Musanze residents have welcomed the new initiative by ‘Never Again Rwanda’ that aims at actively involving citizens in good governance through what is dubbed as ‘Citizen Forums’.

The ‘Citizen Forums’ are a component of Never Again Rwanda’s long-term programme, societal healing and participatory governance for peace in Rwanda.

It seeks to involve citizens in planning, monitoring and evaluation processes of local activities in order to ensure ownership and sustainable development.

The forums complement and support government efforts in promoting citizen-centred governance and encourage citizens to make use of available channels of communication with decision-makers to ensure their involvement in policy and programme formation.

The forums are led by two facilitators who ensure that members have equal time to speak and express themselves.

The facilitators also help the ‘Citizen Forum’ members to build consensus and make recommendations on governance-related issues that affect their lives.

The forums are also designed to help citizens build partnerships with their leaders and to hold them accountable.

Each forum has 30 members who are trained on how to interact among themselves and with citizens to advance their views to contribute to good governance.

It will operate in 10 districts as a pilot project and two sectors from each district will be reached.Musanze forum was launched on Wednesday.

"Thanks to Never Again’Rwanda for the training I under-went. It has prepared me to facilitate the Citizen Forum. I know how to deal with any conflicts or different opinions that may arise in the forums and I feel confident that we will be able to build consensus among the diverse members of the group,” said Odile Ingenzi, one of the facilitators.

She added that the forums would foster interactions with residents who used to hear about various policies in media or in meetings without playing a meaningful role in putting up those policies.

Ingenzi appealed to citizens to play a great role in performance contracts during planning and implementation of activities.

Francois Kamali, a resident of Muhoza Sector, said involving residents in matters of their own interest was long overdue.

"It is a good initiative which every Rwandan should welcome. Citizens know more about what they want,” said Kamali.

Never Again Rwanda is a Rwandan peace-building and human rights organisation.

Eric Mahoro, the Never Again Rwanda’s programme director said it was a good initiative and was optimistic that through better cooperation with local leaders, citizens’ forums will be more successful and beneficial.

"The Citizen Forums are an important framework for Rwandan citizens to build capacity to solve their own problems and to engage more meaningfully with their leaders,” he added.

The forums, funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), are to be piloted in Musanze, Nyabihu, Gicumbi, Rwamagana, Bugesera, Huye, Nyaruguru, Nyarugenge and Gasabo before being expanded in other districts next year.

Speaking at the official launch of the Citizen Forum earlier in Karongi District, the Rwanda Governance Board deputy CEO, Amb Fatuma Ndangiza, urged local leaders to involve residents in the planning, monitoring and evaluation processes of local activities in order to ensure ownership and sustainable development.

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