19 June 2026, Kigali, Rwanda - UNITAR and the Rwanda Cooperation Initiative have renewed their cooperation agreement, reinforcing a partnership that has positioned Rwanda as one of the African continent's most dynamic platforms for capacity building, knowledge exchange, and the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. The renewal consolidates and expands the centre's mandate at a moment when its profile within the CIFAL Global Network continues to grow.
A Centre Born From Rwanda's Development Story
CIFAL Kigali
Established in 2022 in collaboration with the Rwanda Cooperation Initiative, CIFAL Kigali was created with a mission to become a global gateway for the development of knowledge exchange, serving as a hub for learning that promotes innovative development initiatives through national and international cooperation. Its objective is to provide a range of learning opportunities and facilitate knowledge sharing between public servants and leaders of Rwanda and surrounding countries, strengthening capacities, improving decision-making processes, and encouraging sustainable development, with a scope covering African countries.
What distinguishes CIFAL Kigali within the broader CIFAL Global Network is its grounding in Rwanda's own remarkable development trajectory. The centre serves as a platform for knowledge sharing for all foreign parties interested in learning more about Rwanda's experience and expertise through study visits and the coordination of training programmes on various themes and subjects. The centre draws directly on Rwanda's home-grown solutions and good practices, initiatives such as the Girinka Programme of one cow per family, the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme, Community-Based Health Insurance, Imihigo performance contracts, and Umuganda community work, which Rwanda's National Human Development Report identifies as major components addressing the country's national development priorities.
A Comprehensive Framework for Development
CIFAL Kigali
The renewed cooperation agreement establishes a refined framework of eight major thematic areas, around which CIFAL Kigali's activities will be organized going forward. Public Policy and Governance strengthens institutional foundations through public finance management and gender equality, while Technology and Innovation positions the centre at the frontier of artificial intelligence and digital transformation. Environment and Climate Change equip participants with tools in green financing and the circular economy, and Infrastructure and Economic Development draws on themes, smart agriculture, value chain development, smart cities, and mobility, that mirror Rwanda's own development model. Human and Social Development keeps people at the centre of the agenda through public health, human capital, and youth empowerment, while Peace and Security recognizes that sustainable development depends on institutional integrity through anti-corruption and peace-building work. Management rounds out the framework, ensuring participants gain not only technical knowledge but the project management, ethics, and risk competencies needed to put it into practice.
Together, these eight pillars constitute one of the most comprehensive thematic frameworks in the CIFAL Global Network, a reflection of Rwanda Cooperation's institutional capacity and of CIFAL Kigali's ambition to serve not as a genuine regional hub.
Renewed Commitment, Expanded Reach
The renewal of CIFAL Kigali's cooperation agreement arrives as the broader CIFAL Global Network undergoes its own period of strategic consolidation. In 2025, the Network advanced significantly in its efforts to strengthen governance, refine strategic direction, and consolidate its global training footprint. The renewed agreement positions CIFAL Kigali to contribute fully to that broader strategic direction, while continuing to draw on what makes it distinctive: a thematic agenda rooted in Rwanda's own proven development practices, and an institutional partnership, Rwanda Cooperation Initiative, with the technical depth and governmental access to translate training into lasting impact.
As CIFAL Kigali enters this renewed chapter of its partnership with UNITAR, it does so with a clearly defined and ambitious thematic mandate, strong regional credibility, and the continued backing of a network that has come to see Rwanda not merely as a beneficiary of development cooperation, but as a source of replicable solutions for the continent.