Hello, who are you?

I am Anita Mutesi currently working with the Rwanda Development Board in the capacity development and employment services unit and have served as a specialist in this area for more than seven years. I have collaborated and worked closely with different government institutions, development partners and sectors, on assignments to identify skills gap and design frameworks, strategies and programmes for improving human skills development. In my capacity as economic cluster specialist at the National Capacity Building Secretariat and having agriculture in my portfolio, I represented the secretariat at the launch of CDAIS and it interested me, and was I was requested to be a national innovation facilitator for the project. The most interesting part is that it looks at capacity building at the lowest level possible, which we had been struggling with. I knew this was a chance for me to add value to this project with the experience I had in capacity building at district level.

What are your roles and responsibilities as National Innovation Facilitator?

In my role as a capacity building specialist, I was selected as facilitator for the Burera Community Processing Centre, Burera district in the north of Rwanda. My responsibilities are to technically assist the implementation of CDAIS by helping beneficiaries identify their capacity gaps and how to fill them. I have also been fortunate enough to be the ‘story harvester’, with my first story was on the Burera Community Processing Centre (https://cdais.net/2017/10/06/rwanda-story-of-change/).

What has CDAIS changed for you?

Being a national innovation facilitator, we had to be prepared for the field and how we work with the different partners in the niches. We received different training including on organizing capacity needs assessment for niches, adult learning and coaching skills. Being involved in CDAIS has really impacted on how I approach capacity development. Before I would just do a needs assessment of higher authorities and not go to the field, believing and trusting what the authorities said. Working with CDAIS has taught me that going to field level and meeting the players in the different partnerships gives you the real stories and challenges. This helps to solve the challenges from the roots and not from the stem and which has had a huge impact.