In post-genocide Rwanda, education is being seen as a tool for development, reconstruction and reconciliation. This article explores three different ways in which international influence on the education agenda is being experienced, with particular focus on Rwanda as a post-conflict society. The three quite different dimensions and sources of influence considered here are: the global and bilateral pressures related to foreign aid to education; the effects of migration arising from national and regional conflict, and through this the transfer of models from elsewhere; and the conceptualisation of genocide as a global tragedy.