Citizen participation is high within mandatory spaces such as the monthly community service day Umuganda, but low and ineffective in others such as Imihigo (local governance performance contracts), where citizens feel their consultations are insufficient and that their views are not fully considered in the final plans and performance contracts . Furthermore, people who are illiterate, disabled or youth are often excluded in public policy processes which means the process is not entirely inclusive of all views. The low levels of awareness, knowledge and engagement of citizens in public policy is in part due to the country’s history. Historically, public policy was seen as the role of the government. However this perception is changing as space is increasingly being provided for citizens and CSO’s to provide inputs in public policy. TA used various tools to strengthen the citizen effective and meaningful participation among them, the most common tools used is the Community scorecard. By using the CSC, TA identified five key lessons:
Using a range of tools to help them to build the confidence of citizens to engage
Nurturing champions of citizen voice
Creating demand among decision-makers through demonstrating the value to them of citizen participation
Building trust among leaders and citizens in order to enhance the legitimacy and credibility of civil society
Investing in the long-term process of changing mind-sets and perceptions
In the latest 4-step version, piloted in 2017, the CSC takes places within cell assemblies (government created spaces) called Inteko z’abaturage. This is a more sustainable process that aims to better connect citizen participation facilitated by the CSC to the local government planning process. The costs have been reduced by 81% since the first version, offering the possibility for the CSC to be expanded from just a few cells in a district to all cells. TUBIBE AMAHORO has different objectives to attain in this specific intervention:
Objective 1: By 2030, 40% of citizens in TA’s operational areas are actively influencing policy, district plans and programs design implementation, monitoring, and evaluation;
Objective 2: By 2030, jointly organize policy and law capacity development sessions for 100% of focal persons and at least 60% of citizens in the operational area;
Objective 3: By the end of 2030, advocacy will lead to 60% of citizen-raised issues being resolved.
See How PPIMA(Project) is Making a Difference
