Sector and Cell Executive Secretaries, Chairpersons of Cell Councils and members of the Sector Council Bureaus of Rutsiro District on Friday 11th October 2019 concluded a 2-day training session on “Empowering Local Councilors in promoting Accountable Governance and Citizen Participation”. The training was organized by Rwanda Association of Local Government Authorities (RALGA) in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) and support from the German Cooperation agency (GIZ) through the Decentralization and Good Governance (DGG) project. It took place at Hotel Saint André in Kabgayi, Muhanga District. Participants to the training also got the opportunity to interact with the Mayor of Rutsiro District, Cllr Emerance AYINKAMIYE as well as Mr. Ladislas NGENDAHIMANA, RALGA’s Secretary General.
Various themes were discussed during the training session. They include the law governing decentralized entities, the roles and responsibilities of local leaders at Sector and Cell levels and Citizen Centered Leadership. Participants also assessed factors affecting their performance, including self-assessment as well as their working environment. As testified by Cllr. Jeanne MUSABYIMANA, Chairperson of Nyabirasi Sector Council, the training session will allow the beneficiaries to address various issues which are affecting service delivery. These include making uniformed decisions due to lack of factual information on real issues affecting citizens, as well as making illegal decisions due to ignorance of the law’s provisions. According to her, knowing their roles and responsibilities as provided by the law, and gathering factual information about the citizens’ needs will tremendously improve the quality of the service rendered to people.
During the closing session, RALGA’s Secretary General and the Mayor of Rutsiro District provided guidance and advice to the training beneficiaries. Basing on the observation by participants that Sectors and Cells have limited resources compared to the needs, Mr. Ladislas NGENDAHIMANA encouraged them to strive to use efficiently the available resources while waiting to get more as the country’s situation improves. He urged them to contribute to the increase of district revenues rather. He also requested them to urgently devise strategies to address various human security issues in their constituencies such as stunting, school dropouts, and child abuse including underage unplanned pregnancies.
On her side, the Mayor of Rutsiro district requested participants to consider the law governing decentralized entities as their bible from now on. She also asked them to leverage their efforts in quality service delivery to the needs of the citizens they are in charge of. She commended their commitment considering the various challenges they meet in their daily activities but requested them to translate the commitment into tangible actions with the aim of transforming the citizens’ life. She concluded by thanking RALGA for its contribution in building the capacity of Rutsiro District local leaders and staff. She promised that the acquired skills will be put in practice.
Mrs. Innocente Murasi, Director for RALGA's Local Government Institute Department facilitating a session on participants' entities assessment
Mr. Faustin Serubanza, Director of RALLGA's Strategic Planning Unit facilitating a session on Local Government Law
Group work session
