Bruce Musoni is originally from Rwanda, a small and landlocked country in East Africa. In 2014 Bruce pursued a Master of Environmental Science at Kenyatta University through a Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarship (QECS). His studies in Kenya changed his perception of the Commonwealth as a distant political concept to an entity providing tangible opportunities for ordinary citizens like him.
"At the political level, they understand what it will bring to join such organisations, making sure everyone is aware of the opportunities tied with that association. But for us, the citizens, you get to understand it well when it comes to you."
Bruce appreciated the Commonwealth for offering the QECS, which allows young graduates from developing countries like him to afford advanced education opportunities in Commonwealth countries such as Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa.
"I take this opportunity to thank the Commonwealth for having this framework of enabling young graduates from developing countries to have this chance because maybe it is difficult to secure scholarships to the UK or for scholars to pay on their own in good high learning institutions."
As a result of his QECS, Bruce has gained confidence and acquired the essential knowledge and skills to become a competent consultant in the environmental sector. This scholarship has been a game-changer in his career, enabling him to compete fearlessly in his field of work with a newly acquired global understanding of the environment.
"My confidence was not enough until I got the Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarship and completed a postgraduate degree at Kenyatta University. During the entire program, I acquired knowledge and skills that upgraded my confidence to the level that I have no fear of competing in my field of work. So that package enabled me to have a global understanding of the environment, the theory, and the science behind it."
Upon completing his Master’s degree, Bruce's career took him to various private and governmental institutions. He has played an instrumental role in safeguarding and mainstreaming environmental and social considerations in development projects funded by national and international institutions. He worked as a consultant to assess the environmental impact for different organisations and sensitise industries about energy efficiency and cleaner production. He accumulated extensive experience working as an Environmental Safeguard Specialist for the Local Development Agency and Ministry of Education and recently as an Environmental and Social Risk Management Specialist for the Ministry of Infrastructure. His work has benefitted decision-makers from multinational partners such as the World Bank and African Development Bank Group (AfDB) on their investment and funding strategies for development projects as well as engineers at construction sites in the built environment.
Incorporating sustainability considerations throughout project lifecycle
Incorporating sustainability considerations throughout project lifecycle is crucial. It ensures that a project meets its immediate goals and contributes to the long-term well-being of the environment and the community.
"Having a project being implemented but finding that the environment is not considered, the social aspect, people around or the community are not catered for, it’s not a good thing, and there is no sustainability consideration."
After working as an Environmental Officer at a mining company upon completion of his Master’s degree, Bruce moved to serve at the National Industrial Research and Development Agency as a consultant and later on continued to the Local Development Agency and the Ministry of Education, where he worked on the Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project (GLTFP) between 2018 and 2019 and the Quality Basic Education for Human Capital Development Project (QBE-HCDP) until 2021 respectively. On both projects, Bruce was an Environmental Safeguard Specialist responsible for ensuring compliance with environmental obligations throughout the planning, design, and implementation phases. He emphasised the importance of incorporating environmental considerations in the project planning and design stages to mitigate the irreversible impact of construction on the natural environment.
"Infrastructure development is associated with irreversible environmental degradation that needs proper planning and consideration at the design stage. My intervention comes at the planning and design stage, where I try to incorporate all those principles to ensure designs are flexible and inclusive before the implementation."
On the QBE-HCDP project, Bruce was recruited to provide intensive implementation support to mitigate potential environmental risks caused by school construction work. The project has improved the educational environment to support student learning by constructing around 22,505 classrooms and 30,900 latrines within two years during COVID-19. This reduced classroom overcrowding and distance between learners’ homes and schools.
Since November 2021, Bruce has been serving at the Ministry of Infrastructure as an Environmental and Social (E&S) Risk Management Specialist on The Second Rwanda Urban Development Project (RUDP II). This five-year project, funded by the World Bank in Rwanda, aims to improve access to sustainable infrastructure and services. On this project, Bruce’s responsibility extends to catering to communities’ welfare and benefits, ensuring the project is socially sustainable, minimising the negative impact on the local population due to the project’s implementation, and safeguarding the environmental principles embedded in the project design and planning. For example, Bruce helped to set proper mitigation measures at design stage and ensured the project receiving community would be primarily considered when recruiting skilled and unskilled labour.
"My primary role here is to help set proper mitigation measures at the design stage and ensure they are executed during the project implementation to preserve the environment and the community so that the project will benefit the community and brings in socio-economic transformation."
Because of his contribution, the project has aligned with the environmental and social sustainability requirements. Bruce shared that he felt he made a difference whenever he saw that the project had been appropriately implemented, and that the community was happy.
"When I go out to the sites for monitoring and find all things are being implemented properly, happy communities, I'm also happy. I say this is my contribution. I have advocated for this in the design, and it was done. I have advocated for these people to get the job, the community here to be the priority when the contractor is recruiting labour force. And they're testifying about that, they are happy for that."
Reflecting on the challenges he has encountered in safeguarding and mainstreaming sustainability principles in development projects, Bruce revealed that environmental and social awareness are still challenges. However, he is pleased to see the growing ecological protection awareness in Rwanda, particularly in high-profile politicians, due to continuous sensitising efforts from international communities. Moreover, Bruce believes in the power of people’s agency to safeguard sustainability principles in development projects.
"When you continue to push, things get done. We have policies, laws, and institutions advocating for that. So, it's not as difficult as before."
Building capacity of future environmental consultants
Before studying in Kenya, Bruce was impressed by Kenyans’ skills and confidence in consultancy.
"I used to see Kenyans in Rwanda carrying out consultancies in many sectors, including environment, finance, accounting, etc., and their knowledge and confidence were impressive; my wish was to reach such a level and beyond in my area of interest."
After being exposed and trained to become a qualified consultant, Bruce decided to pass his knowledge and skills to the new generation. In addition to his governmental positions, he has been actively training young and junior fellow consultants for ten years, either through his firm, Tai Consult Ltd, or working as a contracted consultant. As the Lead Expert at Tai Consult Ltd, every year, Bruce mentors young graduates as Junior Environmental Consultants who join the professional organisation of environmental consultants to help them grow and become Associates and then Lead Experts, which is the highest rank in the organisation. Outside his firm, Bruce also gives career advice to junior colleagues whenever he is contracted to conduct environmental impact assessments across different industries.
Professionally, Bruce has also maintained contacts with Kenyan consultants to form joint ventures while bidding on tenders. Moving forward, Bruce is considering pursuing a PhD, focusing on one specific aspect beneficial to his country, such as climate change adaptation, natural resource management or environmental economics; areas that he considers having gaps in terms of research and skilled professionals.