RDB officially launches the Kwita Izina festival

The Rwanda Development Board’s tourism together with the conservation department once again confirmed their commitment towards helping transform the livelihoods of people in communities that are near the Volcanoes National Park through annual tourism revenue sharing. This came from Amb. Yamina Karitanyi who is the RDB’s head of Tourism and Conservation while launching this 10th gorilla naming activities (Kwita Izina) in Kabatwa Sector, Nyabihu District in the Western Province.

During the launch, they officially opened up a new six-classroom block at Basumba Primary School with capacity to accommodate about 400 students, one of the schools funded through a 5 per cent annual tourism revenue sharing scheme. And he added that supporting communities around these tourist sites is a continuous process because development of tourism should go hand-in-hand with local residents’ development.

Karitanyi applauded the locals’ effort to protect the parks as it was not possible for the government alone to protect and conserve tourist attractions without their help. He said that there can never be great tourism without the involvement of communities because the communities own the habitat.

He added that conservation is not just about maintaining the parks, natural features and wildlife, it is also about empowering communities and so through the school they built, they hope to use it to transform the lives of children in the area.

There is a total of Rwf1.962bn that has so far been distributed among the communities. There are almost 360 initiatives funded by the scheme across Rwanda, including business centers, water facilities, health centres, and cooperatives among others. Each initiative has helped improve the livelihoods of the communities around the park. Some residents who were once a threat to conservation are now advocating for conservation in their communities.

The official opening of Basumba Primary School marked the beginning of all the activities that are to be done during this year’s Kwita Izina to be held on July 1 at the foot of the Volcanoes National Park in Kinigi, Musanze District.

Records show that the Rwanda’s community-led conservation efforts have resulted into a 26.3% growth in the population of gorillas since 2003. It is also important to note that this Kwita Izina ceremony is inspired by the ancient Rwandan tradition of naming babies soon after they are born and it has been in place for 9 year and this is the 10^th year during which 161 gorillas have been named, and 18 babies will be named this year.