How data interns are accelerating digital innovation in government
How data interns are accelerating digital innovation in government
3 November, 2025 •In 2024, the Rwandan Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA) partnered with the Rwanda Economy Digitalisation (RED) Programme with a clear objective: to strengthen its capacity to manage data, drive faster project delivery, and use digital tools to inform national planning.
Cenfri spoke with Romalice Ishimwe, Chief Digital Officer at the Ministry of Infrastructure, who shared how a small pilot of six interns has since evolved into a practical model for how public institutions can integrate young data talent to accelerate results.
MININFRA’s digital and data functions were constrained by fixed staffing structures that made it difficult to expand teams as project demands grew. Despite having a strong pipeline of infrastructure initiatives, the ministry needed additional hands-on capacity to manage data, analyse progress, and translate technical work into actionable insights for policymakers.
Through the RED Programme, Cenfri and the ministry co-designed an internship model that embedded interns directly into the ministry’s teams rather than hosting them externally. This approach allowed interns to work within existing government systems, access real datasets, and contribute to ongoing projects that require immediate delivery.
Each intern was assigned to a specific ministry project and paired with a senior team member for technical guidance. The onboarding process was intentionally fast paced, designed to align interns with the ministry’s goals and ensure that their work contributed to tangible outputs within weeks rather than months.
This agile model produced immediate results. Within the first two weeks, the interns had developed a minimum viable product (MVP) that responded to one of MININFRA’s critical data challenges: the lack of visibility over infrastructure built on registered land.
Turning land data into infrastructure intelligence
Although Rwanda’s land registry provides detailed ownership information, it offered limited insight into the physical infrastructure on those plots. The interns tackled this gap by building a system that uses satellite imagery to detect buildings and link them with the corresponding land registration data.
The outcome was a shift from two-dimensional land management to a three-dimensional view of land and infrastructure. This capability allows planners and policymakers to visualise how urban expansion aligns with ownership patterns, zoning laws, and master plans.
The project’s success demonstrated how quickly government institutions can generate actionable intelligence when data, technology, and the right talent converge. It also provided the foundation for other ministries to explore similar applications of remote sensing in land-use management.
Applying artificial intelligence to improve service delivery
The second major output from the RED internship cohort was an Infrastructure Intelligence App designed to support city engineers in reviewing building permit applications. By applying AI to read and interpret architectural drawings, the tool helps engineers identify key building metrics and flag inconsistencies before manual review.
The first version achieved 60% accuracy within a month, showing strong potential for automation. MININFRA aims to improve this to 80% by mid-2026, which would reduce document-review time by as much as 80% and allow engineers to focus on more complex cases. The project also served as a live test for the ministry’s new GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) infrastructure, enabling the team to operationalise AI computing resources that had been underused.
Building an evidence base for decision-making
A third outcome of the internship programme was the creation of a geospatial dataset that uniquely identifies each building in Rwanda. This dataset provides a foundation for developing a national address system, an essential step toward improving service delivery, logistics, and emergency response.
By linking building data with land and administrative boundaries, the ministry can now generate precise insights into settlement patterns, infrastructure coverage, and service accessibility. These outputs have already informed conversations with the Post Office, the Ministry of Health, and other agencies exploring data-driven service planning.
Working in sprints
Beyond technical products, the RED data interns catalysed a shift in how MININFRA teams approach project delivery. The introduction of short, results-driven development sprints encouraged teams to adopt a “deliver-and-iterate” culture rather than wait for perfect solutions.
Teams began planning around two-week milestones and prioritising prototypes that demonstrate immediate value. This approach improved coordination between departments and made it easier to communicate progress to senior leadership. It also reinforced the ministry’s reputation as one of Rwanda’s fastest-delivering government entities in the digital sector.
This approach builds ownership within the host institution while allowing Cenfri and RED partners to demonstrate the tangible benefits of data-driven innovation in government. Several outputs from the first cohort continue to be refined by MININFRA’s digital team and are expected to transition into production tools. The datasets created for land-infrastructure mapping and AI-based permitting have been integrated into the ministry’s broader digital infrastructure strategy, forming a base for future smart-city and housing initiatives.
The RED Programme continues to build on these lessons as it supports other ministries and agencies in using data and digital tools to strengthen decision-making and public service delivery across Rwanda.
Meet the interns
At the time of the internship pilot, each of the six interns was pursuing a Master’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University Africa.
Before joining this internship, Oswaldo worked as a Full Stack Developer at Beewton, where he contributed to the design and optimisation of web applications using Laravel and Vue.js.
Previously, Irene worked as Backend Software Engineer at Comprehensive Staffing Resources, she developed enterprise-grade applications and dashboards that improved decision-making efficiency.
Bertin previously worked as a Software Developer at Huza HR, enhancing performance management systems and integrating digital loan features that improved employee financial well-being.
Blessed has worked across several roles, including as a Research Software Engineer at Upanzi/CyLab Network and a Backend Engineer at Platnova Solutions, where he led performance optimisation and cloud-based deployments.
Before joining Cenfri, Phanuel worked as a Software Engineer at Agence Sitewebart, developing digital platforms for transport and mobility in Canada. He has also served as a teaching assistant and as a strategist for CMU Africa’s Data Science Club.
With over five years of experience in data science and analytics, Jules has worked with Babylon Health, Bboxx, and One Acre Fund, developing predictive models, data pipelines, and performance dashboards that improved operational efficiency and data governance.