RALGA has started the process to develop its 2020-2025 Strategic Plan. It is in this context that on Monday 20th January 2020, a workshop to discuss key aspects of the Strategic Plan was organized. The aim of the workshop was to allow to RALGA staff to have a common understanding on the process but also to contribute ideas in their respective areas of expertise. Key guidelines were provided to the consultant hired to develop the Strategic Plan.
Context
In his introductory remarks, RALGA’s Secretary General, Mr. Ladislas NGENDAHIMANA provided the context in which the Strategic Plan was to be developed. He highlighted the fact that the Strategic Plan shall be in line with RALGA’s mandate, ie advocacy, capacity building and representation for the members. He also reminded participants that in terms of capacity building, RALGA is not an implementing agency and should not replace competent government institutions and agencies, but that its role is rather to identify gaps in local governments with the purpose of engaging these institutions in charge on possible solutions.
The Secretary General stressed that for efficiency in representation, the trust from members is paramount. He also mentioned key aspects to be considered in the new Strategic Plan to ensure RALGA’s relevance in the Rwandan context, such as accountability, unity and thinking big. Other issues to consider should be climate change, the coming local government elections scheduled for February 2021, etc.
Relevance, sustainability and appropriate structure
RALGA’s Deputy Secretary General and Chief Budget Manager insisted that the association needs to be relevant and financially sustainable. She said that one of the best ways to increase the association’s relevance is to support Local Governments to be transformative in nature, in line with Rwanda’s orientation towards National Transformation. She also highlighted the fact that RALGA should find ways of increasing own revenues for sustainability.
In his concluding remarks, the Secretary General recommended that the new strategic plan under development shall inspire a suitable and realistic organizational structure for its implementation.
