PPIMA
The Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC) is one of the local partners implementing in Rwanda the Public Policy information monitoring and advocacy program, known as PPIMA, under the coordination of Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA).
With funding from the Swedish International Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Foreign Commonwealth and development Office (FCDO), PPIMA aims at strengthening the engagement of Rwandan civil society organizations and citizens in public policy affairs.
Our role as RWAMREC in PPIMA IV is to implement the Community Score Cards Model in two districts of Rwanda: Rulindo, in the Northern Province, and Bugesera, in the Eastern Province. This model has the objective to strengthen citizens’ involvement and participation in local
government planning processes and in keeping local leaders accountable.
How does the Community Score Cards (or CSS) Model work?
The process starts at the level of the inteko z’abaturage, the weekly citizens’ assemblies. In that forum, our skilled facilitators, known as GFPs (governance focal persons), facilitate a discussion with the citizens, in order to collect some of the main issues that the community is facing. Such issues vary: they can be related to lack of water in a certain area to poor service delivery in the public health centre, to cases of SGBV in families or lack of quality seeds for agriculture.
The different issues mentioned are prioritized and the ones that score the highest are then taken to the attention of the local authorities, to find together a viable solution. Some of them are sorted at a low administrative level (cell level), while others are brought to the attention of the higher level (called sector) and- if budget is required- they are taken up to the district level. GFPs constantly check in with local authorities to follow up on their commitments, to make sure that citizens’ priorities are finally attended to.
Some of the results of the CSC in Rulindo and Bugesera include different things, like the fixing of infrastructures: water pumps, roads, bridges, schools, as well as poor peoples’ homes. In addition to that, advocacy through CSC also pushed the positive intervention of local leaders in cases of family conflicts and SGBV in the communities.
Rwandan communities in Rulindo and Bugesera feel they now have a collective voice thanks to PPIMA and that their voice can actually be heard and make a change within their own communities!