The Joint Governance Assessment in Rwanda
Willy GASAFARI, Socioeconomic Affairs Governance Specialist
Rwanda Governance Advisory Council (GAC)
Governance Assessment for Accountable Politics
Workshop in Windhoek, Namibia 02nd, -05th, 2009
Outline
Introduction : JGA methods,
management
II. JGA: origin and process;
III. JGA Principles
IV. Analysis of data
V. Findings
VI. JGA: Indicators
VII. JGA: How does it operate now?
VIII. conclusion
I.
I. INTRODUCTION
The assessment was requested by His Excellency
the President of Rwanda on 3 reason:
Un coordinated , fragmented governance
assessment by different stakeholders leading to
high transaction costs.
The lack of clear bench marks and standard
indicators to monitor governance trends.
The need to establish a basis for engaging
International opinion on Governance in Rwanda
II.JGA ORIGIN AND PROCESS
 Developed by intl. and national experts;
 Research methods- extensive study combining qualitative (literature) work,
interviews, field visits, workshops , discussion and feed back from the GoR and
DPs;
 Management structure- Technical and steering Committee, co-chaired by GoR
(MINALOC) and DP (WB)
 took about 2 years;
 approved by the Cabinet and the DP meeting;
 Involvement of DP, public and private institutions; at all stages
III. JGA: principles
 JGA is:
 jointly owned ;
 Acceptable to DP for as a basis for their own governance
reporting;
 Credible, of high professional quality and based on sound
evidence;
 conducted in an open and consultative manner;
 a basis for continued dialogue;
 Establishing a monitoring framework
IV. Analysis of data
 The analysis aimed at answering 3 problems :
 What are the governance priorities and appropriate
approaches taking local realities and international norms into
account ?
 How does governance in Rwanda compare against these
standards, and what progress has been made over the period
1998 -2007?
 What indicators are needed to tell us whether Rwanda is
moving in the right direction?
V.Findings
 The report found out that Rwanda has made impressive
progress in addressing its five governance challenge namely:
 Consolidating peace and security; Rwanda now stands out as
one of the peaceful and stable countries in the region .
 Promoting inclusive governance ; Rwanda has made
significant progress in promoting comprehensive governance
by choosing to reject any form of ethnic labeling ,
discrimination and representation in politics and
government.
.Findings Cont’d
 Strengthening the rule of law; progress that has been
made in strengthening the rule of law has been impressive.
 Enhancing accountability; significantly impressive
progress has been made in strengthening accountability and
democracy in general.
 Making the links between governance and broader
development goals: the greatest constraints to governance
in Rwanda are structural and relate to both poverty and low
levels of education.
Findings Cont’d
 In regard to Public Finance: The report found out that
the government of Rwanda is strongly committed to putting
in place a sound PFM system.
 Regarding the judiciary; the report argues that reforms
in the legal sector have strengthened the formal
independence of the judiciary and improved its quality.
 Regarding international human rights, Rwanda has
ratified all of the main international human rights
instruments .
Findings Cont’d
 Concerning the rights of women: Rwanda has made
impressive progress in advancing the rights of women.
(deputies (52%), senate (35%) cabinet(32%), Judges (37%).
 Concerning the rights of refugees: Rwanda meets its
international obligations towards refugees and asylum
seekers, and cooperates fully with UNHCR.
 Concerning social, cultural and economic rights: the
report acknowledges the progress that Rwanda has made in
advancing social, cultural and economic rights as indicated by
improvements in development indicators.
Findings Cont’d
 In regards to investment climate; it was found out that
there are many features that make the country an attractive
place to do business for example low rates of crime and
corruption.
 In regard to corporate governance ; it was found out
that both the government and the private sector are placing
greater emphasis on principles of good corporate governance
.
Findings Cont’d
 The Report found out that there remains persisting challenge
namely:
 Security considerations, both external and internal, which
require continued vigilance .
 Ensuring greater transparency and scrutiny in government
recruitment, procurement and other aspects of public life.
 The judiciary suffers capacity gaps and the overwhelming
case backlog.
Findings Cont’d
 Addressing structural constraints to governance; poverty, low
levels of education and insecure livelihoods.
VI. JGA indicators
 The criteria used in selecting the 45 proposed indicators
were :
 Specificity to governance
 Relevance to most pressing governance issues
 Appropriateness to local context
 International credibility
 Reliability
 Include fact based and perception based indicators
 SMART.
Ruling Justly
JOINT
GOVERANCE
ASSESSMENT
(JGA)
Government
effectiveness
Investment climate
&
Corporate governance
Establishing &
maintaining
security
National reconciliation &
Transitional justice
Ruling Justly
Rule of law
Human rights &
civil liberties
Political rights
Voice and accountability
Public financial management
Anti-corruption
Decentralization
Government
effecteveness
Public service delivery
Public service reform
Ease of doing business
Corporate law
and governance
INVESTMENT CLIMATE
&
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Private sector advocacy
State business relations
VII.JGA : Follow up mechanism &
current status
 The Rwanda Governance Advisory Council charged




with the mission of monitoring, evaluation of the progress on
JGA indicators, by the means of research
4th Sept, JGA TC validated research tools (questionnaire &
methodology);
2nd Oct, JGA SC approved research tools;
12th October to 26th October 2009, JGA data collection
Funding: GoR and DPs
VIII.Conclusion
 JGA owned by Gov & DPs. Can it be owned by the local
people?
 What role by DPs in making JGA framework sustainable, and
effective in improving governance standards on the ground?
 JGA has got a clear monitoring framework; but funding
mechanism was not elaborated!
www.rwanda-gac.org
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
gasafw@yahoo.fr