This project supports Rwanda’s 4×4 strategy to quadruple the health workforce in four years by expanding training capacity, improving teaching quality, digitizing regulation, and advancing gender equity for sustainable universal health coverage.
Context
Rwanda’s health workforce density is 1.16 per 1,000 people—well below the WHO benchmark of 4.45—creating critical gaps in primary and specialized care. Constraints include limited faculty, outdated curricula, insufficient infrastructure, saturated clinical sites, and lack of robust digital systems in regulatory councils and workforce oversight.
In 2023, Rwanda launched its 4×4 strategy to quadruple the workforce in four years and build a sustainable ecosystem for health education and service delivery. It requires targeted investments to expand training capacity, improve instruction quality, modernize regulation, and establish reliable data systems for equitable staff allocation.
Description
L’Inititative’s support to the 4×4 strategy aims to:
- Strengthen capacity of training institutions to deliver quality, gender-sensitive pre-service programs;
- Expand in-service training and mentorship for nurses;
- Modernize and digitize key functions of Nursing, Midwifery, and Allied Health councils and link them to the Health Workforce Management System (HWMS);
- Enhance MOH via HWMS development.
Key activities include curriculum harmonization, procurement of teaching equipment, and faculty development. The project will recruit national and visiting faculty (with twinning) and sponsor staff for a postgraduate certificate in Health Professions Education. Nearly 600 scholarships in nursing, midwifery, and allied health sciences will enable students to enroll in accredited private institutions aligned with 4×4 targets. Regulatory councils will upgrade digital systems for registration, licensing, continuous professional development, and inspection while MOH strengthens coordination and analytics for planning and deployment.
Impact
The project will expand Rwanda’s pool of qualified health workers and improve their distribution nationwide. By modernizing curricula, investing in faculty, and scaling simulation-based learning, the project will ensure higher-quality training for future health professionals. Digitized regulation and integrated workforce data will make licensing, professional development, and deployment more efficient. With gender-responsive approaches embedded, it will advance equity and women’s empowerment. Ultimately, the project will leave sustainable faculty pipelines, stronger institutions, and systems fully integrated into national priorities.
