Rwanda’s public sector has, over time, built substantial digital systems across ministries and agencies. These systems generate large volumes of administrative and operational data. Yet the presence of data has not always translated into its effective use.

Across institutions, a consistent gap emerged. Data existed, often in large quantities, but there was limited capacity to interpret it, connect it to policy questions, and translate it into decisions. In many cases, there were too few staff who focused on data, whereas in others, teams could extract data but were not always able to analyse, visualise, or communicate it in a way that supported leadership needs.

The Cenfri data fellowship programme was designed to address this gap directly. It places trained data professionals inside government institutions, embedding analytical capability within existing systems, while providing ongoing mentoring and coaching support from the Cenfri team.

The development of a data ecosystem

The fellowship sits within Cenfri’s broader Rwanda Economy Digitalisation (RED) Programme, which focuses on strengthening the systems that enable digital transformation and encouraging greater use of data for policy decisions and service delivery.

The fellowship model reflects this. It integrates fellows into ministries where data is already being created but not comprehensively utilised. This fellowship programme has three key outcomes:

• Supporting partner institutions meet their data needs, including immediate analytical outputs
• Longer-term development of a data-driven culture in Rwanda
• An opportunity for graduates with data skills to gain hands-on work experience in the data field

Fellows do not act as external consultants; they sit within ministry teams, attend leadership meetings, take on real assignments, and over the course of their placement, become part of the institutions that host them.

Over three cohorts, the programme has placed 36 fellows across 12 government institutions spanning ministries responsible for agriculture, finance, infrastructure, public service, trade, education, and local governance.

Filling the gap

Institutions such as the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA), and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM) have hosted fellows across multiple cohorts, with placements evolving over time as demand for data capability has increased.

To better understand how this translated into institutional impact, we spoke with representatives from the three host institutions, each with distinct starting points and needs. All three reported positive outcomes from the fellows’ contributions during their placements.

Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM)

When MINICOM’s Chief Data Officer, Ngenzi Kirenga, joined the ministry in 2021, a data-driven culture was an aspiration rather than a practice. He had been pushing internally for data scientists since around 2022, making the case to top management that the gap was not simply about capacity but about embedding people who could change how the institution related to its own information. MINICOM received its first fellows in the 2024 cohort.

In the first weeks, fellows were asked to assess the ministry’s data ecosystem rather than dive into delivery. Once it became clear the placement would hold, the work accelerated rapidly.

Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA)

MIFOTRA’s Chief Data Officer, Darius Mico, explained that the situation was one of data abundance without analytical depth. The ministry runs IPPIS, a system that automates human resource management processes like recruitment, payroll, training, performance management, and retirement across all government institutions. The data was there. What was missing was anyone trained to interrogate it.

The fellows were onboarded with access to IPPIS databases and servers, orientation sessions with department heads, and hands-on introductions with database administrators. The fellows moved quickly into their core assignment: a thorough analysis of the government’s e-recruitment system.

Ministry of Education (MINEDUC)

Of the three institutions, MINEDUC had the most mature internal data function. The Head of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Adia Umulisa, already had a team of data analysts in the ministry’s structure, which meant fellows could be productive almost immediately rather than spending months establishing basic foundations. “We usually have a dataset and questions from our leaders,” she explained. “We build capacity as they go.”

The fellows were absorbed smoothly and within days, one fellow had been included in a live statistics compilation exercise already underway.

Examples of what the fellows built at the three institutions

Across all three institutions, the fellows built systems that enabled institutions to capture, structure and act on their data.

MINICOM: Automated monitoring

MINICOM has a mandate to monitor the country’s strategic fuel reserves, a responsibility that carries geopolitical weight. Before the fellows arrived, a single staff member compiled weekly reports manually, drawing on phone calls, WhatsApp messages, emails, and spreadsheets. The fellows first built a dashboard based on those reports. That alone was an improvement. But the more significant development came later, when the system evolved so that reporting entities could submit data directly, and the dashboard updated automatically.

A similar transformation happened with oversight of MINICOM’s industrial parks and special economic zones. Fellows built tools to track the number and type of industries operating in these zones, plot ownership, payment status, and geographic location.

“The fellows did not just produce reports. They contributed to operational systems, management visibility, audit readiness, and decision-making.” Ngenzi Kirenga, Chief Data Officer at MINICOM

That visibility mattered during an audit by the Office of the Auditor General. Before the system existed, the ministry had a limited picture of who owed outstanding payments, when action should be taken, or what follow-up had already occurred. During the audit, management was able to give auditors direct access to the dashboard, demonstrating not only the scale of arrears but the specific actions being taken to address them.

The fuel monitoring dashboard is now displayed permanently in the minister’s boardroom.

MIFOTRA: Answers to pertinent questions

At MIFOTRA, the fellows produced recruitment analysis reports that were used in parliament and senior government offices. Their work anticipated many policy and operational questions in advance, enabling officials to quickly respond to public concerns with evidence rather than estimation.

