Government Democratic Green Party of Rwanda Founding President Rwanda
Description of Work:

Founding President, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR)

 

- On 14th August 2009, Frank Habineza entered Rwandan politics by publicly declaring the formation of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DPGR) as an opposition political party and an alternative to the Ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front of President Paul Kagame.

- DPGR confirmed Frank Habineza, as the party flag bearer for the August 2010 Presidential Elections, though by elections time the party was not yet registered and therefore unable to participate in the elections. The Party will resume its registration process soon and prepare for the 2012 Parliamentary Elections. Chronology of events can be accessed at http://rwandagreendemocrats.org/spip.php?article98

- Towards the end of April 2010, three senior members in the party, including its Secretary General, Charles KABANDA (who happened to have been the first Chairman of the Ruling Party-RPF) defected but the party survived this and moved forward. On 13th July 2010, the First Vice President of the party, Andre Kagwa RWISEREKA was reported missing and the next day was found decapitated. More details are available at: http://rwandagreendemocrats.org/spip.php?rubrique17

- Frank Habineza, was born in political exile, on 22 Feb 1977 in Mityana, Uganda. He was very active in environmental and humanitarian activities as a member of Uganda Red Cross and the Wildlife Clubs of Uganda. He became more active at High School, where he chaired and coordinated several organizations.

- He was among the first Rwandans to have returned back home after the civil war and genocide, he first stepped foot in Rwanda in September 1994 just two months after the war and genocide and participated in the post-war cleaning process that took place then. -He went back to Uganda to continue his studies in February 1995 and finally came back for good in 1999. He continued his studies at the National University of Rwanda in Butare.

- He is married and has two children.

Leadership Roles in Various Capacities

Secondary School Level: Namutamba Secondary School, Mityana, Uganda

- Chairman, Namutamba Red Cross Club, 1995

High School Level: Progressive Secondary School-Bweyogerere, Kampala, Uganda

- Chairman, Progressive Red Cross Club (1997-98)

- Coordinator, Progressive Wildlife Club (1997-98)

- Vice Chairman, History Club (1997-98)

- Secretary General, Divinity Club (1997-98)

- Coordinator, School Magazine (1997-98)

- Member, Progressive Interact Club ( Young Rotarians)

University Level: National University of Rwanda

- Advisor, University Red Cross Club, 1999-2000

- Chairman, Rwanda Wildlife Clubs, 1999-2009

- Commissioner for International Relations, Butare Rotaract Club, 2001-2003

- Member of Students Guild Commission of Communication,2002-2003

- Member of Editorial Board and Writer in AREBERTOUM Newsletter

- Member, Students Club for Unity and Reconciliation-SCUR,

- Member, Alliance of Young African Patriots-AYAP

- Member, Youth Association for Human Rights and Development-AJEPRODOH

- While still at University, Frank Habineza also worked as the official correspondent of Rwanda Newline, UMUSESO Newspaper and later Rwanda Herald-which he participated in establishing. He wrote for The New Times for a short while in 1999.

LEADERSHIP IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT

- He was both the first leader and founder of the Rwanda Wildlife Clubs which was founded in 1999, and in 2007 changed its name to Rwanda Environmental Conservation Organization (http://www.rwandaenvironment.org, http://www.rwc.itgo.com). He resigned in 2009.

- He has been a board member of the African Civil Society Network on Water & Sanitation-ANEW, since September 2007 to September 2009, (http://www.anewafrica.net) and was among the key people from Eastern Africa who participated in the establishment of this continental civil society platform, which now officially has an agreement with the African Ministers Council on Water-AMCOW, a technical committee of African Union.

- He served as President for Rwanda NGOs Forum on Water, Sanitation and Environment-RWASEF, since July 2008-August 2009, (http://www.rwasef.org).

- He was Vice President, Rwanda Water Partnership a member of Global Water Partnership, 2008-2009. A platform for state actors, multilateral actors, private sector and civil society. The Ministry of Natural Resources had the chairmanship. He was very active in Global Water Partnership Eastern Africa.

- Secretary and Eastern Africa Representative for African Young Greens Federation, from January 2007-2010.

- Co-Africa Representative on the Global Greens Coordination-GCC, since May 2008 to-date, elected during the Second Global Greens Congress in Brazil, ( http://www.globalgreens.org)

- President of the Steering Committee of the African Greens Movement, since June 2009-April 2010.

- President of the African Greens Federation-a coalition of Green Parties and Green Political movements in Africa, since April 2010 to-date ( http://www.africangreens.org).

Professional Work Experiences (2005 – 2010)

- Africa Coordinator, Capacity Building of African Greens Project, supported by Green Forum Sweden, since, May 2009 to- Dec 2010).

- National Coordinator of the Nile Basin Discourse Forum in Rwanda, part of a ten country international program, involving the Civil Society into activities of the Nile Basin Initiative -a multi-state initiative aimed at equitable use and development of River Nile resources (http://www.nbdfrwanda.org), mainly supported by DFID, CIDA, SIDA and the World Bank, since, May 2006-May 2009.

- Frank has also worked in the Government of Rwanda; he was the Principal Secretary/Personal Assistant to the Minister of Lands, Environment, Forestry, Water and Mines (MINITERE), since September 2005- March 2006

- Executive Chairman, Rwanda Environmental Conservation Organisation-RECOR (former Rwanda Wildlife Clubs-RWC), since March 2000 to September 2005.

Membership in International Bodies:

- African Rivers Network, (since 2003), - East African Environmental Network (since 2004 ),

- World Conservation Union’s Commission of Education & Communication IUCN-CEC) (since 2002),

- Gender & Water Alliance ( since 2007),

- Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) since 2008,

- Red Cross Society, since 1992,

- Christians United for Israel, since 2008, etc.

Academic Background

- UNIVERSITY DEGREE, BA (A 0) Political and Administrative Sciences, with a major in Public Administration, National University of Rwanda, 2004

- CERTIFICATE IN FRENCH LANGUAGE; October 1999- July 2000 School of Practical modern languages-National University of Rwanda

- UGANDA ADVANCED CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION; (A2) 1997-1998 -Progressive S.S.S. Bweyogerere–KAMPALA UGANDA

- UGANDA CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION, 1992-1995, Namutamba Secondary School.

- Certificate IN CONTEXTUALIZING TEACHING AND LEARNING IN SCHOOLS USING NATURAL RESOURCES - The Case of School Tree Nurseries , Training by Distance Learning, 17th September – 5th October, 2007 , by ICRAF the World Agro-forestry Center

Trainings and International events attended:

- He attended trainings in Environmental management at the Field Studies Council Learning Centers in UK in 2003 and at Rhodes University in South Africa in 2005.

- He has participated in many international conferences and forums like: International Conference on Environmental Education in India, World Water Forum in Mexico, World Water Week in Stockholm, Launching of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development-DESD in India, World Social Forum in Nairobi and many others.

- He has done Trans-boundary Water Resources Trainings in Sweden, Kenya, DRC and Burundi.

- Frank Habineza, carried out a degree dissertation research on the role of public administrators in environmental management in Rwanda and is still conducting other researches in the field of environment.

Social Media: Twitter account: @habinef, Frank Habineza is also active on Facebook.

Official Email: fhabineza@africangreens.org