Transparency International has underscored the role of extending the fight against corruption in environmentally-related projects. The call was made on Friday during an online webinar to assess the implementation of Gicumbi green projects, entitled “Climate Governance Integrity”. According to Beatrice Cyiza, the Director-General of Environment and Climate Change at the Ministry of Environment, accountability and transparency are also important in environmentally-related projects. “When we talk about corruption, most people think about political aspects and related affairs, but it is also possible that corruption can aggravate the areas of climate change and other environmental areas,” she highlighted. She added that more is being done to assess the projects, and oversee each and every activity they do, therefore, highlighting the entities supervising the activities of the green project. “The project is supervised by the Ministry of Environment on the administrative side while the technical role is played by Rwanda Green Fund (FONERWA) as the implementing entity,” concludes Cyiza. There is also the districts’ role to play as they are in charge of managing some of the project’s activities,” Cyiza adds, “So all of those entities have been structured in the management to ensure transparency and accountability.” Based on a survey conducted by Transparency International, little awareness of why accountability is needed in these projects was demonstrated among the survey participants. This led to low participation among other aspects, according to Byiringiro who was among the pioneers of the research. “Accountability is of great importance in environmentally-financed projects because when it is there, it even leads to fair distribution of the benefits among the citizens. “More people get jobs and the vulnerable population also benefit from the projects,” he cites the findings. The government of Rwanda in 2019, established a Rwf30bn green growth project in Gicumbi District to create watershed protection and enhance climate-resilient agriculture, forest management and sustainable energy among other aspects. After its implementation, the watchdog launched a Rwf11.35 million project to strengthen accountability in the climate change projects in Rwanda.