Darius highlighted one of the most useful insights generated through this work, which is the distinction between total job applications and unique applicants, which corrected widespread public misconceptions about the scale of youth unemployment. Another insight was that whereas currently recruitment regulations for public sector recruitment require the process to be completed within a month, the analysis showed that in practice it took quite a bit longer. The analysis also highlighted significant variation in recruitment efficiency across government institutions. Data analysis undertaken by the data fellows directly informed operational and policy adjustments, including enforcing retirement age rules within IPPIS.

The work went beyond statistical output. Fellows conducted interviews with departments, validated findings with stakeholders, and worked collaboratively to generate insights that were policy-relevant rather than merely technically correct.

“The gap was never really about technical capability it was about translating data into decisions.” Darius Mico, Chief Data Officer at MIFOTRA

MINEDUC: Dashboards for decision-making

At MINEDUC, the fellows produced outputs quickly and prolifically. One developed a database-level data quality tool. Another built three dashboards, including a national examination performance dashboard that management valued highly enough to have installed in their own offices. The Head of Planning, Adia Umulisa noted that fellows came “with the full package,” not just technical skill, but analytical thinking and a genuine enthusiasm for the work. She described being able to tell a fellow to “have fun” with an assignment because she could see they genuinely enjoyed it.

One fellow also worked on database administration and data cataloguing, less visible work, but foundational to the ministry’s ability to clean and manage its datasets systematically. The catalogue became a practical tool for ongoing data quality management.

The cross-institutional reach of the programme also showed up here. When MINEDUC needed to map schools to household density data to understand student commute distances, the fellow reached out directly to another Cenfri fellow placed at the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR). The collaboration worked because there was a trusted counterpart on the other side with known capabilities.

A programme that is changing what institutions expect of data

Perhaps the most significant long-term impact of the Data Fellowship Programme is not any individual dashboard or report. It is the shift in what institutions come to expect from themselves, from their data, and from the people who work with it.

At MINEDUC, management saw enough value in having analytical capacity that they pushed for data analyst roles to be added and included into the ministry’s formal structure at a senior level, a process that took years to approve but which was directly catalysed by what previous fellows accomplished. At MIFOTRA, plans are underway to add data scientist positions to the new organisational structure. At MINICOM, a fuel monitoring dashboard that once required a person to manually compile information every week now updates automatically, displayed permanently in the minister’s boardroom as a quiet signal of what data governance can look like when it works.

The fellows themselves have been changed too. Even though they had strong technical skills, the fellows also had an opportunity to understand more about data governance, culture, and ultimately soft skills.

“Many policies currently lack data backing. This programme helps address that — one institution, one fellow, one question at a time.” Darius Mico, Chief Data Officer at MIFOTRA

In the fellows’ own words

In January 2026, we surveyed the second cohort of 12 fellows. Overall, respondents described the fellowship as a highly positive experience and something they would recommend. They pointed to both the relevance of their work and the opportunity to apply and develop practical data skills outside of an academic environment.

The fellows were candid about the learning curves they encountered along the way. Working with real-world data meant that adaptability became as important as technical skill. Fellows also discovered that part of their role was helping institutions see the potential in data they already held, a process that required as much communication and relationship-building as analysis.

Here is what some of them had to say:

On the gap between theory and practice: “I realised that using data in real organisations is not just about doing technically sound analysis, but about understanding the environment the data comes from and the decisions it is meant to support… real-world data is often incomplete or imperfect and waiting for ideal datasets is rarely an option.” Bernice Mugure Mathenge

On what data is: “I began to understand what it actually takes for data to be accurate, realistic, and ready for analysis. I saw the long journey data goes through before it ever reaches a dashboard: how it is created, recorded, corrected, transferred, and managed by different people across the organization… Data governance, which had been a hidden concept to me before, became a central lens.” Rachel Uwera

On the responsibility that comes with analytical work: “Seeing how the reports and dashboards I developed were used by senior management highlighted the real-world impact of data-driven insights, including their potential to influence policies and affect the lives of thousands of people.” Vital Hakizimana

On institutional readiness for data use: “At times it is crucial to convince organisations why the data itself is important to their goals because at times the institutions have substantial data but there is limited awareness on how the data can be used more efficiently to reach internal and national objectives.” Claudine Mahoro

“In real organisations, the most important starting point is not the data itself, but a clear understanding of the problem or question that needs to be solved, and how data can support that process. Effective decision-making should be grounded in reliable data and evidence, instead of assumptions or intuition.” Ange Duhire

On sustainability and what happens when fellows leave:” “For long-term projects to succeed, follow-up and institutional commitment are just as important as the technical solution itself.” Rachel Uwera

A new cohort of 14 fellows has already begun their placements, working under the Data Governance Unit at the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR). Positioned within this institutional framework, the cohort is expected to play a key role in supporting ministries and agencies to operationalise the National Data Sharing Policy and strengthen data use across government.