Rwanda: Advancing Citizen Engagement Project

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Rwanda is widely celebrated for its remarkable post-genocide social, political, and economic renaissance. Uninterrupted economic growth since the mid‐1990s has resulted in a more than three‐fold increase in per capita income. While still a low‐income country, today Rwanda’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) is higher than that of more than 20 countries in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). The country has made excellent progress in increasing adult survival and reducing maternal mortality rates to levels approaching those seen in lower middle-income countries. It has also radically improved its investment climate, climbing to 38th place in the 2020 Doing Business global rankings. Rwanda’s official poverty estimates suggest a continued decrease in poverty from 45 percent in 2010/11 to 38 percent in 2016/17. Strong state institutions and capable public administration have been the cornerstones of Rwanda’s success. International rankings place Rwanda ahead of most upper middle-income countries, with particularly strong performances on indicators of government effectiveness, control of corruption, rule of law, and regulatory quality. Government officials are bound by a detailed performance contract (imihigo) with the President of the Republic, which has proven an effective tool for top-down, socio-economic transformation. However, Rwanda ranks low on voice and accountability, below the average for low-income countries. Despite the impressive progress, Rwanda faces challenges translating strong growth into poverty reduction. Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty reduction had stagnated, particularly in rural areas. Persistent high levels of rural poverty (peaking at 69 percent in Nyamasheke district) and stunting (38 percent) continue to limit Rwanda’s productive capacity and future competitiveness. Ninety percent of the poor live in rural areas and two-thirds of households face seasonal food shortages. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated Rwanda’s development challenges, with growth projected to slow to 5.1 percent in 2020. Headcount poverty is expected to rise this year and only recover slightly by 2022.Rwanda’s National Strategy for Transformation 1 (NST1 2017-2024) seeks to address persistently high rates of poverty through continued growth and good governance. The government recognizes that achieving middle-income status will require further improvements in institutions to encourage greater creativity and initiative by central and local government officials, and greater responsiveness to citizens’ concerns. The Governance and Decentralization Sector Strategic Plan states that, ‘Governance and decentralization are key enablers of the socio-economic transformation, which are expected to lead to improved welfare for the citizens.’ The Rwanda Governance Board has recommended strengthening citizen engagement (CE), particularly in terms of bottom-up planning. The Local Administrative Entities Agency (LODA) of the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC), has also highlighted the ongoing centralized nature of decision making in Rwanda and asserted that village planning processes need to be strengthened to ensure that local leaders represent the needs of communities. This is expected to improve the alignment between community needs and public spending, in the process leading to more effective use of government resources and better development outcomes for the rural poor. The GoR is increasingly committed to strengthening citizen engagement for decentralization but lacks a framework for village-level planning. Local government capacity for participatory village planning is also limited, with many officials feeling ill-equipped to mobilize citizens to own and lead change.In 2017, the government approached Spark MicroGrants to request support to strengthen citizen engagement, increase the uptake of government social programs and improve rural livelihoods. Founded in Rwanda in 2010, Spark has formulated a participatory village development approach that leverages historical Rwandan social organizing practices. In March 2019 (updated January 2020), the Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA) of the Ministry of Local Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Spark for a strategic collaboration to: (a) develop a National Framework for Participatory Village Planning for all 14,000 villages in Rwanda; and (b) strengthen existing decentralization initiatives by building on historical Rwandan traditions. Project ActivitiesThe project will combine grassroots and policy activities to strengthen rural livelihood and establish a National Framework for Participatory Village Planning that will institutionalize participatory and socially inclusive community development planning in Rwanda. The project will support community-driven planning and livelihood programs in 249 villages. Experience from the community-level activities will then be translated, in partnership with central and local government, into a national policy framework for participatory village planning.The project development objective is “to improve livelihoods for 17,750 households/76,000 people and the capacity of communities and national and local government for citizen engagement in 249 villages in Rwanda.”. The project budget is US$2.73 million, which is expected to come from the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF). The grant recipient will be Comic Relief, a United Kingdom-based non-governmental organization, which will contribute US$3 million in complementary funding. The implementing agency will be Spark Microgrants, working under a Project Steering Committee comprising the Ministries in charge of finance and local government. The project will run for four years, from 2021-2024. The project will be implemented through four components, as described below:Component 1: Village and Local Government Capacity Building (US$437,270)This component will build the capacity of local government at the district, sector and cell levels to facilitate community-driven village development processes to enhance citizen engagement in development activities and improve rural livelihoods. It will also build community capacity to engage in development planning and to manage village level subprojects. District, sector and cell level local Government officials will be trained on a Facilitated Collective Action Process (the ‘FCAP’, also known as Inzira Y'Iterambere in Kinyarwanda). The FCAP is a two-year village mobilization and capacity building process to establish a platform for development coordination at the village level that will include the creation of a Village Leadership Committee and the formulation of a Village Development Plan (VDP). FCAP fully aligns with existing planning frameworks and provides structure and purpose to the government's citizen engagement initiatives. Component 2: Microgrants (US$1,986,958)Component two will finance priority sub projects identified in the VDPs to improve livelihood. The project will provide a village grant of $8000, disbursed over two years for each target village. The District Government in each of the target districts will contribute five percent of the total grant amount, while community members will make contributions in-kind. Microgrant eligibility is guaranteed for every target village provided all eligibility conditions are met, including election of a Village Leadership Committee, completion of the VDP and submission, review and approval of the sub project proposal.Communities will choose the subproject(s) to be financed by the microgrant to improve the social and/or economic welfare of the village, in support of the VDP. Other than a limited set of disallowed costs, communities will have a free choice of project, as long as it meets the proposal review criteria – designed to bring communal benefits to the village in support of their stated goals, gender mainstreamed, etc. – and is decided through community consensus. Technic