The World Bank team conducted the 4th Implementation Support Mission for the Advancing Citizen Engagement Project (ACE) in Gicumbi and Huye Districts with the aim of discussing technical, policy, and coordination support and accomplishments as the project progressed, as well as lessons learned, challenges encountered and improvement initiatives in target districts.

The World Bank’s Country Director for Rwanda, Rolande Pryce, revealed that the Advancing Citizen Engagement Project is nurturing a bottom-up approach to making community-level decisions that aid in poverty alleviation.

She mentioned this on the sidelines of the 4th World Bank Implementation Support Mission held in Gicumbi and Huye districts. Pryce also shared that the Spark Microgrants project is implemented in a very inclusive manner and helps communities decide on the projects they want to invest in in order to increase income and improve livelihoods. “Instead of being told what a village member should invest in and what the district should invest in, citizens sit together, discuss and agree on a total vision for their village, then they figure out how to get there in what they will invest in,” Pryce said after visiting community projects in Gicumbi District.

The World Bank Country Director appreciated how the ACE project is motivating communities and local government officials to work in a different way to engage communities to gain maximum benefits from their chosen projects.

“We have Spark, an NGO that has been motivating communities and local government officials to engage communities so that investments are really optimized for maximum benefits,” she mentioned.

She said that the main focus of the World Bank is eliminating extreme poverty and boosting the income of the bottom by 40%.

“A project like this is a starting point, it is a demonstration of the bank's availability for small grants, to show what can be done. What is exciting to me today is that we have also MINECOFIN and understand that we have conversations around whether we might be able to scale up this operation”, Pryce said.

The Director General of the Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA), Marie Solange Claudine Nyinawagaga, said that the Ministry of Local Government and LODA is actively engaged in all districts to support communities in getting out of poverty. She also mentioned that each Sector has a Vision Umurenge Programme (VUP), an Integrated Local Development Program initiated by the Government of Rwanda to Accelerate Poverty Eradication, Rural Growth, and Social Protection, which also aims at building financial capacities of local communities.

“We are progressively combining the possibilities and capacities we have with the support of our partners, to fulfill our goals of raising our people out of poverty. We also encourage them to strive for self-resilience and growth, as the President of the Republic always encourages us. We advise community members to work hard and improve themselves by making use of the opportunities available to them,” she said.

Nyinawagaga thanked Cyumba residents for the vision of achieving sustainable development and having a wealthy sector. “But, more than anything, we want to praise you for your vision. Having a vision is vital because, even if you're trying to get money, you can't get rich if you don't know where you're going, and you won't get rich if you don't know what you want and if that is what helps you work toward a goal,” she said.

Nyinawagaga appreciated the villagers’ contribution to achieving the project's objectives. “A project may come and provide villagers with domestic animals, but if the people do not participate in it, particularly in its implementation, the project will fail,” she said.

Innocent Muhizi, a Social Economic and Development Officer from Huye District expressed how the ACE project is inclusive of women and gave them the opportunity to drive development in their villages, both in making decisions and managing community savings accounts.

“Women are frequently found to be the ones who conduct village meetings, both in making decisions and managing village savings accounts. Another consideration is cleanliness. Earlier, a lady was seen leaving the field without bathing and staying at their home without participating in meetings like their husbands, but now they are taking the initiative with little budgets to help them buy clothing to wear and go to the market, community meetings, and other places to show what they're about,” Muhizi mentioned during a meeting with World Bank team in Huye District.

Muhizi also said that the FCAP meetings gave space to the female child. “They normally lacked knowledge about reproductive health, eating a nutritious diet, and maintaining personal cleanliness, but they now do because they discuss it in meetings,” he said.

Uhirwa Bienvenue from Gishamvu Sector said that the project yielded significant outcomes in improving cleanliness at their homes. “Before the project, women used to sleep on traditional mats and were affected by it, but now, based on the teachings of the development process, women are the ones who take the first initiative in purchasing bed linen, using their savings to buy food, clothes, and other household items, without having to rely on men,” she said.

According to Bienvenue, the project has resulted in increased attendance at village meetings and other government activities. She added that each family now owns at least one livestock, which was not previously the case. “People are happy today. In the past, many projects used to consider villagers according to their Ubudehe categories, but Spark has brought about a shift in which the ACE project is citizen-centered; it now looks at every household. The people have become one, which is something we are proud of. We applaud the World Bank and our administration, especially the district that cares about us,” she said. 

Bienvenue also requested that the Spark model be replicated in other villages in light of the changes it has brought to the current communities. “We would like to ask you to assist us in bringing these beneficial improvements to the other Sectors that comprise our District because it is now simpler to see a citizen and work with him, as well as to tell the citizen to consider what will better him/her,” she mentioned.

She also added, “You would have asked a villager, ’What do we need for you?’ "Help me with what you want," he replied, but now a villager is left sitting and saying to you, "What I need is this because I believe it will improve me and my family." Village members are now left to sit and say, "We need a pillar to achieve the development we want," owing it to the training they received in partnership with the ACE project.

Esperance Mukarwego from Cyumba Sector said that the project had helped her family relief from poverty. With my improved health, I can keep running my farm and the yield allows me to cover my kids' tuition costs.

They gave me a single pig and it has since given birth to five calves, giving me the satisfaction of having six pigs in my home.

The Joint Action Development Forum (JADF) Coordinator in Huye District Kayitare Léon Pierre emphasized the confidence that women have gained since the inception of FCAP meetings, which has increased the number of women engaging in decision-making and their contributions to the social development of families. “If you look closely and examine the local entities, you will notice that women beneficiaries of this project are also in decision-making positions since when a person advances, he or she becomes more aware of his or her own worth and dares others to join”,  Kayitare said, adding that, “This is why women are left to express their perspectives, and they are regarded as stable opinions, as women gain confidence in sharing their thoughts, which  is also an indication of progress brought about by the ACE project.”

The Advancing Citizen Engagement Project aims to support small businesses to improve the livelihoods of around 76,000 people across 249 rural poor villages through small grants. Target villages will receive micro-grants two years in a row, in order to hone their planning skills, enhance livelihood benefits and further build trust and confidence.

The ACE project kicked off in September 2021 in 249 villages in seven districts. The project is an initiative of Spark Microgrants, implemented through the collaboration of the World Bank, Spark Microgrants, Comic Relief, and the Governments of Rwanda and Japan. A total population of 152,645 is benefiting from the project in terms of improved village planning and engagement with local government.

The 4th World Bank Implementation Support Mission was meant to witness how the project is affecting villagers' livelihoods.

Government officials from the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, and LODA as well as local leaders and Community-Based Facilitators joined the Mission.

In addition to meetings with district officials, the mission attended community meetings in Rucyizi Village, Cyumba Sector, and Kabingo Village, Kigoma Sector, where they were able to engage with villagers and see how the ACE Project is improving citizen engagement and lives in target villages through the FCAP process. Village members were given the opportunity to discuss their roles in implementing their chosen projects and how they intend to sustain them for future development.

Following the 4th Implementation Support Mission, Rwanda Country Manager Rolande Pryce expressed her satisfaction with the project's results in encouraging social cohesion and transformation in communities.

Impressed by the significant tangible outcomes achieved in Gicumbi District through the ACE project, Local Government and beneficiaries testify to the transformation brought by the Spark Microgrants.