On 13th August 2024, the District of Karongi in partnership with the Rwanda Association of Local Government Authorities (RALGA) organized a stakeholder dialogue meeting bringing together the district authorities and representatives of various district development stakeholders. The meeting took place at Bethany hotel in Karongi District. The participants discussed strategies to advance local partnership for the effective inclusive implementation of the district land use master plan in urban areas after it was validated by the district council in June 2024. The meeting also marked the start of a three-day awareness raising campaign on inclusive and participatory master plan implementation branded as: Umujyi wanjye campaign with the theme: “Niyemeje kugira uruhare mu iterambere ry’umujyi wacu rirambye kandi ribereye bose”. This campaign is supported by RALGA under the GloBe Rwanda project (2022-2026) implemented by RALGA in partnership with the Association of Flemish Municipality (VVSG).
In her opening speech, the Mayor of Karongi District Cllr Mukase Valentine emphasized that the stakeholder meeting offers a unique opportunity to strategize with stakeholder on how to implement various planned urban development projects that will help to fast track the development of Karongi district. She commended RALGA, MININFRA and NLA for the support to the District Umujyi wanjye campaign and appealed all invited participants to actively contribute to planned meeting discussions and also encouraged them to participate in other campaign activities such as live radio program and sector level meetings. She also reiterated the district leadership will to work hand in hand with stakeholders for inclusive district development.
In his speech, the Secretary General of RALGA Mr Habimana Dominique emphasized on the importance of stakeholder collaboration for inclusive urban development and the role of urbanization in the projected economic transformation of Rwanda as per the Government vision 2050. He commended valuable Government policy action to support urbanization efforts at local level. He pointed out that RALGA support to Karongi District to organize the campaign is part of RALGA mandate to serve the members with specialized services based on identified capacity building needs. He said that in recent past, RALGA trained District elected leaders and staff on the topic of inclusive and participatory urban planning and management hence the campaign provides opportunity to trained officials to engage citizens and stakeholders to put in practice what they have learnt. He emphasized that the theme of the campaign is well aligned to the Government priority to put the citizen at the center of service delivery and commended the citizen role in ensuring that their neighborhood development becomes a reality. He reiterated his thanks to RALGA partners in this activity i.e Karongi District, VVSG, NLA and MININFRA.
Other planned activities during the three-day campaign are: the live radio program on inclusive and participatory implementation of Karongi district land use master plan on the evening of the first day and on second and third day Sector level sensitization meeting on the same topic targeting local opinion leaders, and representatives of key local development stakeholders. The campaign will pursue in Bugesera District on 20-22/8/2024.
