The visiting professor in Human Resource Development from the University of Twente in the Netherlands, Prof. Dr. Joseph W.M Kessels, has commended the ambitious and incredible development goals that Rwanda is undertaking and expressed gratitude to be a witness to the development. The Chair of the Human Resource Development, University of Twente said this during a press briefing ahead of the International Conference on developing human resource for a knowledge-based economy slated for today at Kigali Institute of Management (KIM). He gave a brief background on how involving all people in the process of creating a knowledge-based economy transformed farmers in his country from poor cultivators to the world’s most progressive farmers. He also observed that creating a knowledge-based economy is not dependant on how many university degrees people have but “comes from the day to day smartness with which people do their work, it involves participation of everyone.” The Rector of Kigali Institute of Management (KIM) which will host the conference, Dr Benjamin Akinyemi said that his institute is going to devise means of impacting people at all levels in a bid to contribute to ensure a knowledge-based workforce in the country. “We are repositioning ourselves to see how as a higher institution of learning, we can impact people--from a businessman to a local farmer--on how they can progressively do their activities, we are starting with these conferences” he remarked. The conference which is organized by RDB in partnership with KIM will bring together key players in engineering Rwanda’s economy into a knowledge based one through harnessing ideas and experiences both local and international to guide the intended actions in this cause. Deogratias Harorimana, the Deputy CEO in charge of Human Capital and Institutional Development at Rwanda Development Board (RDB) urged key players to find avenues to innovatively and positively tune people’s mindsets to question the implications of their activities. “A knowledge based workforce comes with workers first of all questioning the implications of their activities, and this can only be achieved when people change their mindset to adopt prudent attitudes and actions,” he said. Ends
