HUYE – A project meant to strengthen civic participation was launched on Sunday in Huye District with a call on district leaders to be actively involved in its implementation.

The government, in partnership with the USAID, is implementing the three-year programme dubbed ‘strengthening civic participation project.’ The initiative is drawing support from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

The project that will be implemented in all the 30 districts of the country, will assist government and USAID/Rwanda to strengthen civic participation by facilitating effective and meaningful engagement between the government, civil society and citizens at the local level.

The project will focus on capacity building for local governments, civil society organisations and citizens by building partnerships in areas such as dissemination of the national budget.

"For the case of the national budget process, we will bring on board local inputs through vehicles such as the Joint Action Development Forums to decide on priorities,” Daniel Kagina, the team leader for local government capacity building in the project said.

During the launch, districts to benefit from the first phase of the project were selected; Gisagara, Nyaruguru, Ruhango and Nyanza while the districts of Kamonyi, Nyamagabe, Muhanga and Huye will benefit in the second phase.

Talking about the implementation of the project in phases, Linda Trudel, the project’s Chief of Party, said that the approach will help in sharing good practices learnt during the first phase.

"The experience gained from the first phase of the project will help us in making the second one even better,” said Trudel.

The Governor of the Southern Province, Fidèle Ndayisaba, called upon local leaders to be actively involved in the project to ensure its success. He added that despite the big strides taken in the decentralisation drive that started 10 years ago, much more needs to be done to ensure citizens participation in local government.

The MCC is an independent U.S. foreign aid agency that supports the fight against global poverty through direct assistance. It links poverty reduction and economic development to good governance.

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