Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe, has highlighted OIF Secretary-General Louise Mushikiwabo’s childhood passion for languages and how it shaped her curiosity about other people and cultures.
In a post shared on September 7, Nduhungirehe quoted an excerpt from a newly published profile examining the origins of Mushikiwabo’s uncommon interest in understanding others.
“It comes from childhood and languages. French was ‘my childhood love’,” the excerpt reads.
Mushikiwabo recalled spending three or four hours seated on the floor with a dictionary during her years at boarding school, discovering new words, illustrations and aspects of nature.
Nduhungirehe described Mushikiwabo as “Francophonie in action,” reflecting the connection between her lifelong interest in languages and her work as Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.
The profile, published by ELLE Afrique Francophone following an interview conducted at the OIF headquarters in Paris on July 30, also traces Mushikiwabo’s personal and professional journey.
Born in Kigali as the youngest of nine children, Mushikiwabo served as Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2018. She was elected OIF Secretary-General in 2018, assumed office in January 2019 and was unanimously re-elected in 2022.
She is the first African woman to lead the organisation, which brings together 90 states and governments and represents more than 396 million French speakers worldwide.
Mushikiwabo said learning French introduced her to cultures and communities beyond Rwanda and its neighbouring countries, while studying English later opened another window onto the world.
She believes speaking several languages helps people understand one another and engage more effectively across cultural and geographical boundaries.
Her leadership of the OIF has focused on producing measurable results, supporting women’s economic empowerment, expanding opportunities for young people, developing digital skills and promoting education in both French and African languages.
Since 2019, the OIF has mobilised €336 million and achieved a budget implementation rate of 97 per cent. Its La Francophonie avec Elles fund has supported 354 projects benefiting nearly 100,000 women in 36 countries.
Mushikiwabo has also advocated closer relations among African countries, arguing that greater knowledge of one another’s cultures, markets and capabilities is essential to advancing continental integration.
Her childhood curiosity about languages, according to the profile shared by Nduhungirehe, developed into a leadership approach centred on communication, cultural openness and understanding others.
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