[FEATURED] Rutsiro pledges more reforms despite improvement in the 2017/18 Imihigo

Located in the Western Province, Rutsiro District has a population of 335,526 people grouped in 75,790 households. The District is composed of 13 sectors, 62 cells and 483 villages spread across 1157.3 sq.km of land. With a score of 72.4 per cent, Rutsiro district emerged 10th in the 2017-2018 Imihigo-performance contracts thanks to progress in economic development, social welfare, good governance and justice. The District also managed to collect Rwf636 million in revenues. In the 2016/17 Imihigo contracts, the district emerged 12th out of 30 districts. The Mayor of Rutsiro District, Ayinkamiye Emmerance, said that district authorities and citizens will double their efforts and perform even better in this financial year’s as well as implement pending projects for 2017/2018. “We attribute this performance to better coordination of staff, stakeholders and all ministries as well as following on information and reports. We could even have better performance than 10TH rank but we faced different constraints that impeded the performance,” she said She added that; “Those constraints emerged not really from our reasons but from delaying performance of other stakeholders such as in setting up petroleum stations, Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) in building some roads and some activities under REMA’s project called Landscape Approach to Forest Restoration and Conservation (LAFREC project) that stalled due to delaying of World Bank’ funds”. The mayor said that the district performed well in different sectors such as agriculture and livestock, education, good governance, solving people’s problems, construction of schools and healthcare centres, achievement in cage fishing projects, providing chickens and pigs to youth cooperatives. “We really got achievements in various areas although some were achieved a bit late due to disasters that affected some of the projects,” she added. A. Achievements in economic development . Agriculture In an effort to ensure food security through sustainable land use, some 35,216 hectares were consolidated. 7,398 ha were consolidated for maize growing, returning a harvest of 3.703 tonnes per hectare. 12,181 hectares were earmarked for growing beans and 2.706 tonnes were harvested from each hectare as wheat was grown on 1,790.5ha. The district earmarked 14,898 ha for potato growing and harvested 23.681 tonnes per hectare as Cassava growing was conducted on 490.5 ha. In addition, the District distributed 212.301 tonnes of UREA fertilisers, 558.371 tonnes of NPK and 452. 802 tonnes of DAP as well as 919 tonnes of lime to farmers at 100 per cent. It also irrigated helped farmers to buy irrigation pumps and irrigated 19 ha. Under livestock, at least 1,626 Cows were inseminated and 36,233 vaccinated. Some 15 floating fish cages were established and harvesting started, while 338 modern beehives were distributed and installed by apiculturists. Under cash crops, coffee production increased from 7,755 tonnes to 8,314 tonnes and 814 kg of cherries while output for fully washed coffee rose from 1,551 tonnes to 1,662 tonnes and 963kg. Tea production increased from 272 tonnes baseline to 398.307 tonnes. 2. Electricity and settlement. Rutsiro district managed to connect 2,100 households to the national grid and 1,230 households to off-grid energy while 1,472 households were resettled in planned villages. Four houses and one ECD centre were constructed in Gitega IDP model village in Mushubati Sector and Karungu IDP model village. 3. Clean water and transport network Rutsiro District rehabilitated 20 km of water supply system while expropriation was completed to pave way for the construction of 0.7 km tarmac road from the main road to the district headquarters. The district says Umuhigo for 4 km tarmac road was removed due budget constraints at RTDA. It was shifted to the 2018/2019 fiscal year. Construction of city streets and phase II of the road linking Lake Kivu to Congo Nile centre was achieved at 92 per cent since while another 40km marram road was rehabilitated. 4. Employment and business development Construction works on Kivumu petrol station and Gakeri Petrol station are in advanced stages. Under the pledges, 3,281 new off-farm jobs were created while 57 students graduated from TVET schools and given business start-ups toolkit. Some 577 small and medium enterprises projects of Youth and Women were coached in developing bankable projects and 25 people have graduated through critical Massive short term Vocational Training. Construction of Mukura Cattle market was completed. In terms of construction of the Cultural Village to promote tourism around Gishwati Natural forest, a plot of land on where the project will be implemented has been identified. 5. Forestry The size of forest cover was increased while management of the ecosystem was improved to optimise their economic value and ecological functions. The district encouraged agroforestry where 691.4 ha where planted with trees. 