A three-week civic education course for sector executive secretaries and other local leaders, organised under the Itorero ry’Igihugu programme, opened, Sunday, at the Peace and Leadership Centre, Nkumba in Musanze District, with a call for better service delivery, particularly at the grassroots level.

The course, taking place two weeks after the district mayors signed the 2011/2012 Imihigo, (performance contracts), will go a long way in helping the participants understand their role in the implementation of their respective district’s development strategies.

Thanks to the decentralisation drive, sector executive secretaries are now critical in the implementation of the country’s development programmes.

Considering that there are a total of 416 sector leaders nationwide, ensuring that they all understand the essence and urgency of the various development programmes will help fast-track the country’s socio-economic transformation.

According to the Rwanda Governance Advisory Council’s Scorecard 2010, service delivery at the local government level was at 67.69 percent. Whereas customer service may have improved at the grassroots level over the years, particularly due to increasing staffing and improved capacities, it is clear that more needs to be done, especially in ensuring that these institutions serve the people and execute programmes in time.

To maintain the remarkable pace at which Rwanda is moving, the local leaders will need to work harder to make a bigger impact on the lives of the people and the course should leave them better equipped.

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