Local government leaders should protect citizens from falling back into poverty, while empowering those living in extreme poverty to transform their lives.

Dr Alvera Mukabaramba, the state minister in charge of community development and social welfare, made the remarks while meeting district vice-mayors in charge of social affairs, in Kigali, yesterday.

The quarterly meeting was convened to discuss implementation of social protection programmes.

Social protection programmes include Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP), Girinka, among others.Mukabaramba observed that similar problems always appear year- in-year out without clear mechanisms to tackle them.

"We are tired of repeating and listening to the same challenges hindering good performance, that is why I would like to remind you that it is your duty to run social protection programmes,” she said.

The minister urged the local leaders to improve follow ups on neediest and most disadvantaged people to make sure they are not excluded from such programmes.

Vincent Gahamanyi, the national director of Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP), said there is a good improvement in this year’s VUP’s budget execution.

"Rwf12.5 billion that was allocated to direct support, a total of Rwf11 billion was used till last May. For public works, out of a total of Rwf13 billion we had, about Rwf11 billion was well disbursed and for financial services, Rwf2.5 billion was absorbed out of Rwf3.5 billion,” Gahamanyi explained.

He cited late funding of the programme and late loan application by beneficiaries among the challenges.

VUP programme is intended to make positive impact in poverty reduction but concerns about money disbursement to the beneficiaries have often been raised.

But Gahamanyi said that they face few cases of abuse of the programme.

Claudette Mukamana, the vice-mayor in charge of social affairs in Nyamasheke District, told the media that they have devised measures to help eradicate poverty in the district.

"As our district’s main economic activity is agriculture, we have started sensitising people to embrace modern cultivation and joining cooperatives. We also encourage them to properly utilise government’s support,” she said.

Languide Nyirabahire, the vice-mayor in charge of social affairs in Gasabo District, said the discussion is a good opportunity that helps them to assess their performance in social welfare promotion and correct some faults as people working for a common goal.

It is time for people to change their mindset as the government has played its role to make everything happen, she said.

The final results of Ubudehe Social Stratification completed by the government in 2015 show that 16 per cent of the total households in the country (376,192 households) are in Category 1, while 1,480,167 people live in extreme poverty without the ability to own or rent a house and often struggle to get food and basic items like soap.

The assessment, however, shows that extreme poverty reduced to about 9 per cent since 2012.

The report indicates that over half of Rwandan families are perceived as well-off. They fall under Category Three of the Ubudehe scheme and comprise 53.7 per cent of all the households in the country or 5.7 million people.

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