Rwanda Links Volcanoes Park Expansion With New Village for 547 Families
Rwanda on August 27, 2026, broke ground on a new Smart Green Village in Musanze District that will accommodate 547 households affected by the planned expansion of Volcanoes National Park, as the country seeks to balance wildlife conservation with the livelihoods and living conditions of communities around the park.
The village, to be built in Rurembo, Kinigi Sector, is part of the wider Volcanoes Community Resilience Project and represents an investment of more than $49 million, according to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).
The first phase of the wider programme covers about 450 hectares and affects 547 households currently living within the pilot area identified for the park’s expansion.
The government has acquired a 50-hectare site in Rurembo for the relocation village. Compensation for the relocation site has been completed, while compensation for land and properties within the park expansion area is still ongoing.
The broader programme is expected to support more than 17,000 people, or about 3,400 households, while facilitating the expansion of Volcanoes National Park by approximately 3,740 hectares and establishing about 6,620 hectares of buffer zones.
The 10-year programme is estimated to cost about $300 million and is intended to improve livelihoods while increasing wildlife habitat, strengthening biodiversity conservation and creating new economic opportunities for communities surrounding the park.
Families expect safer and better-served lives
For families who will move to the Smart Green Village, the project is expected to bring services that have been difficult to access in their current settlements, including housing, water, electricity, healthcare, education and improved roads.
Esther Mukamakuza, one of the beneficiaries, said the planned village gives families hope for better living conditions, particularly for women and children.
She said the new settlement would provide schools, health facilities, roads and cleaner cooking solutions, while also giving women greater opportunities to participate in household and community development.
Mukamakuza said families would also be able to engage in more productive agriculture and earn income from farming rather than relying on subsistence production.
“We will engage in income-generating agriculture because we will practice modern farming and earn money from what we produce,” she said.
She also said women would no longer have to take turns with their husbands guarding crops from wild animals at night.
“We will no longer have to take turns guarding our crops at night as our husbands used to do. While they were guarding the crops, we would go farming, and then we would take turns,” she said.
The new settlement is also expected to reduce the health and environmental burden associated with traditional cooking methods.
Mukamakuza said families would be able to use gas for cooking instead of firewood, reducing exposure to smoke.
She added that nearby schools, health facilities and recreational spaces would make life easier for families, including women who previously had to travel to Musanze to access maternity services.
“Instead of travelling to hospitals in Musanze to give birth, we will be able to give birth closer to home because there will be health facilities here, and our children will also go to school nearby,” she said.
For residents living close to the park, the relocation also represents an attempt to reduce encounters with wildlife.
Mukamakuza said families had faced encounters with buffaloes and hyenas that sometimes entered their homes, attacked livestock and posed risks to people.
Another beneficiary, Augustin Nzabonimpa, described the relocation as an opportunity to leave behind the insecurity associated with living close to wild animals.
He said families would move into houses equipped with electricity and water, reducing the need to share or travel long distances to access basic resources.
“We used to have the problem of constantly dealing with animals that destroyed our crops and sometimes attacked us,” Nzabonimpa said.
He added, “Now we will live in better houses with electricity and water, because we used to share these resources with animals, and accessing them also required long journeys. This will allow us to begin a new life with peace and economic opportunities.”
A new model of community development
The Smart Green Village is designed to go beyond housing.
According to RDB, the development will include water and sanitation infrastructure, electricity, health and education facilities, community spaces and green infrastructure.
The village will also incorporate climate-smart agriculture, greenhouses, irrigation and agricultural processing facilities, renewable energy, rainwater harvesting, wastewater treatment and reuse, solid waste management and energy-efficient building technologies.
It will also include eco-lodges and community tourism facilities intended to create additional economic opportunities for residents.
RDB Chief Executive Officer Jean-Guy Afrika said the project reflects the government’s approach of linking conservation with community development.
“The Smart Green Village represents our shared vision that conservation and community development must go hand in hand,” Afrika said.
He said the project would provide families with better housing, infrastructure, essential services and economic opportunities while promoting sustainable agriculture, climate resilience and environmental protection.
Minister of Local Government, Dominique Habimana urged residents to take ownership of the new settlement once it is developed.
“The development of our communities must go hand in hand with protecting the environment,” Habimana said, adding that the homes and infrastructure belong to the communities that will live there.
He urged residents to participate in the development and maintenance of the village so that it remains clean, safe and sustainable.
Tourism revenues also return to communities
The groundbreaking ceremony was also used to announce this year’s allocations under Rwanda’s Tourism Revenue Sharing Programme for districts neighbouring Volcanoes National Park.
Under the programme, 10% of tourism revenues generated by national parks is reinvested in development initiatives benefiting surrounding communities.
RDB says that over the past 20 years, more than RWF 23 billion has been reinvested through the programme, supporting nearly 1,300 projects in areas including education, healthcare, water access and livelihoods.
For the four districts bordering Volcanoes National Park, approximately RWF 1.98 billion has been allocated this year.
Musanze and Nyabihu districts will each receive about RWF 659.8 million, while Burera will receive RWF 495 million and Rubavu RWF 164.95 million.
Northern Province Governor Maurice Mugabowagahunde said communities around the park benefit from conservation through jobs, businesses and tourism revenue-sharing projects.
Since the programme began, he said, 838 projects worth RWF 8.6 billion have been supported in communities around Volcanoes National Park.
He said, “The expansion of the park and the Smart Green Village would help address limited agricultural land and reduce human-wildlife conflict by providing communities with safer places to live and farm.”
The Smart Green Village comes as Rwanda prepares for the 21st Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming Ceremony, scheduled for September 4 in Kinigi under the theme “Conservation is Life: Sustaining the Future.”
The government has increasingly linked conservation with community development, arguing that people living around protected areas need to see tangible benefits from tourism and environmental protection.
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