The Rwanda Governance Board’s (RGB) 2023-2024 annual activity report came up with various findings, including issues that need urgent action to be addressed, as well as recommendations to that end.

It was presented to a joint plenary sitting of Parliament by RGB chief executive officer Doris Picard, on October 29.

Here are five key findings, and recommendations from the report.

1. Security lead citizens’ satisfaction, while agriculture lags

According to the report, the Citizen Report Card 2024 (CRC 2024) survey indicated that, overall, citizens are satisfied with service delivery at a rate of 76.5 per cent – considering the average score of 16 sectors that were assessed.

Of these sectors, security services topped the list again [as in the previous surveys], with security 91.3 per cent (reflecting an increase of 1.5 per cent compared to 89.8 per cent it got in CRC 2023), while agriculture services continued to be the least performer with 61.5 per cent satisfaction rate among citizens, a reduction of 1.7 per cent compared to 63.2 per cent it received in the previous survey.

CRC survey is done every year with the aim to show citizens’ satisfaction with governance and service delivery, as well as their participation in what is done for them.

This RGB's annual publication is produced to ascertain the levels of community satisfaction with regard to services rendered. Its purpose is to provide public agencies and policy makers with feedback from users on the quality and adequacy of public services delivered at the grassroots level, with the view to place the citizen at the centre of governance.

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Regarding agriculture, it recommended scaling up efforts to deal with climate change effects, indicating that entities concerned with this are the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), the Ministry of Emergency Management (MINEMA), the Ministry of Environment (MoE), the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), and Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB).

Another intervention, it indicated, is enhancing the capacity to prevent and deal with diseases and pests in crops, which is the responsibility of MINAGRI and RAB, as well as increasing factories for processing agricultural produce and getting market for it.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM), MINAGRI, and the Private Sector Federation were concerned with this action.

2. Early childhood development – child protection wanting

As per the report, a third version of early childhood development (ECD) programme scorecard (ECD Scorecard 3), was conducted by RGB in collaboration with National Child Development Agency (NCDA).

This was done to evaluate the performance and service delivery under early childhood development.

It showed that the health pillar was leading in performance with 83.9 per cent, while the child protection and inclusiveness pillar was the least performing pillar with 41.5 per cent.

The study recommended improvement in collaboration and coordination among district-level entities and national-level entities in charge of early childhood development; and increasing infrastructure and equipment with the main focus on home-based early childhood development centres (home-based ECDs), as well as increasing parents’ contribution in activities of ECDs.

3. 70% of public buildings do not have fire insurance

In the same year under review, an assessment regarding decent workplace was carried out on 2,600 non-budget agencies (NBAs) in all [the four] provinces, and the City of Kigali. The entities include 300 health centres, 280 sectors, 2,000 schools, and 20 hospitals.

The assessment found, among others, that 780 or 30 per cent of e entities had fire insurance for buildings, while 1,820 or 70 per cent of them did not have it.

Also, it added, 1,300 entities or 50 per cent had fire extinguishers, while another 1,300 or 50 per cent did not have them.

Concerning lightning conductors or rods – to neutralise strikes - 1,260 entities or 48.5 per cent of the total, had them, while 1.340 or 51.5 per cent did not have them.

4. Media development and professionalism still low

The report showed that in 2023-2024, RGB conducted a media barometer for the fifth time (Rwanda Media Barometer 2024 – RMB 2024). The survey showed that the highest performing indicator was the legal and policy framework with a score of 90 per cent, while the least performing indicator is media development and professional capacity with a score of 60.7 per cent.

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Issues that RMB 2024 exposed that should be particularly addressed include media houses and journalists’ insufficient financial means, inadequate professionalism among some journalists, and challenges in terms of access to information in various entities.

It recommended an increase in the capacity and [professionalism in the media. This concerns RGB, associations of journalists, journalism schools, and development partners.

5. Improvement in land services

Among other activities, RGB carried out an assessment of land service delivery in 13 districts in 2023-2024, including three in the City of Kigali, six districts that have secondary cities, and four districts where citizens’ satisfaction with land services was low.

The assessment looked at land registration, land ownership or title transfer, and construction permit issuance services. It covered 92 entities including National Land Authority (NLA), the City of Kigali, districts, sectors and cells, and interviewed 2,228 people who requested the services, she pointed out.

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Its findings showed that citizens were satisfied with land registration at the rate of 75.39 per cent, issuance of construction permits at 76.72 per cent, and title transfer services at 75.76 per cent.

RGB Chief Executive Officer Doris Picard Uwicyeza said that the assessment of land services showed that the level of citizens’ satisfaction with them was increasing compared to previous years.

Main contributors to the development, she said, are the government's policy to waive some of the fees that were required during land subdivision and title transfer, as well as offering many land services online.

The report recommended continuous awareness about land use masterplan, further improving land title issuance and ownership transfer, as well as continuing to ensure availability of basic infrastructure [including roads, water and electricity] to areas designed for construction (settlement).