KIGALI - Three top officials from the Office of Dutch Ombudsman are in the country to identify how civil society organizations from their country can establish a partnership with those in Rwanda.

The delegation will spend four days visiting various NGOs and learning about the operations of Rwanda’s Office of the Ombudsman.

"Our visit is mainly to identify key areas where the partnership or cooperation will help us in dealing with similar problems faced back in our country,” said Adriana Stehouwer, the Dutch Deputy Ombudsman.

Stehouwer was speaking during a visit to the offices of Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD), a local NGO.

RISD works closely with the Office Ombudsman to address mainly land related problems at the grassroots.

Escorted by Augustin Nzindukiyimana, the Deputy Ombudsman, the team picked interest in strategies put in place to ensure that those with problems are timely, catered for and on time.

Annie Kairaba, the Director of RISD, highlighted the achievements, challenges and roles the NGO plays in solving people`s problems, especially those in rural areas.

"Since 2008, we have trained 1,800 local leaders as well as mediators in handling land disputes. We also established the Land Dispute Management Programme (LDMP), which has made the national land registration exercise easy,” Kairaba said.

She explained that mediators play a great role in solving cases which used to delay.

The team had earlier visited Transparency Rwanda, an NGO which fights against corruption and other related cases.

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