As with any other army, the primary responsibility of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) is to defend the territorial integrity of Rwanda and to safeguard its national sovereignty. However, the constitution of the Republic of Rwanda assigns RDF a secondary role, to support the development aspirations of the country and actively to participate in ensuring human security and Rwanda’s socio-economic development.

Underlying the assignment of RDF, this secondary role is the idea that the Force’s primary constitutional mandate of defending the country’s territorial integrity and safeguarding its sovereignty would become much more challenging in a context of widespread poverty and deprivation.

Poverty that stems from lack of opportunities for self-fulfilment is a major driver of recruitment of especially young men into insurgents and other violent or criminal groups.

It is against this background that since 2009 RDF has been formally involved in a wide range of activities in support of the government’s socioeconomic development efforts through the RDF Citizen Outreach Program (COP). Its activities straddle two categories.

Some are income-generating and job-creating and form part of Rwanda’s private sector landscape. Others are part of its much-acclaimed COP activities designed as direct responses to challenges faced by ordinary citizens. Overall, they straddle several domains.