On Tuesday, 18 October 2011, the Rwandese Association of Local Government Authorities (RALGA) organised a workshop for Local Governments’ partners in Local Economic Development (LED) and Gender programs at Lemigo Hotel, Kigali. The aim of the workshop was to present to national LED stakeholders an inception report about RALGA’s project to develop materials to guide Local Governments officials and professionals in the development and implementation of LED programs with a special emphasis on gender equality. Implemented with the support from the German International Cooperation (GIZ), the project also aims at developing training materials and conduct training sessions for Districts’ LED coaches. The coaches to be trained include staff from key Local Governments’ partner institutions in LED and Gender programs.

Why this project?

As part of the inception report reads “the main objective of this consultation is to develop a practitioner’s package of tools that will allow RALGA staff, trainers and other supporting organizations to facilitate Districts in designing and implementing LED strategies with a particular emphasis on gender”.

According to RALGA Expert in Charge of Local Economic Development, Mrs. Innocente MURASI, the idea of developing the project came up after RALGA noticed that its members were facing challenges in implementing the various LED strategies developed both at national and local levels. After its implementation, the current project is therefore expected to help local leaders and technicians to better understand the LED concept. As a result, they are expected to better implement the existing strategies, develop new ones and help others to do the same.

Workshop aimed at gaining ownership by national LED stakeholders

The direct outcome expected from this consultative workshop with national LED stakeholders was to garner their commitment to the process. Mrs. Zini Godden and Mrs. Vanessa Kruger, the two consultants from South Africa hired by RALGA to conduct the project, presented to participants in the workshop the objectives and approach to be used for the project’s successful implementation. After the presentation, participants were given the opportunity to ask questions and suggest inputs during an open discussion session.

Key issues were tackled including the importance of having a clear baseline showing the gaps from previous similar projects to allow the current project not to be just another one; the need to translate in Kinyarwanda at least some of the materials to be developed to allow maximum implementation; the necessity to include other key stakeholders such as the Private Sector and NGOs in the process; and the importance of considering rural versus urban criteria while selecting the sample of Districts to work with; to mention but a few.

Participants to the workshop included representatives from RALGA and GIZ as partners in the project, but also representatives from other national LED stakeholders such as the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC), the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Belgian Embassy, the Private Sector Federation (PSF), UN Women, the National Women Council, the Netherlands Development Agency (SNV), Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS), Rwanda Civil Society Platform (RCSP) and Rwanda Local Development Support Fund (RLDSF).