Coming together in common purpose: what we could learn from Rwanda

In Rwanda, keeping the country clean isn’t just a government policy – it’s a monthly mandate called Umuganda. As the UK spends £1bn a year on litter, and faces a loneliness epidemic, is it time we stopped acting like customers of the state and started acting like we are part of it?”

When I first arrived in Kigali, the customs officials asked me all the normal questions. However, one question stuck out, “Is there any chance you have any plastic bags in your luggage?” Rwanda has banned plastic bags since 2008, and if you bring them into the country, you can receive an immediate fine alongside confiscation. Instead, local traders have made a living making cloth bags, paper bags adorned with African landscapes, or simply manufacturing reusable paper bags or cardboard containers. Although we have a plastic bag levy, my immediate thought was, why do we need to use plastic bags at all? Is there some deep-rooted need in our society for them, or can we consign them to history as a convenient, although ultimately net negative, invention?

Rwanda’s green approach has been part of its long-term plan to increase its exposure on the world stage. Kigali recently held the world road cycling championships, and you might be tempted to believe that meticulous cleanliness is only in the capital. As we were able to travel the length of the country, even in areas facing high levels of poverty, communities took great pride in keeping their environment clean. On one occasion, a little boy let a plastic bottle roll down into the gutter, and five separate people ran to pick it up, with his parents quick to chastise him for this.

The desire to keep the country clean runs deeper than mere government policy. The word Umuganda translates as “coming together in common purpose,” and is most notable for the mandated community clean that all individuals who are 16 to 65 participate in on the last Saturday of every month. This runs from 8am-11am, and all government organisations close their doors until 12pm, to allow for government officials to join in their local area. If you’re lucky, you might be cutting bushes, or picking up litter next to the President or the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

If you are caught not participating in this, you can be fined 5000 Rwandese francs (USD$6) and a nationwide driving ban during these hours, meaning that the activity is seldom missed. In comparison to the UK, a recent report by Keep Britain Tidy found that more than 90% of the 1,140 miles they surveyed contained some form of litter. Additionally, in a separate survey, 77% of people were found to believe the country’s litter problem has got worse in recent years.

In Rwanda, it has taken time and repetition to change people’s behaviour. In the 2000s, Kigali’s streets were choked with plastic bags and uncollected rubbish, but Umuganda’s fixed time and date every month, repeated for 28 years, has been integrated into the cumulative behaviour of the nation. The Umuganda monthly works are decided by local leaders and citizens in that community, which allows for projects that the community desires. This has strengthened social cohesion and resilience among community members. Furthermore, it has not only ensured a clean environment, but as one individual said, “has also had a long-standing positive effect on our health and physical wellbeing. You know what they say, a healthy nation leads to a wealthy nation.” Although this is an anecdotal comment, the UK spends around £1bn each year on street cleaning, we could reinvest some of this into other public services if we took a more proactive approach to cleanliness. In addition, many young people are also reporting moderate or severe loneliness, with a recent report putting that at a third of all 16 to 29 year olds. The act of cleaning a park is as much a social act as it is an act of labour. As this brings together neighbours at least once a month, with many participating in WhatsApp groups formed to plan the next month’s activities.

Prima Facie, it may seem a strange comparison to look to a developing country often criticised for its lack of political plurality, but I found myself asking if it was time we brought something similar to the UK. We often think, “I pay my Council Tax, so it is the council’s job to clean the street.” However, Umuganda shifts the mindset from being a customer of the state, to a part of the state. We all know that local government is not omnipotent, is it not time for us to do more within our own civic spaces?

Perhaps on the last Friday of the month, local government staff could be allowed to leave at 3pm to clean the local area, helping embattled refuse staff. This could be done in conjunction with local businesses and residents. More radically, could it be time for something on a national scale to instil a form of community service where we all come together to beautify our public spaces? We often pride ourselves on our freedoms, yet have we used that freedom to neglect our shared spaces? Are we now too individualistic to make this work, or perhaps we are all waiting for a reason to come back together?