USAID to strengthen public participation in dev’t programs

KARONGI - Districts countrywide are set to benefit from a grant by Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) which is to be implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The grant is part of a 3-year project which aims at strengthening civic participation at the local level to improve citizen and civil society input into local government policy formulation, development planning, and service delivery. While launching the project, Friday, at the Western Province headquarters in Karongi district, local government officials were called upon to foster engagement with civil society in order to ensure their significant input. Various stakeholders and leaders of the seven districts that comprise the province were reminded that this was a way of helping the citizens participate, meaningfully, in national development. Speaking at the function, Linda Trudel, the project’s chief of party, explained that the initiative will be implemented in two phases. In the Western Province, the districts of Karongi, Nyabihu, Rutsiro and Ngororero will receive direct assistance during the first year of the project and will thereafter be asked to serve as mentors to other districts in the second half of the project. The project will have national coverage, working in at least 2 or 3 sectors in all the 30 districts. Western Province Secretary, Paul Jabo, acknowledged that the project was timely and it would help local leaders become more accountable to citizens. “The results of this project will be determined by the change in each district,” Jabo said. Ends

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USAID to strengthen public participation in dev’t programs