The government of Rwanda has been visionary enough to focus on urbanisation in the secondary cities. Economic development, job creation, and poverty reduction in these urban areas will constitute an important part of the country’s future development. With an urbanisation rate of 18.4% according to the National Institute of Statistics (NISR), Rwanda targets to have 35% of its population living in urban areas by 2024. The secondary cities, will certainly play a substantial role in transforming Rwanda into an urban dwelling. The selection of Rubavu, Huye, Rusizi, Muhanga, Musanze and Nyagatare as secondary cities due to their strategic locations for conducive business environments and settlements will thrive and drive the needed urbanisation growth in the respective cities. The Government’s strategic decision to develop a Master Plan for each secondary city is another shot in the right direction in the development of these cities. These Master Plans define how each city can make the most of its opportunities to create more decent jobs, both in the city itself and in the surrounding areas for regional growth. To shape the discussion on the urban governance in the secondary cities, the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research(IPAR-Rwanda) with financial support from the Partnership for Social and Governance Research(PASGR) based in Nairobi, Kenya, is implementing a project “Utafiti Sera House on Urban Governance in Rwanda: The Case of Secondary Cities”. The project aims to produce a synthesis of research evidence on urban governance in the secondary cities and to organise stakeholders’ forums to discuss the issues pertinent to the urbanisation of each of the secondary cities. Since the beginning of 2021, IPAR-Rwanda has organised four Stakeholders’ Forums on Urban Governance in the secondary cities of Huye, Musanze, Muhanga, and Nyagatare. A national urban governance forum also organised on August 31, 2021. The virtual forums brought together key stakeholders in the development of the four secondary cities. They were attended by senior officials in the four secondary cities and key staff responsible for supporting urbanisation, representatives of the private sector, academia and the communities affected by urbanisation activities such as expropriation. Dr. Jean-Baptiste Nsengiyumva, a Senior Research Fellow at IPAR-Rwanda and the Project Lead, says that the forums have provided a rare opportunity for the stakeholders in the secondary cities to discuss research findings on social and economic development of these cities. “Stakeholders’ forums have been well received by the leadership of the four secondary cities and other key stakeholders on the ground. Our approach was to use research evidence to guide discussions and this turned out quite resourceful to the stakeholders and their views were very straight into the issues that need to be addressed to ensure sustainable urban governance in these cities,” said Dr. Nsengiyumva. The forums created an important link between the leadership of the secondary cities, private sector and other actors where they respectfully and cordially exchanged views without pointing fingers especially on issues that needed critical attention of the leaders. The Vice Mayor in Charge of Economic Development at Muhanga Secondary City, Innocent Kayiranga commended the forum on Muhanga City for bringing together key stakeholders in the development of Muhanga. He said that such forums were very important since they focussed on issues that needed concerted efforts to be addressed. Citing Muhanga City as an example, Kayiranga said that the role of the private sector in the socio-economic development of the city is key and that research is very critical to helping the city identify critical investment opportunities where the private sector should invest to improve the socio-economic status of the people and the city. In all the four forums, participants reflected on the City Master Plans for the secondary cities, indicating that despite being guiding tools for organised urbanisation of the secondary cities, their implementation will be challenging since it requires substantial financial resources, especially where there is need to develop new infrastructure to upgrade the status of the cities. Developing land banks for guided investments in housing and industrialisation was also a major development issue raised by the authorities in the Secondary cities. Socio-Economic Challenges Facing Secondary Cities Research conducted by IPAR-Rwanda in March and April 2019 identified socio-economic challenges that should be addressed to unlock the potential of the six secondary cities. “Governance Challenge” -challenges related to limited allocation of optimal resources to unlock each city’s potential.”. For example, the proposed City Management Offices (CMOs) are not yet operational in the secondary cities, while the policy agenda for the secondary cities is fragmented across different government ministries. Although secondary cities have been prioritised in policy documents, this status is yet to be enshrined in legislation thus making them operating in the same way as any usual district and as a result, their leaders tend to focus on more pressing rural issues and lack enough resources to drive urban growth. To address the “Governance Challenge”, IPAR-Rwanda’s study highlights the need to prioritize and efficiently coordinate the entire local government machinery as well as other stakeholders to address the social economic challenges in these cities. In the mid to long-term, however, the study recommends that three critical areas should be of focus in driving the secondary cities’ inclusive socio-economic growth and development. These areas include: Prioritising Skills Development Secondary cities lack skilled labour force to attract heavy investments in services and manufacturing. With most of the workforce lacking secondary education, there is need for government needs to scale up the number of technical and vocational schools (TVETs) in these cities as well as vocational programmes offered through increased funding focused on growth sectors in industry and services, which could include private investment. This will increase skilled labour force and attract private sector investments in the secondary cities. Improving Market Access Secondary cities struggle with low purchasing power as a result of high poverty levels estimated at an average of 38% (EICV5). These cities also have high reliance on agriculture and informal labour. To improve market access to build bottom-up growth in these cities, policy-makers need to promote agglomeration effects ensuring that urbanisation in these cities is dense rather than sprawling. Prioritising rural-urban linkages and linkages with neighbouring cities and towns will create regional economic hubs in addition to the larger market in Kigali. Improving Business Environment Limited access to capital is a key challenge to business growth within the secondary cities. A business survey conducted by IPAR-Rwanda in 2019 identified access to finance as the greatest obstacle to growth in these cities. It is a challenge for 35.5% of the businesses surveyed. In addition, firms identified land acquisition to be the second greatest challenge, because land acquisition, either through government expropriation or through direct transactions between landowners and investors is lengthy and expensive. Equally, the high cost of utilities (water and electricity) negatively affects investors such as hotel owners in secondary cities. These bottlenecks make it difficult for businesses to operate or discourage investors that could have set up business in these cities. By ensuring a conducive business environment in the secondary cities, the government will help unlock their potential. In conclusion, the Stakeholders’ Forums on Urban Governance in Secondary Cities provided a rare opportunity for the stakeholders to discuss urban governance issues based on the research findings and to pledge continued engagement to address the identified issues. With the city master plans in place, tackling the “Governance Challenge” of secondary cities should be re-emphasised to unlock their potential.
