UBUDEHE ‘’Voices of the Poor With Hope’’

PRESENTATION ON UBUDEHE INITIATIVE IN RWANDA AT THE UNITED NATIONS PUBLIC SERVICE AWARDS 2008 CEREMONY. NEWYORK 23.06.2008

UBUDEHE: General objective

Creating spaces for citizen participation in:

Self-GovernancePoverty AnalysisLocal Problem SolvingSector / District Planning

ISSUE/PROBLEM

After 1994 genocide and its consequences the govt was to address the following Challenges:

1. Citizen resignation towards poverty2. Limited capacities of community to plan

and implement solutions3. Mistrust among citizens 4. Disengaged citizenly – Highly dependent

KEY BENEFITS

Ubudehe initiative promoted – self governance,– Poverty reduction– Better services responding to the needs of the

citizens– Entrepreneurship and competition– Promoting formal economy– Trust, tolerance, community spirit

KEY Benefits con’t

Ubudehe initiative is still ongoing but it has achieved several milestones:

1. Poverty Analysis coverage is almost 100% of the country (this increased people’s understanding of poverty) Fig: people analyzing their own problems

KEY Benefits con’t

2. Incentives have been created for people to come together in local collective action through both policy and funding

KEY Benefits con’t

3. The initiative enables communities to increase their own problem-solving capabilities

KEY Benefits con’t

4. Central Government –Local Government NGO – Donor partnership model

Key BENEFITS

5. PPA ( Participatory Poverty Assessment) transformed into Participatory Poverty Action –3rd Generation PPA

6. Every cellule(village) has two persons who have been trained to facilitate a self- managing problem – solving effort.

7. The creation of a bank account for every Ubudehe effort has created a network for resource flows, from the centre to the cellule (village), which can be the backbone of a microfinance system.

Main stakeholders

Rwanda governmentDFID RwandaEU Delegation to RwandaBTC (Belgium) and GTZ (German)ActionAid RwandaVillage volunteers (elected by citizens at local level)Citizens Needs to be involved all people working with the community

Is the initiative sustainable and Transferable

Ubudehe is founded on the core principle: Citizens must be enabled to exercise the power to act.Ubudehe has grown from a small pilot of 600 cells to more than 9154 cellsUbudehe process is facilitated by local community volunteers trained 2 per villageUbudehe enables citizens to design local problem solving institution that can self govern and self manage

Ubudehe traditon

Ubuduhe Implementation Steps

Training of TrainersTraining of facilitatorsFacilitation at village level (Village residents come together in discussion about poverty)Social categories and their characteristics definedSocial Map of the village drown on a ground

Ubudehe Implementation Steps

A hand-drawn map of the village is on a cloth with all social categories Local problems are prioritizedAn action on a problem of their choosing is takenOne poor households selected in every village is to be helped with some resources to pursue livelihood strategies

Ubudehe Data

Social categories are shown on a social map (their characteristics see village reports)Number of people of every categoryOther categories according to their status, to what they do and ownAny other information that is needed to be given by village residents on a visual toolExample: see the social map of a village on a cloth

Social Map

Conclusion

Ubudehe initiative has transformed the nature of citizen engagement and participation in poverty alleviation and governance. At village level people have the opportunity to express their preferences and are taking part in the problem solving process.

Thank you