The National Consultative Forum of Political Organisations (NFPO) has said it intends to increase the number of youth and women as well as their participation in the country’s democratisation and governance process.

The plan is contained in the organisation’s new five-year strategic plan running from 2021 through 2026, and intends to increase the role of women and youth in decision-making within their respective parties.

Under the plan, which was approved by the General Assembly NFPO on June 24, the forum intends to continue promoting political dialogue on national cohesion and democratic governance and strengthen party capacities for political career development.

NFPO, a grouping of 11 political parties, has earmarked Rwf3.3 billion to implement the strategic plan.

The permanent platform brings together political organisations for political dialogue, building consensus and national cohesion.

The government funds two-thirds of its Rwf600 million annual budget while the rest is raised from other sources.

Theoneste Gisagara, the Executive Secretary NFPO, said that they want to put more efforts in training the youth in political and governance under the Youth Political Leadership Academy (YPLA).

The training under YPLA is aimed to prepare youth in political parties for leadership roles, and in addition equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to meaningfully participate in national governance and development.

"So far, only a small number of the youth –1,202 – has been trained in politics and governance. We realise that this number is very low,” he said.

He also indicated that the plan will carry out an impact assessment of the training offered so as to know their effectiveness or contribution to the development of the political parties as well as the country and its citizens.

Gisagara added that the actions under the plan are aligned with Rwanda’s Vision 2050 and the first phase of the National Strategy for Transformation – a seven-year government development programme that runs from 2017 through 2024.

Empowering women, ensuring gender equality in leadership 

MP Solange Uwingabe, the Spokesperson of NFPO and a member of Rwanda Labour Party, said nurturing the youth is the driving force of the country.

"We will scale up efforts to nurture competent leaders of our country,” Uwingabe said. "We also need to have women who have self-confidence to take up leadership positions and greater participation in the development of our country.”

Gisagara said that the forum also plans to assess the representation of women in the leadership of political parties, to establish whether the gender equality principle that the country committed to achieving is being implemented in political parties.