The Common Development Fund (CDF) four-year strategic plan will strongly contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Minister of Local Government has said.

Minister Protais Musoni said this Thursday during a validation workshop on the fund’s strategic plan of 2009-2013 that was attended by Mayors, district officials and various stake holders at Apha Palace Hotel, in Kigali.

"If implemented, this plan will definitely contribute towards the achievement of MDGs and the decentralization process will also be instrumental in redefining the role of Local Government and the best way to reallocate resources to sectors and cells,” Musoni said.

Through the strategic plan, CDF wants to lay out its operational framework as well as the objectives and results to be achieved by 2013 two years before the set deadline for the MDGs which is 2015.

"We strongly believe that this document will be an instrument for the mobilization and synergy for all the stakeholders. It is also a tool for monitoring and evaluation thanks to the renewed efforts in the improvement of communication, reporting, monitoring and evaluation systems,” the minister added.

He reiterated the government’s position of ensuring that CDF gathers and capitalises on findings from the various studies and analysis for better organisation and planning of its activities and interventions in line with the strategic planning approach.

The main aim of the CDF Strategic Plan is to clearly define its mission, vision and values, its objectives, strategies, areas of intervention as well as the human and financial resources necessary for the achievement of the results and objectives assigned to the fund as an institution.

The CDF was established six years ago with the major aim of decentralising funding mechanisms for development.

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