Rwanda is transforming the lessons learned from the devastating May 2023 floods into proactive disaster preparedness and financial resilience. The floods and landslides claimed more than 130 lives and destroyed homes, roads, and farms across the country’s northern and western provinces. Recognizing that climate shocks are becoming more frequent, Rwanda is shifting from reacting to disasters to building systems that ensure financial readiness before crises occur.
In October 2025, over 100 government officials, development partners, and financial experts gathered in Kigali for a two-day workshop to discuss the Rwanda Disaster Risk Finance Diagnostic Report and validate the country’s new Disaster Risk Finance (DRF) Strategy. The initiative, organized by the Government of Rwanda, the World Food Programme, and the World Bank, aims to establish mechanisms that enable faster, more efficient responses to disasters through pre-arranged financing.
Rwanda’s Minister of State for National Treasury, Godfrey Kabera, emphasized that the DRF Strategy marks a major step in protecting Rwanda’s development progress. He noted that innovative financial tools would help communities recover more sustainably and minimize the economic and social toll of future disasters. The strategy focuses on addressing the financial challenges faced by vulnerable households and small businesses that lack insurance or savings to recover from climate shocks.
A key feature of the strategy is the development of a layered financing approach—using different instruments for different levels of disaster risk. Participants at the DRF training workshop explored mechanisms such as budget reallocations, emergency reserves, contingent financing, sovereign insurance, and catastrophe bonds. According to the DRF Diagnostic Report, adopting this risk-layered approach could save Rwanda an estimated $50 million annually, making disaster response more cost-effective and resilient.
Aristarque Ngoga, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry in charge of Emergency Management, highlighted that true resilience depends not only on infrastructure but also on financial preparedness. He underscored the importance of mechanisms like contingency funds, risk pooling, and insurance to ensure quick recovery and continued development even after severe shocks.
Rwanda has already made significant progress toward building financial resilience. Initiatives include the $140 million Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (Cat DDO), providing rapid post-disaster financing; emergency lending for small businesses through the Access to Finance for Recovery and Resilience Project; adaptive social protection programs delivering quick financial support to affected families; and expanding insurance coverage for farmers and public assets through public–private partnerships.
The validation of the DRF Strategy is only the beginning. The government plans to integrate disaster risk finance into national development planning, foster inter-ministerial coordination, and strengthen partnerships with the private sector and international organizations. Capacity building will also be a key priority to ensure the effective implementation of financial tools across all levels of governance.
Rwanda’s partnership with the World Bank remains central to advancing this strategy, with both parties committed to safeguarding the country’s people, livelihoods, and infrastructure. The 2023 floods were a painful reminder of the cost of unpreparedness, but through the new DRF Strategy, Rwanda is ensuring that the next disaster will not erase years of progress toward sustainable development and resilience.
