The Nyagatare district (Eastern Province) is Rwanda’s breadbasket - a vast area of agricultural land providing food for the entire country. The people of this district are mainly farmers, rearing livestock and cultivating crops such as maize and rice, but they suffer a long dry season stretching from June to mid-September and, consequently, water has always been a vital, much sought-after resource - with competition for it high.

In 2015, the Rwandan government, together with financial support from the World Bank, constructed a USD 10 million dam and water reservoir.

Before long, however, farmers cultivating the upper hillside would cut off at least an eighth of the rainwater that flowed into the catchment below, leaving farmers and cattle keepers downhill struggling. Conflicts arose and a solution to the problem was needed.