Caption: Prof. Shyaka Anastase, CEO of Rwanda Governance Board (RGB)

The service sector currently contributes 48% to national development which compares significantly against other sectors.The Second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2) has set citizens satisfaction towards quality of services rendered to them at 85 % by 2018.However, the service delivery still lags behind all government indicators according to the Rwanda Governance Scoreboard 2016, scoring 72.93%.

With middle income status in sight, the Government of Rwanda has placed more emphasis on quality of service delivery to achieve this long term ambitious goal.

The law No.56/2016, of 16/12/2016 establishing Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) gives it the mandate to regularly monitor service delivery and compliance with the principles of good governance in the public and private sector as well as in non-governmental organisations.

It is against this background that RGB has designed a National Service Delivery Campaign dubbed ‘Nk’uwikorera’. Nk’uwikorera campaign is meant to raise awareness of the service providers so that they provide effective and quality services to citizens, at the same time encouraging the citizens to resist poor services.Specifically, it will raise general public awareness on service delivery, making all Rwandan citizens active stakeholders in promoting the culture of service delivery, public education on service delivery and making local leaders especially at district and sector level commit to good service delivery.

The service delivery campaign involves a large number of institutions and is targeted to reach a big number of the public. Stakeholders that are integral in this campaign include MIFOTRA,  MINISPOC, MINALOC, MoH,  MININFRA, MINECOFIN, MoD, MINEACOM, MINAGRI, MYICT, MIGEPROF, CNLG, FARG, IBUKA, WASAC, LODA, RCA, OGS, RSSB, GMO, DISTRICTS, RNP, REMA, RTDA, RURA, RAB, NAEB, RDB, PSF, NWC, NCC, CoK, RWANDA Online (Irembo.rw), Local Non-Governmental Organizations, NINGOs and Faith Based Organizations.

To foster behavioral change in service delivery, the National Itorero Commission (NIC) will act as the engine in instilling right attitude, positive values into different layers of society. It will include the ‘Nk’uwikorera concept in its curriculum, and add it to the commitments of Intore.Media has been touted as another instrument to be used in educating people, creating checks and balance, and its added advantage to monitor change and impact.NIC and media houses will be some of the main stakeholders in this campaign.

"Nk’uwikorera” is the slogan that will drive the campaign. According to Prof. Shyaka Anastase, CEO of Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), theKinyarwanda slogan was chosen based on cultural values, to ensure that the message was well received by the ordinary citizen. It urges service providers to place themselves in the position of the recipients and to deliver their best just as they would expect to receive from others. It was arrived upon through a SWOT analysis and engagement with the ordinary citizens.

"The campaign centers around change in behavior, change in service delivery and the way institutions treat citizens. It’s about creating impetus in the service provider and recipient equation to the advantage of the recepient.The campaign  intends to maximize the impact of services provided by institutions towards transformation of the country and its people,”Prof. Shyaka adds.

Nkuwikorera will expand the way people view service delivery. Forexample, customer care, a component of service delivery, has always been associated with the hospitality sector but with this campaign, service delivery is expanded to other sectors, with focus on results.

Service delivery is expected to be emphasized in sectors like Agriculture where farmers wait long for incentives like fertilizers and seeds. The agriculture sector also scored low according to the Citizen Report Card survey, with the citizen satisfaction rate as low as 48%.Improving agricultural extension services would ensure increase in productivity, the weight of agriculture in EDPRS II and also service delivery as a whole, which in turn increases GDP.In the same context, sectors likehealth, social protection services, familyissues, privatesector, hospitality, onlineservice and promotional activities of secondary cities will benefit greatly from this campaign.

"Imperatively, Nkuwikorera is a drive to empower and impact the citizen so that service providers are made more responsive and service-centered. It will ensure that the ordinary citizens get all the services they are entitled to from the public and private sector,” Prof Shyaka affirms.

In the campaign that willrun for 12 weeks, a sector will be given priority eachweek. Institutions will be visited at every level and checks will be done to ascertain if they have performed different activities. Evaluation and monitoring checks will be done. This will also include policydialogues and media engagements.

