“Help Me Grow”: Rwanda Launches a New Vision for Early Childhood Education

What happens in the first few years of life sets the course for everything that follows – for children, families, and the societies they help build. Yet, those years remain the most overlooked and least funded stage of education. Rwanda wants to change that.

It began, as many transformations do, with a question: How can we ensure that every child gets the best possible start in life?

That question now anchors one of Rwanda’s most ambitious education initiatives, the Nkuza Neza programme, a $13 million outcomes-based early childhood care and education (ECCE) fund that could reshape how development is financed and how learning happens in the earliest years of life.

Launched this week in Kigali, Nkuza Neza – which means “Help me develop” in Kinyarwanda – brings together the Government of Rwanda, the Education Outcomes Fund (EOF), LEGO Foundation, Bridges Outcomes Partnerships, and three leading implementors: Save the Children, Plan International, and Help a Child.

The programme aims to improve the quality of early childhood education services across Rwanda, reaching 25,0000 children aged 3 to 5, including those with disabilities, through a model that rewards real, measurable outcomes rather than the completion of predefined activities.

From activity to accountability

“The early years are not just formative — they are foundational,” said Gilbert Munyemana, Deputy Director General of the National Child Development Agency (NCDA). “By investing in them, we are investing in a future that is better, stronger, and more inclusive.”

He described Nkuza Neza as “a vision, not just a programme”, one rooted in the government’s long-term strategy to strengthen human capital from the earliest stages of life. “This is the next step in our commitment to ensure every child’s potential is realised,” he said.

At the centre of that vision lies a partnership model that could transform the way social outcomes are delivered.

“Outcomes-based financing (OBF) is a simple idea: pay for results that truly matter,” explained Milena Castellnou, EOF’s Head of Programmes. “But it’s a radical shift — away from paying for activities that may or may not lead to change, towards a laser focus on the results themselves.”

For Rwanda’s government, Castellnou said, this means ensuring that every franc invested in early childhood development (ECD) leads to measurable improvements in children’s learning and wellbeing. For implementing partners, it means greater accountability on impact — but also freedom to innovate. “This flexibility is crucial,” she said. “It allows our partners to learn, course-correct, and adapt to what works best for children.”

It takes a village – and a partnership

The shift to results-based models requires a deep level of collaboration between government, implementers, and investors — a theme echoed throughout the event.

“Partnerships do not happen overnight,” Castellnou noted. “They take effort, hard work, and compromise. But no single actor can solve the challenge of delivering quality ECD services alone. We truly need a village — and today, we see that village coming together.”

For LEGO Foundation’s lead programme manager, Ida Thyregod, the model resonates deeply with the organisation’s philosophy. “We believe every child, everywhere, has the right to learn, play, explore, and thrive,” she said. “This partnership is about aligning resources, expertise, and passion — to make sure we fund what truly matters: better outcomes for children.”

The fund’s design also emphasises inclusion. “Nkuza Neza will reach thousands of children, including those with disabilities,” Thyregod said. “It’s a model rooted in inclusion, quality, and accountability – ensuring that every child is counted and every child counts.”

Learning what works

For the three implementing partners, Nkuza Neza represents both an opportunity and a challenge: a chance to innovate while being held accountable for impact in a way few development programmes have attempted before.

“We’re looking forward to improving the quality of services in ECD centres, strengthening systems, and learning what works and what doesn’t,” said Noella Kabarungi, Senior Education Technical Specialist at Save the Children. “This model pushes us to go beyond activities — to think about whether children are actually developing and learning.”

Emilie Fernandes, Country Director of Plan International Rwanda, said the programme’s design creates an unprecedented space for collective learning. “This is not business as usual,” she said. “We are moving from an activity-based mindset to one centred on outcomes and data. We’ll learn from each other — from government, from investors, from EOF, and from our peers on the ground.”

For Jean Claude Nshimiyimana, Country Director at Help a Child Rwanda, the outcomes-based model also brings a new kind of freedom. “It gives us room to innovate and tailor interventions to the specific needs of each community,” he said. “We’re no longer ticking boxes. We’re focusing on what actually helps children learn and thrive.”

Putting capital to work for social change

A key role in the partnership is played by Bridges Outcomes Partnerships, the impact investor providing upfront capital to implementing partners, assuming the financial risk until outcomes are verified.

“We invest money where it can achieve measurable social impact,” said Eduardo O’Connell, Investment Associate at Bridges. “The beauty of outcomes-based financing is that it pays for what matters and allows partners to innovate. Most of the innovation comes from the implementing organisations themselves. Our role is to give them the flexibility and support to figure out what works best.”

Changing mindsets, changing systems

The conversation also surfaced challenges: from the unpredictability of external factors to the need for mindset shifts at community level.

“Parents sometimes don’t understand the importance of early childhood development,” Kabarungi noted. “We’re working on social behaviour change strategies to address this — to help families see that play, care, and stimulation are as vital as nutrition or health.”

Nshimiyimana pointed to another tension: “The biggest opportunity — and challenge — is the model itself. It demands data, precision, and learning. But it also gives us a chance to prove that innovation in ECD can be cost-effective, scalable, and sustainable.

Research that leads to policy

The government, for its part, sees the programme not as a standalone initiative but as part of a broader strategy.

“Our national goal is to increase pre-primary enrolment,” said Adia Umulisa, Head of Education Sector Planning at the Ministry of Education. “The question is how to ensure our infrastructure and systems can support this growth. Evidence from Nkuza Neza will be critical to inform policy.”

EOF’s Castellnou underlined this point: “Through rigorous evaluation, we’ll generate evidence on what works, and why. That learning will be shared with the government to shape future policy and practice. It’s about building smarter, evidence-driven investments in human development.”

Play as a pathway to a thriving future

When asked how play fits into an outcomes-based framework, Save the Children’s Kabarungi didn’t hesitate. “With children, learning through play is non-negotiable,” she said. “Even when the model focuses on outcomes, play is how those outcomes are achieved. It’s built into the system.”

In closing, Assumpta Ingabire, Director General of NCDA, urged all partners to see Nkuza Neza as more than a project.

“This is about impact — about understanding what works, in what context, and at what scale,” she said. “Investment in children is not optional. It’s essential.”

“Success is not measured in outputs,” she continued, “but in outcomes that are scalable, sustainable, and transformative. Let Nkuza Neza be more than a programme — let it be a movement that ensures every child in Rwanda not only survives, but thrives.”