The impact of public private partnership's projects on sustainable development in Rwanda: a case of Rwanda Space Agency (RSA)

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have become a common practice by multilateral organizations, international financial institutions (IFIs), governments, and companies across the globe. The enthusiasm for PPPs is driven by their ability to assist developing countries attain sustainable development goals (SDGs). They help countries to mobilize capital for sustainable development, to reduce the risk of investments in the public sector (Ferlie, Lynn and Pollitt, 2005; Sharma,2016) and reduce the timelines of projects. The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of PPPs on sustainable development in Rwanda, specifically through the RSA. The study is motivated by the global trend in leveraging PPPs to overcome debt, reduce poverty and support the financing of infrastructural development. The study examines if PPPs contribute to agricultural productivity, if agricultural productivity contributes to economic growth and if agricultural production is sustainable. The research employed quantitative methods using the Rwanda Space Agency (RSA) as a Case study. The case selection criteria are based on its ability to provide the necessary information on the variables that contribute to answering the research question. The research relies on quantitative agricultural data obtained from RSA and to obtain a larger picture, it employs a quantitative methodology to analyse quarterly data for a period of 6 years (from 2015 to 2020). For data analysis, the research employs Inzight statistical software that intelligently analyses the data and creates appropriate graphs of data and variable type. Data analysis is complemented by use of p-Value and the regression analysis. The results show a positive probability of consistency in the growth of agricultural sector which is complemented by the International Monetary Fund data statistics report (2021) data on Rwanda’s GDP. It indicates an increase of real GDP growth of 10.2% compared to 6.1% in 2020. Furthermore, the current statistics show that Rwanda’s economy has been growing steadily between 6% and 7% annually with majority of the country’s growth resulting from agricultural activities (Heinen, 2021). The outcome of the analysis, though not exhaustive in nature provides opportunities for future research. This should ascertain if Rwanda’s collaboration with the Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the development of the country’s economy is sustainable. The overall percentage (%) impact of public private partnership projects in Rwanda’s sustainable development based on sample data of the agricultural sector was 81.2% probability. Broadly, the findings from the positive coefficients at 95% significance confirm that there is a positive impact of PPPs on agricultural productivity in Rwanda. However, future research should aim to apply mixed methods and an expanded data set.