14^th – 15^th September 2021: The Ministry of Environment (MoE), Rwanda Water Resources Board (RWB) and World Bank Group team (WBG) conducted the field visit to Volcano region of Rwanda in Nyabihu, Musanze and Burera Districts to assess physical feasibility of the new ' Volcanoes Community Resilience Project.'

Among the officials attending the visit include Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Patrick Karera, Director General of RWB, Prime Ngabonziza along with RWB’s experts and World Bank Group team.

The team determined the relevance of the project specifically emanating from the region's exposure to erratic flood related risks caused by hilly nature of the area, and established the linkages between the climate change, flood related risks and livelihoods issues in the concerned districts.

However, the field visit was also aimed at relating realities on the ground and proposed project objectives, components, sub-components and envisaged long-term outcomes and impacts. Natured based solutions formed part of the proposed interventions to reverse floods, soil erosion and other climate induced risks in the area.

The ' Volcanoes Community Resilience Project' will be jointly implemented by different agencies namely including the World Bank Group (WBG), Rwanda Water Resources Board (RWB), Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Rwanda Climate Fund (FONERWA) and Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA).

The Government of Rwanda invested about Rwf 1.9 Billion which experts referred as catalytic requiring further interventions for long term impacts.

The proposed interventions under the ‘Volcanoes Community Resilience Project’ aligns with Rwanda's National Strategy for Transformation (NSTI) and the Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy.

ENDS