81.6 km of trees were planted alongside the main road. 6. ICT enhancement Eight sectors were connected to the internet as the district authorities sought to transform communities by improving access to services through ICTs. B. Social development, good governance and justice Under the social development cluster, the district signed 22 performance contracts and 14 under good governance. Under increasing coverage of the extreme poor and vulnerable people, the district gave jobs to 5,815 people in public works out of the targeted 6,757 while 1,129 people received VUP financial services loans. Construction activities of a modern playground to promote sports among people with disabilities were completed and equipment supplied. At least 274 malnourished children were rehabilitated. Some 1,267 cows, 440 pigs and 5000 layer hens were distributed to eliminate malnutrition. Again 240,999 people out of targeted 328,013 population were covered under community based health insurance. The value of Umuganda community works reached Rwf576.2 million. 7,630 adult people graduated from literacy representing 85 per cent of the targeted number. In ensuring access to equitable justice, 258 of 266 of court judgments were executed. 355 of 370 of litigious cases received and solved by mediation committees (Abunzi) as 906 of 916 of litigious cases received and solved in governance hearings. Civil registration was strengthened whereby 4,267 births and 273 deaths were registered in sector, 5,553 births and 70 deaths in hospital as well as 752 of 796 targeted marriages and two divorces. Dialogue on Ndi Umunyarwanda was conducted various public places including churches as well as private institutions. A total of 1,397 students out of targeted 1357 were trained in civic education (Itorero). A snapshot into the 2018-2019 performance contracts Under this financial year’s performance contracts the district pledged to implement 24 contracts under the economic transformation pillar, social transformation 31 and transformational governance 13. In total, the 68 signed contracts for the 2018/2019 financial year will cost Rwf3 billion. Mayor Ayinkamiye said that in the new 2018-2019 contracts, the district will largely focus on reducing stunted growth among children. “We have various measures to curb malnutrition and stunting especially among pregnant women and children so that we ensure children are not affected by it in 1,000 days and the following two years,” she said. She added: “Others are the same as infrastructures where we will start from those not completed in the previous Imihigo such as roads and roads to be built under VUP program, roads to hospitals such as Murunda hospital and others. We also resettled 16 families in model villages and we are planning to set up infrastructure and relocate more 600 families from high risk zones”. The Mayo the district pledges cater for Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDs). “In terms of job creation, we created 2,000 jobs for the youth last year whom we grouped in cooperatives and helped them to access capital through Business Development Fund,” she said A. Economic transformation 1. Agriculture In order to increase agricultural productivity of priority crops through land use and input use, the district has pledged to consolidated 35,477 hectares composed of 8,269 ha of maize with an estimated 4 tonnes of production per ha, up from 3.7 tonnes per ha in 2017/2018. On the basis of beans, 15,532 ha have been targeted with production of 3 tonnes per ha, up from 2.7 tonnes. Some 11 ha of Irish potatoes with 25 tonnes per ha from 23.6 tonnes is being targeted. In addition, 650 ha of cassava have been earmarked. Under the fiscal year, the district will develop 20 hectares of Small Scale Irrigation (SSIT) and construct 145 ha of progressive terraces. Under the new pledges, tea production is projected to increase to 466 tonnes considering the baseline of 365 tonnes while coffee output is anticipated to rise 1,859 tonnes from 1,551 tonnes baseline. The district has pledged to 50 ha of vegetables. In order to increase animal productivity through improved genetics and production, the district will inseminate more 2,177 cows, number of AI born calves will increase to 659 calves, vaccinating of 33,458 domestic animals in addition to establishing 10 floating fish cages. 2. Private sector development & youth employment Rutsiro plans to create 4,624 new off-farm jobs in 2018/2019 and 63 new TVET graduates to access start up toolkit. It also pledged to bring on board 591 developed bankable projects to coached start-up MSMES for youth and Women and construct Riversides Trail Base Camps and 2 Pilot community tourism centres. 3. Transport To improve the quality of the road network, the district targets to construct 20 per cent of 4km of tarmac road Gisiza-Murunda Hospital and 61km of earth road. 4. Environment and natural resources In terms of maintaining and increasing forest coverage, 138 ha of agroforestry trees will be planted. The district also plans to increase of 13 ha forest cover as 3,000 fruit trees will also be planted. On integrated and sustainable land management to maximize reliable, efficient and productive investments, the signed contracts show that 1,261 state land parcels are be to registered at 100 per cent. B. Social Transformation pillar 1. Social protection To increase coverage and delivery of core Social protection programs, Rutsiro district has pledged that under the 2018-2019 fiscal year, it will deliver