RGB intends to appoint campaign ambassadors that have been performing incredibly in various areas of service delivery to share their testimonies. This will be done in May 2017.And also, mobilisation campaigns and engagements with service providers will be held. The campaign will reach out to the people to find out where services are not being provided to the maximum while urging them to stand up and demand for good service delivery.

As much as the campaign was designed by RGB, it will be driven by the sectors and the citizens. This poses a challenge as to what extent, the sectors and people are committed to owning up to it. Continued awareness through media and sectors engagements is expected to address this.

The campaign that was launched on 30th March in Karongi District is expected to close after 12 weeks, with a ceremony in Nyagatare District. Service delivery awards are expected to be given to the best performing public and private institutions and individuals.

Citizen Report Card: Fostering participation and accountability, shaping good governance and devt

Rwanda Governance Board is an independent institution which, among its mandate, has to regularly monitor the service delivery and the compliance with the principles of good governance in the public and private sectors, to conduct research on governance in Rwanda and explore citizens’ perception with service delivery.

It is within this framework that the body conducts a survey called the Citizen Report Card (CRC) every year to establish citizens’ satisfaction levels about the performance of public institutions in the delivery of services and to hold service providers accountable for their efforts in poverty reduction and sustainable development. The report covers service delivery in the four pillars of government programs namely; economy, social welfare, justice and governance.

It measures the citizens’ satisfaction and portrays the level of good governance in the country. The feedback obtained from citizens facilitates activities of concerned government institutions and public authorities. It also ensures proactive decision making by the citizens in their daily livelihoods.

In the Citizen Report Card 2016, security and governance are the best performing sectors that always score above 80 per cent. Infrastructure, local administrative services and health are the most improved while agriculture, hygiene and sanitation remain stagnant.

 A summary rating of all the sectors in in 2015/2016 is presented below:

Districts performance

The report shows that the districts of Burera, Kirehe and Ngoma have been the best performers in the recent years while Gatsibo, Kamonyi and Nyamasheke are the most improved. The table below shows the best performing districts in all sectors combined in 2015/2016:

At national level, the overall citizens’ net satisfaction for all the considered sectors was found to be 67.7%. This is a decrease compared to the CRC 2015 findings in which the overall satisfaction was 71.1%. Nevertheless, it is still an improvement compared to the results of the CRC 2014 which provided a net satisfaction of 55%.

The most recent reports, 2015 and 2016 indicate that satisfaction of service delivery at local government was 71.1 per cent in 2015 and 67.7per cent in 2016. Central government was at 57.4 per cent in 2015 and 66.5 per cent in 2016.

Agriculture and livestock

 Rwandans mainly depend on agriculture and livestock. Despite this dependence, citizens’ satisfaction in agriculture and livestock services has always been below 50 per cent except in utilization of fertilizers and availability of seeds which is at 62.9 per cent while postharvest handling scored the least at 27.8 per cent. Such dissatisfaction was due to droughts and pests as well as diseases that imperiled crops and farms.

Citizen participation

Figures of satisfaction in citizen participation show that citizens are satisfied with election of leaders at 80.2 per cent and their role in problem solving at 72. 4 percent. On the other hand, 54.1 per cent is dissatisfied with their role in budget-making process while only 41.1 per cent are satisfied with their involvement in preparation of districts’ action plan, among others.

Social protection

As per CRC 2016, serious issue still need to be addressed in social protection programs like VUP and Girinka. In the mentioned programs, the level of satisfaction countrywide is respectively 59.1 and 65.3 per cent, against 32.9 and 28.1 per cent of dissatisfaction. Rutsiro residents are the least satisfied in social protection programs countrywide, with dissatisfaction in Girinka program standing as high as 73.3 per cent. Corruption, favoritism and injustice have been identified as the causes of dissatisfaction, among others.

Most people however, are dissatisfied with the four Ubudehe categories. The people in the upper categories are the least comfortable with their placement. For instance, those who belong in the first category are satisfied at 66.5 per cent while only 41. 7 per cent of those classified in the fourth category are satisfied.