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MASHAV is the Hebrew acronym for Israel's Agency for
International Development Cooperation.
Israel's official international development cooperation
program was launched in late 1957 with the aim of sharing with the rest of the
developing world the know-how and technologies which provided the basis for
Israel's own rapid development. MASHAV, the Hebrew acronym for Israel's Agency
for International Development Cooperation, was established as a division of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What started as a modest program focused on
grassroots-level human capacity building at a time when Israel itself was still
very much a developing country, has blossomed into an extensive program of
cooperation throughout the developing world with the aim of ensuring social,
economic and environmental sustainable development.
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Since its establishment, MASHAV has trained close to 270,000
course participants from approximately 132 countries in Israel and abroad and
has developed dozens of demonstration projects worldwide.
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In Rwanda since December 1, 2014; Rwanda and the State of
Israel entered into bilateral cooperation for skills upgrading in the
agriculture sector in general and in horticultural sector in particular. A
program to expose students from Rwanda to advanced technologies through a
hands-on training in Israel, and establishment of the Rwanda-Israel Horticulture
Center of Excellence are the key milestones.
From June 2016 to March 2019, the Center of Excellence
trained 564 beneficiaries including agriculturists from Government institutions
and NGOs, students and farmers. About 30 different varieties of vegetables have
also been tested for adaptation to Rwandan conditions while 9 varieties of
different types of fruits (avocado, mango and citrus) are being introduced to
Rwanda. A total of 17,200 seedlings, rootstocks and seeds have been in the
horticulture center nursery for acclimatization and thereafter will be
transferred to Rwandan Farmers. Every year about 150 students from Rwanda
receives scholarship to study in Israel modern/smart Agriculture.