direct Support to 2,950 extremely poor households headed by females and males without labour while timeliness of payments in Social protection programs will be respected 100 per cent. About 7,696 households will be employed under Classic Public Works (cPWs) and Expanded Public Works (ePWs). Seven houses for Genocide Survivors constructed while 238 houses will be constructed including 108 of houses destroyed by disasters. It is expected that 800 households will receive the financial services loans. In the development of helping extremely poor households have increased access to complementary livelihood development services for economic empowerment, 500 families in ubudehe cat1 will access to agricultural fertilizers and seeds, 700 households with small livestock, 5,000 households with Kitchens, 147 with latrines and 520 households get connected to electricity. Through Girinka program 1,145 cows and 8,000 small stock (Poultry Sasso) & 1,000 small stock (Poultry Layers) and 320 pigs will be distributed to poor families. Providing access to these basic needs in Ubudehe cat1 was planned according to household profiling and human security assessment report. In order to reduce malnutrition, 95 malnourished children under five years will be screened and supported after being identified in red and yellow while three early Childhood Development (ECD) centers will be constructed. 2. Health More Six Health Posts will be constructed as currently 11 health posts are operational. The district says the Percentage of people covered under Community Based Health Insurance Scheme (CBHI) will be 100 per cent. Under efforts to reduce maternal, child and Infant mortality ; family planning modern method utilization rate will increase from 54,6 per cent from 47.8 per cent while Percentage of births attended by skilled health professionals will move from 74.5 per cent to 78 per cent in order to increase quality delivery and accessibility at health facility and community level. 3. Education With target to have all schools, TVET and higher education institutions get sufficient modern infrastructure, facilities and resources, the district says 60 old classrooms are to be replaced, construct 3 Pre-primary schools, 48 Latrines, maintain 42 classrooms, train 6,735 graduate and obtain certificate of success. With target to strengthening national administrative data namely Civil Registration and Vital statistics and Education administrative statistics, all students, staffs and infrastructure for 2019 school year will be registered in SDMS at 100 per cent. 4. Energy, water and settlement To connect households to electricity, there are plans to connect 2,000 households to electricity and 2,220 households to off-grid energy. In order to boost access to clean drinking water, 600 households will be connected to water as 13 km water supply system will be constructed and see 18km Water supply system rehabilitated. To increase access to improved settlement, IDP Model Villages will be scaled up by adding electricity in 10 houses in Gitega IDP Model Village and provide clean water to 4 houses in Karungu IDP Model village as 33 households will be moved from High Risk Zones. While 418 HHs will be relocated from Scattered Settlements and +get resettled. C. Transformational governance pillar 1. Gender and family promotion To strengthen family cohesion, 12 inspections on umugoroba wAbabyeyi will conducted on a quarterly basis. 2. Governance and decentralization To ensure improved governance, service delivery and accountability in Local Government, to resolve citizen conflicts 100 per cent through community outreach programme, considering that 1382 out of 1486 queries were resolved in 2017/2018. It also targets that of citizen complaints are received and got feedback through e-citizens complaint tracking system at 100 per cent. Modernized civil registration and systems integration for online authentication is targeted to be strengthened at 95 per cent for birth registration from 77 per cent, 95 per cent for death registration, 100 per cent for marriage and 100 per cent for divorce. It shows that Ndi Umunyarwanda interaction sessions will be organized and held 4 times in year at Sector level (one time in quarter at Sector level). In promoting, national values, ethics and national Service, Itorero will be operationalized in All 483 villages. Six projects will get implemented through Umuganda initiative for Local economic development improvement. 3. Justice reconciliation law and order The committed to improve access to quality justice. Under the commitment, 95 per cent of court law judgment are expected to be executed while 30 per cent of public fund will be recovered for won cases. In line with reinforcing Justice Delivery at local level, 97.3 per cent cases received should be settled by Abunzi. 4. Financial sector development Rutsiro district plans to increase the ability to raise its own revenues. 5. Transparency and accountability The signed performance contracts show that 100 per cent of Auditor generals recommendations will implemented from the baseline implementation at 62.5 per cent while 40 NBAs are to be audited.

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[FEATURED] Rutsiro pledges more reforms despite improvement in the 2017/18 Imihigo