Civil society organisations will from February to March assess the progress and quality of decentralization in the agriculture, health, and environment sectors across five districts. This initiative aligns with the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Order on sectoral decentralization, adopted in May 2024, which outlines collaboration frameworks and implementation strategies across districts and state organs. The order covers agriculture, health, education, and infrastructure. ALSO READ: Decentralisation propelling social dev’t Enhancing Local Governance Decentralization involves transferring authority, responsibility, and decision-making powers from the central government to local levels within specific sectors, such as healthcare, education, and public services. This approach aims to improve efficiency, responsiveness, and local participation, enabling local governments to better tailor services to community needs. The assessment will utilise the Decentralization Assessment Framework (DAF) tool and will be conducted under a one-year project titled INKI: Indi Ntambwe mu Kwiyubakira Igihugu – An Extra Mile in State Building. The five districts under review are Musanze, Gisagara, Bugesera, Karongi, and Gasabo. Pudence Rubingisa, the Governor of Eastern Province, acknowledged existing gaps in decentralisation and emphasised the importance of the initiative. ALSO READ: Decentralisation takes public services closer to the citizens “This assessment will identify challenges affecting service decentralization in the health, agriculture, and environment sectors. We also aim to evaluate the education sector. The findings will contribute to the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Order and address service delivery gaps highlighted in RGB’s governance scorecard,” he said. Sylvestre Nzahabwanayo, Director of the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP), which is leading the project, explained the rationale behind selecting agriculture, health, and environment for assessment. ALSO READ: Service delivery at centre of decentralisation reforms “These sectors significantly impact the lives of many Rwandans. However, we also need to assess education and infrastructure. We will train civil society organisations to use the Decentralization Assessment Framework, focusing on four pillars: the transfer of powers, local leaders’ capacity in terms of knowledge and resources, their ability to manage budgets effectively, and the level of community development enabled by decentralized services,” he noted. The project is being implemented in partnership with Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) and Transparency International Rwanda (TI RW), with funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO). Local leaders weigh in Richard Mutabazi, Mayor of Bugesera District, stressed the need for a coordinated approach in tackling decentralisation challenges, a process facilitated by the DAF tool. Similarly, Jérôme Rutaburingoga, Mayor of Gisagara District, underscored the role of the Joint Action Development Forum (JADF) in fostering collaboration among public, private, and civil society actors to strengthen decentralized service delivery. Rwanda’s decentralization journey Since 2000, Rwanda has pursued decentralization in its political, administrative, fiscal, and financial structures through various phases: Phase 1 (2000-2006): Focused on reconciliation, grassroots elections, and institutional reforms. Prefectures were converted into provinces, and communes became districts. Phase 2 (2006-2011): Implemented a major institutional overhaul, reducing the number of provinces from 11 to 4 and districts from 106 to 30. Sectors (Umurenge) were merged, and villages were introduced as a new administrative unit. The ongoing assessment will provide critical insights to refine Rwanda’s decentralization framework and improve service delivery at the local level.
