Safety and Security remains Rwanda’s highest-performing governance pillar, scoring 90.15 per cent, according to a report released by Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) on Thursday, October 22.

The 13th edition of the Rwanda Governance Scorecard (RGS) shows that safety and security retained its top position, improving slightly from 90.02 per cent in the previous edition. However, quality of service delivery fell by 3.25 percentage points to 68.48 per cent, largely due to weaker performance in digital public services.

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The assessment highlights progress in several areas while identifying gaps in service delivery, economic and corporate governance, and human and social development.

Speaking at the launch in Kigali, RGB Secretary General Edward Kalisa said the scorecard provides insights to help institutions evaluate their performance, identify shortcomings and improve policy implementation.

"The RGS is a national governance assessment instrument through which Rwanda systematically examines the performance of its institutions and generates evidence to inform policy, planning and implementation,” he said.

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Four pillars record improvements

The report assesses governance across eight pillars, using 35 indicators and 153 variables. It draws on administrative records, official statistics, institutional assessments, research and citizens’ perceptions and experiences.

The scorecard uses a scale of zero to 100, with higher scores indicating stronger performance against the relevant targets. A pillar’s overall score combines several indicators, meaning strong results in one area can coexist with weaknesses in another.

Four of the eight pillars improved compared with the last edition, while the other four registered declines.

Investing in Human and Social Development recorded the largest increase, rising by 3.86 percentage points to 68.55 per cent. The improvement was driven mainly by gains in climate change and environmental resilience, education and health.

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Climate change and environmental resilience improved by 8.89 percentage points, while education rose by 7.40 points and health by 4.08 points.

Rule of Law increased to 85.47 per cent from 81.63 per cent, while Anti-corruption, Transparency and Accountability rose to 85.80 per cent from 84.67 per cent. Safety and Security edged up from 90.02 per cent to 90.15 per cent.

The four pillars that declined were Political Rights and Civil Liberties, which fell to 81.56 per cent from 82.71 per cent; Participation and Inclusiveness, down to 84.72 per cent from 86.31 per cent; Quality of Service Delivery, which dropped to 68.48 per cent from 71.73 per cent; and Economic and Corporate Governance, which fell to 73.28 per cent from 74.84 per cent.

RGB deputy chief executive officer Félicien Usengumukiza said the results should be understood as an annual assessment of performance against established targets, rather than a final judgement on whether an institution or sector has completed its work.

"Scoring 100 per cent doesn’t mean that we are done,” he said, noting that subsequent assessments may produce different findings as performance and targets change.

Digital public services remain a challenge

The Quality of Service Delivery pillar recorded the largest decline, with the report pointing to weaknesses in ICT-enabled services.

Only 11 per cent of government services were fully digitised from end to end, against a target of 100 per cent, according to the report, which cites 2024 data from the Ministry of ICT.

Citizen satisfaction with online court case filing stood at 65.40 per cent, while satisfaction with radio communication was 70.20 per cent. Satisfaction with Irembo services scored 81.80 per cent.

Compared with the previous edition, satisfaction with online court case filing declined by 13.60 percentage points, radio communication by 7.50 points and Irembo services by 5.60 points.

The findings point to the need to improve the accessibility and reliability of digital services as the government works towards its targets under the Second National Strategy for Transformation (NST2).

Economic and Corporate Governance scored 73.28 per cent. Although business environment promotion performed relatively well at 84.79 per cent, corporate governance scored 60.20 per cent, indicating room for improvement.

The Human and Social Development pillar, despite recording the biggest improvement, remained below 70 per cent. Its Secure and Prosperous Family indicator scored 59.45 per cent, highlighting challenges in areas affecting household welfare.

Security remains strong, but personal safety needs attention

All four indicators under Safety and Security were rated in the scorecard’s highest performance category, with scores of at least 80 per cent.

Resilience, Social Cohesion and Unity scored 95.87 per cent, followed by Maintaining Security at 92.58 per cent, Public Order and Crime Prevention at 88.68 per cent, and Personal and Property Safety at 83.46 per cent.

However, the percentage of people who feel safe walking alone at night in their city or area scored 65.40 per cent, showing that some aspects of personal safety remain below the overall performance of the pillar.

Usengumukiza said the assessment helps identify such gaps and provides evidence that can guide government decisions.

The 13th edition also compares Rwanda’s performance with regional and international governance measures, including the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, Corruption Perceptions Index, Rule of Law Index and Chandler Good Government Index.

Kalisa said the scorecard incorporates citizens’ experiences alongside institutional data to provide a broader picture of governance.

Citizen experiences provide another part of the picture, he said, emphasising the importance of combining administrative information with public perceptions when assessing how governance works in practice.

RGB said the findings are intended to support policy planning, institutional accountability and improvements in public service delivery as Rwanda implements NST2 and advances towards Vision 2050.