“Good Governance” is one of the three priority areas of the German Development Cooperation in Rwanda. DED activities in this sector foster responsible behaviour of governmental institutions towards the Rwandan people as well as civic participation in political decision-making processes on the local level. In order to achieve these goals, DED supports in particular decentralized structures, such as local administrations, and civil society organizations (CSOs) that work on good governance.

Enhancing decentralization efforts

Since 1998, the Rwandan Government has been taking significant steps to decentralize its administrative and political structures from the national to the district and community levels. In its most recent “Decentralization Strategic Framework” (2007, see column to the right), the Rwandan Government holds that decentralization is a transversal process which imposes itself as the principal focus of governance reform. To this regard, the Government of Rwanda is going to transfer all administrative duties below the ministerial level to districts and cities.

Between 2005 and 2006, the number of districts was reduced from 80 to 30. Throughout the reform process, however, the demand for administrative personnel increased significantly and measures to further qualify new staff were introduced. In addition to insufficient qualification, the lacking participation of Rwandan citizens in decision-making processes was recognized as a major challenge.

The DED aims at supporting its partner organizations in their efforts to target the above mentioned problems through capacity building, knowledge transfer and with measures to enhance the active engagement of civil society at the local level. At present, almost one third of DED’s Technical Assistants in Rwanda work together with their partner organizations on good governance.

Supporting local authorities

Since 2003, the DED cooperates with the Rhineland-Palatinate-Rwanda partnership to support the Urban Planning and Public Infrastructure unit in the City Administration of Kigali city. The two German organizations provide consulting services through DED Technical Assistants who frame inclusive models for citizen participation. On the district level, authorities receive support in developing master plans, ideally through consultative efforts involving local civil society. .

A newly established cooperation between DED and UN-HABITAT is meant to foster knowledge and knowledge transfers, using both organizations’ remarkable experience in sustainable city development. The collaboration with the UN will establish necessary links to the ministerial level (particularly the Ministries of Infrastructure and Environment), which shall guarantee a broad impact of DED’s work.

Together with the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the DED supports national organizations that explicitly target the Rwandan decentralization process. For instance, a consultancy unit was formed within the Rwandan Association of Local Government Authorities (RALGA) in order to consult Rwandan districts in regards of services for the promotion of local economy.

Two Technical Assistants support the Rwandan Institute for Administration and Management (RIAM) in the field of training and resource management. Trainings are offered in particular to elected representatives and local government employees, and provide a significant contribution to capacity building exercises within the sector-wide decentralization approach.

Promoting Civil Society

In its cooperation with the Plate Forme de la Société Civile, the DED merges both its efforts to enhance decentralization and promote Rwandan civil society. Its main aim here is to establish decentralized organizational structures for civil society on the district level.

With one Technical Assistant working exclusively on democratization, the DED guarantees its focus on promoting Rwandan civil society in order to enable the local population to actively engage in their country’s development. In this regard, the DED funds CSOs that concentrate on the empowerment of women in economic endeavours, work on land rights and the settlement of land-related disputes through civic structures, as well as CSOs that target the difficult issue of reducing domestic violence. Since spring 2009, DED supports CCOAIB, a network of 32 CSOs, in its aim to conduct a monitoring exercise of the Rwandan poverty-reduction strategy (EDPRS).