Concordis' predecessor organisation, known as Newick Park Initiative (NPI), began work in Rwanda in August 1994, immediately following one of the most horrific genocides in history. Neighbours killed neighbours, children killed parents and teachers killed children. Many of the killings took place in homes, community centres and churches. Long-standing relationships in the community were upturned and entire communities across Rwanda devastated, resulting in anarchy and bloodshed of huge proportions. In just over three months, nearly one million people died, and another two million forced to flee to neighbouring countries.

The nature of NPI's involvement in Rwanda was slightly different to the work in South Africa, as the priority was to work in peace time at rebuilding relationships damaged by war. NPI facilitated successful dialogue between leading national and international policy makers, especially in the areas of agricultural development, criminal justice and creating a culture of peace. NPI played a critical role in getting agriculture moving as a means of preventing further conflict, and contributed towards resolving the problem of dealing with those accused of genocide.

Much of the work focused on the issue of justice. This was a matter of urgency. In the months that followed the genocide, over 126,000 people were arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of having participated in the killings. Many of the country's judges had been killed during the genocide. Those still alive soon became totally overloaded. By 1999, the judicial system was still only managing 1,000 trials a year, leaving nearly 125,000 people still in prison without even being charged. Not only were imprisonment conditions very poor, but there was little hope of restoring relationships within communities as long as the victims felt justice had not been done.

The challenge was to devise alternative judicial processes that would help bring to justice those accused of having participated in the killings whilst helping to restore relationships within communities.
NPI carried out extensive research on the issue, in partnership with several local agencies (including the National University and the Catholic Peace and Justice Commission). The research focused both on learning from the experience of other countries which had faced similar challenges (e.g. South Africa) and on assessing whether the local courts in the traditional Rwandan justice system (known as 'gacacas') could play a role in the process.

In October 1998, RFI organised and facilitated a conference that brought together representatives of the Rwandan Government, churches, non government organisations, academics and commune leaders to discuss the use of the 'gacacas' as part of the judicial process. The principle was adopted by all present. RFI then continued to act for a year as a facilitator and adviser to the Rwandan Government to support further development of the model. The use of 'gacacas' to bring to justice those suspected of participation in the genocide has since been piloted by the Rwandan Government.

One specific example in the area of agriculture was the change of agricultural policy regarding the use of fertiliser, which has directly led to an improved ability to feed the population and therefore to removal of one factor that could have led to renewed instability. Following NPI’s research and promotion of consultations to explore the issues, fertiliser imports have increased from 3000 T to over 15,000 T per year.

“We appreciate very much the help and support of the Newick Park Initiative in developing new agricultural strategies to help boost food crop production in Rwanda.”

- Dr Ephraim Kabaija, Minister of Agriculture, Animal Resources and Forestry