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The 16th Kwita Izina will be held under the theme “Conservation and Sustainable Tourism – A Foundation for Future Generations”.

This year, 24 baby gorillas that call Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park home will be named by the Volcanoes National Park staff – the frontliners of conservation who protect and care for them every day.

They will include the park rangers, guides, wardens, trackers and veterinary doctors, among others.

World Gorilla Day marks the day that renowned gorilla conservationist Dian Fossey established the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda in 1967. It is a day that encourages people around the globe to join conservation efforts to protect gorillas in the wild.

This year’s virtual event will feature updates from the field on how rangers, vets and researchers work everyday to protect gorillas and a handover ceremony of the community project RDB embarked on to improve access to potable water for the communities living around Nyungwe National Park.

The community project is part of the Tourism Revenue Share Programme, in which 10% of total tourism park revenues are invested back into communities, contributing to the development of communities living adjacent to Rwanda’s national parks.

Additionally, this year, RDB is working with conservation and private sector partners to organise the Conversation on Conservation, a virtual session that will bring together scholars, researchers, conservationists, policy makers and the private sector to discuss, debate and find solutions to today’s conservation challenges.

Speaking during her remarks at a virtual press conference held on 4 September, RDB Chief Tourism Officer, Belise Kariza noted: “Having Kwita Izina virtually this year gives us the opportunity to celebrate those who are at the forefront of protecting the endangered mountain gorillas and share Rwanda’s conservation success with Rwandans. We hope to inspire everyone to visit our beautiful country and experience the wonder of trekking to see the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat. Rwanda is open for tourism, and the sector underpins so much of our conservation work. That’s why we are proud of the impact of sustainable tourism on our national development and environmental protection efforts.”

The practice of giving a name to a newborn baby, known as ‘Kwita Izina’, has been part of Rwandan culture for centuries. The name attributed to a baby gorilla plays a significant role in the ongoing programme of monitoring each individual gorilla in its family group and habitat.

The Rwanda Development Board has announced that the 16th Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming Ceremony will be held virtually on World Gorilla Day, on 24 September 2020.

IGIHE

Coursera is a world-wide online learning platform founded in 2012. It offers open online courses, specializations, degrees, professional and master track courses.

The platform works with universities and other organizations to offer courses in a variety of subjects, such as engineering, data science, machine learning, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, and others.

The RDB Chief Skills Office and RTN are giving both unemployed and employed Rwandans access to 90% of Coursera catalogue courses and certificate programs at zero cost.

With the Coursera programs, registered learners are gaining unlimited and free access to more than 3,800 courses taught by highly reputed professors and mentors from world-class universities such as Duke University, University of London, Ecole Polytechnic Paris, University of Amsterdam, National University of Singapore, New York Institute of Finance, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Yale University in the USA, John Hopkin’s University and from companies such as International Business Machines Corporation and Google among others.

Commenting on the program, Elodie Rusera, the RDB Chief Skills Officer said;

“The RDB Skills Office and RTN are working closely with the Ministry of ICT and Innovation to see that this initiative is successfully rolled out to improve the skills of public servants and all Rwandans as well as improve digital literacy through courses on the Coursera platform. This initiative is an intervention in the labour market, especially for Rwandans that have been affected by Covid-19 to re-skill and re-enter the workforce. By the end of December 2020, we expect more than 13,000 people will have been trained under this Coursera partnership with RTN and RDB Skills Office.”

Today, 4,200 Rwandans from different backgrounds are enrolled in various courses on the platform.

On August 18th this year, a virtual convocation was held to celebrate the achievement of around 2,000 first graduates from 17 Commonwealth counties. Rwanda is the second country after Ghana to have the highest number with over 480 people who have successfully graduated in this program mainly in information Technology, Management and communication courses so far.

Paul Barera, the Chief Executive Officer of RTN, noted:

“We understand that some learners may not have access to internet or computers but we are working with the RDB Skills Office to leverage Government’s Employment Service Centers and our Telecentres located in every district countrywide to give people access to the facilities.”

To enroll on any of the courses being offered as a Government employee, please liaise with your HR manager or send an email to [email protected]. For non-Government employees, please fill the application form available on this link: https://rtn.rw/rtn_col_coursera_workforce_recovery/ or send an email to [email protected]

RDB through its Chief Skills Office has partnered with the RTN to roll out Coursera Online Learning programs to improve the career skills of Rwandans.

IGIHE