Rwanda has demonstrated its commitment to localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by integrating them into its national development plans and strategies, notably the Na-tional Strategy for Transformation 2017-2024 and Vision 2050. Within Vision 2050, urbanization is identified as a crucial driver of economic transformation and urban development. This focus has further encouraged the development of grouped villages, locally known as ‘imidugudu,’ which have become a central component of the government’s Integrated Development Pro-gramme (IDP) and the Economic Development & Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) policy ob-jectives. Since 2010, over 60 IDP model villages have been established in Rwanda, driven by the principle of leaving no one behind and aimed at resettling vulnerable households living in high-risk areas
Taking Karama, a model village located in peri-urban Kigali and completed in 2019, as a case study, a post-occupancy appraisal was conducted between 2021 and 2022 through direct partic-ipant observation and interviews with residents. Combined with a critical discourse analysis of national policies, the findings from this fieldwork are discussed in relation to SDG targets 11.1, 11.5, and 11.7, highlighting the tension between the overarching discourse of the SDGs and their local grassroots implementation. The qualitative data from the post-occupancy interviews is used to explore the potential and relevance of the SDGs in housing. This mapping of the global policy framework alongside its local application helps to identify the extent to which context-specific projects, such as Rwanda’s IDP model villages, can provide opportunities for the local implementation of the SDGs, ultimately contributing to a more resilient future for Rwanda’s communities.