The Northern Province round of training to the attention of District Management Committees (DPMC) was held today on 4th September 2019 at MUSANZE. This two day training on “Planning, Designing, Implementation & Monitoring of LED infrastructure projects” is designed for District staff members including Vice Mayors in charge of Economic Development, District Executive Secretaries, Directors of Planning, Directors of Infrastructure & One Stop Centre, Directors of BDEUs, Directors of Agriculture, JADF Officers, Environment Management Officers and Legal Advisors. Trainees who talked to this reporter appreciated this initiative and did not hide the desire to get sufficient time to acquire more knowledge about management of LED infrastructure projects.

Mr. BAGIRISHYA Pierre Claver, Executive Secretary of Musanze District, stated that “this first training of this kind designed for DPMC shall positively impact the management of LED projects which were previously the pre-occupation of responsible Unit at the District level and the official project reception team. DPMC shall then get involved right from the project feasibility study up to    post completion (operation and maintenance) phases thus avoiding frequent contract addendum”.

Mrs. NYIRAMAJYAMBERE Josephine, Director of Business Development and Employment Unit at Rulindo District, in her turn, lauded the setting up of a multi-disciplinary team to manage local economic development projects. She welcomed this capacity building programme which shall enable the team to get a common understanding and mutual support towards effective management of projects. Commenting on non-operational projects, Josephine advised to revisit associated studies, identify existing gaps which prevent their operationalization, and come up with solutions leading to project exploitation towards meeting citizens’ needs.

According to Mr. NIYONSENGA Aimé François, Vice Mayor in charge of Economic Development at Gakenke District, the setting up of a nine person team to get involved into project management at the District level, right from inception, planning, implementation and monitoring shall undoubtedly lead to sustainable development of projects. “This training shall enable us overcome previously encountered challenges relating to poor planning and irresponsibility”, he said.

While officiating the training, the Executive Secretary of Northern Province, Mr. JABO Paul, said that “This training comes at opportune moment after the completion of a self-evaluation on fully completed, delayed and non-operational projects across the entire Northern Province. We found out that most encountered challenges are linked with inaccurate feasibility studies, inefficient implementation on the part of contractors, procurement processes, poor monitoring, and less involvement of beneficiaries. We examined efforts invested into local development projects and their subsequent impact on people’s livelihoods […]. One certain remedy to the challenges lies into self-assessment and regular training. This training session shall therefore empower us to counteract the challenges met while implementing LED projects”.

On this occasion, Mr. NGENDAHIMANA Pascal, Division Manager of Local Economic Development at LODA, reiterated that the intent of this training is to: (a) enable DPMCs to accomplish their roles and responsibilities by rethinking all aspects of infrastructure project planning, designing, implementation, review, evaluation and monitoring, and to (b) discuss how to improve the quality of the implementation and delivery of LED infrastructure projects. He stressed that the established DPMCs have to be actively involved in project management from the inception to operation and maintenance phases.

This training is technically being facilitated by LODA and MINALOC experienced staff, and it is financially supported by Enabel-Rwanda. It shall equally be conducted for the same District staff in Southern and Western Provinces, as well as the City of Kigali in the near future.