A six-kilometre canal at Kimisagara, Nyarugenge District and a road in Rusororo in the Gasabo District worth Rwf 4.3 billion has been built by the local residents.

Funded by the European Union (EU), residents from five sectors of Nyarugenge; Nyakabanda, Nyamirambo, Kimisagara, Gitega and Rwezamenyo built the canal from upper Nyamirambo, to Nyabugogo North west.

The residents who included 4,000 demobilised soldiers and 5,000 widows also constructed the Rusororo road in Gasabo District, in North Kigali.

About 10,000 residents from both Districts mid this week gathered at Camp Kigali near the Serena Hotel in Kigali, to celebrate the work in a social function they named Ubusabane (Get-together).

"These people saved almost 1/3 of the funds that would have been spent on the use of machinery and expertise to build the infrastructure,” Dr David MacRae, the head of the EU, delegation in Rwanda said while addressing the residents.

MacRae added that the project provided jobs and improved lives of former unemployed frustrated residents and also contributing technical skills training.

The residents, now grouped in a cooperative, save money that will help them create income-generating activities for each member.

Also present was the Minister of Local Government, Protais Musoni, who said that forming a cooperative had created a window of opportunity, for each member to have a short-term loan to improve their livelihoods.

The minister also advised them to take up the one-cow-per-family program. He added that the government is targeting to have every poor citizen above the poverty line by 2012 through the Vision 2020 Umurenge program and The Community Development Fund (CDF).

The CDF is a Government-owned fund set up to support the implementation of decentralisation programmes as the main strategy to achieve good governance and sustainable economic development as a weapon to fight poverty.

It has the mission of financing Districts and Kigali City development efforts, with at least 10% of the annual national revenues allocated to the Fund.

In this respect, Districts and the residents play a determinant role in the planning and management of development projects which take into account their needs and priority with the aim of poverty reduction.

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