda to build a better, safer, more just and equitable society after #covid19

2/12: After just one quarter, we know that 2020 will be a year to remember. Over the last three months, the spread of the Coronavirus has reached every corner of the planet, and with it has come a tsunami of fear and economic panic.

3/12: Experts predict that this global crisis may just be beginning and will likely worsen in the coming months. Overnight our world has changed in unimaginable ways — ways that feel overwhelming, potentially unrecoverable, to many.

4/12: As we grapple with this pandemic and its life altering consequences, there are lessons to be learned from other countries that have experienced catastrophic loss, survived, and re- emerged stronger and more unified than ever. Rwanda is one of them.

5/12: Twenty-six years ago this month, in 1994, the country experienced the swiftest genocide in history, where more than one million Tutsis were brutally murdered over a hundred days of violence and inhumanity.

6/12: Today, Rwanda stands as a beacon of hope, opportunity, and purposeful leadership. It has one of the fastest growing economies in East Africa and serves as a model for human development across the region. Some of the biggest gains have been for women.

7/12: Like the rest of the world, Rwandans are confronting an increase in COVID-19 infections, but thanks to the government’s swift decision making and lockdown, the spread of the virus has thus far been contained.

8/12: The resilience and perseverance of the Rwandan community, women in particular, continue to inspire me. During the 20th Commemoration of the Genocide Against the Tutsi in April 2014 at Amahoro National Stadium, I listened to the powerful testimonials of survivors

9/12: as well as a speech given by President Paul Kagame that has stayed with me to this day. His description of the intentional choices the country’s leadership made post-genocide have particular resonance now, as we start to consider and plan for the aftermath of this crisis.

10/12: The president described “three fundamental choices” that have guided their recovery. Choice 1: We chose to stay together. Choice 2: We chose to be accountable. Choice 3: We chose to think big. Details on the 3 pillars are in the original op-ed: https://africa.com/does-rwanda-offer-a-post-pandemic-roadmap/

11/12: “Twenty years ago, Rwanda had no future, only a past,” President Kagame said in that sagacious speech. Now, the country has forged a clear path toward a more peaceful and prosperous future. The world is at a similar inflection point today.

12/12: We have an opportunity, as individuals, states, and countries, to make the kind of fundamental choices that will preserve our collective future. What that future looks like is in all our hands. Read the full piece here: https://africa.com/does-rwanda-offer-a-post-pandemic-roadmap/ I welcome your thoughts!