Inside Kicukiro, the award-winning district

The Imihigo initiative perfectly captures the notion of ‘people-participation’ in national development. It is an initiative of ‘the people, by the people, for the people.’ In essence, it lends face to the much-cherished ideal of democracy itself. Initiated in 2006, by the government of Rwanda (GoR), it is a scheme through which local governments declare their respective objectives, and outline a clear roadmap to achieving them. The underlying theme in these initiatives is the incorporation of the priorities and views of the local population in all development plans. Imihigo engages the community right from the smallest political unit: the family. Each family comes up with a “performance contract”, which outlines what it intends to do for the betterment of its district in a given year. For instance, a family can pledge to construct a toilet where there was none, acquire mosquito nets to combat malaria, or buy medical insurance (Mutuelle de Sante). The local leaders then come in with their own performance contracts, depending on the needs of the community. They could pledge to build schools, a market, or better roads. The sector leaders then approach the district with their performance targets for the year. Over the course of the year, the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) comes in to investigate and asses each contract pledge. The contracts specifically tackle the areas of good governance, economic development, and social welfare, in line with the country’s model of domestic solutions to its development needs, in its efforts to join the ranks of the middle income states. This year, Kicukiro emerged best district in implementing its performance contracts’ pledges for the year 2011/2012, after registering an impressive 95.5 per cent score. Kamonyi District came second, with 95.1 per cent, while Bugesera District came third with 94 per cent. Rutsiro District emerged worst performer, with 82.3 per cent. Located at the south-eastern tip of Kigali, Kicukiro is one of the three districts (akarere) of the capital city. Its headquarters is located in the Kigali suburb of Kicukiro. To the south, its borders run through Bugesera of the Eastern Province. To the north it runs through the district of Gasabo, in Kigali City, while to the east, it is bordered by Rwamagana of the Eastern Province. To the west, it is bordered by Nyarugenge District of Kigali city. It is divided into 10 sectors (imirenge): Kigarama, Niboye, Masaka, Gahanga, Gikondo, Kagarama, Gatenga Kanombe, Kicukiro, and Nyarugunga. A dense residential area, it is home to a number of landmarks in the capital city. Many of the NGOs in Kaigali city are based here. It boasts of a thriving modern market, the Friends Church and the Bralirwa Breweries. But most important, it is home to the Rebero and Nyanza-Kicukiro memorial sites, where the remains of some 20,000 victims of the devastating 1994genocide are interred. Kicukiro is criss-crossed by a number of streams and rivers which make up the Akagera River. Apart from the Akagera, there is the Nyabarongo river that flows through the capital from the Muhazi lake. This is complimented by about a dozen smaller streams of lesser significance. These water bodies play sanctuary to different species of aquatic life, mostly fish, and snakes. Natural vegetation is rather hard to come by, having been replaced largely by human settlement. The little greenery that thrives is mainly eucalyptus trees planted in the low-lying areas. Hills and steep slopes paint Kicukiro’s topography. Like many other districts, women constitute the biggest part of its population. The district is endowed with four climatic seasons; a mini dry season (December to February), a big rain season (March-May), followed by a big dry season (June-September). A small rain season caps the year, between October and November. These four are a fair representation of the weather patterns in Rwanda at large. However, all these seasons are not cut in stone, as they often register minor variartions. Kicukiro in the eyes of Mzee BizimanaBorn in 1948, Theodore Bizimana has lived in Nyakabanda, Kicukiro District, for the bigger part of his life. He tells the story of how this district has changed over the years: This place has changed so much that sometimes I cannot remember how it used to look like many years ago. I think one of the reasons I never received enough education was because of the long distance between my home and the only schools that were available back then. There were only three primary schools in the district: Auto Ecole, Remera Protestant Primary School and Remera Catholique Primary Schools. Centre de Animation de la Jeunesse Kanombe (CAJEK), which was an initiative of a group of parents, was the only secondary school in the district.But things have changed now. There is at least a primary and secondary school in every sector in the district. Yet, in the past, schools were not the only setback. In fact, the entire infrastructure sector was in a sorry state. In the 1980s, for instance, the only hospital here was University Teaching Hospital of Kigali, which was the only option for millions of patients in and around Kigali. Awarding my district as the best performer wasn’t a surprise to me because I know that we have worked so hard to be where we are today. In fact, beating us to the award would be such an uphill task for other districts.