United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

With the administration and territorial reform effective from January 2006, the new sector of Cyeza combined 2 parts, one from the former KIYUMBA District and the other from the former GITARAMA Town. The challenge was to unify the people of the two parts and make them realize they have to be one so as to harmonize service delivery, find solutions to the problems facing their sector and fight efficiently their common enemy, poverty. This situation affected much the poor, and particularly children. One of the consequences was that 60 children had dropped out secondary school.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The key benefit resulting from the initiative is to built the spirit of togetherness in the 31 114 population of the sector. It has been possible to measure this at the occasion of the celebration of IMIHIGO WNINER DAY (UMUNSI W’UMUHIZI) that took place on October 13, 2007. People were so enthusiastic during the preparations and during the celebrations that it was evident that the divisions had disappeared and that people were really united, a situation that the sector could not have experienced in 2006. The event was possible because important actions had been taken. Indeed, the mutual acceptance had been established by creating associations which later on became cooperatives. These are the cooperative of elected leaders at the cell and sector level called IMBONI ZA CYEZA, the cooperative of local entrepreneurs called IBAKWE and the joint action social and development forum called IHURIRO. The initiative benefits the whole population of the sector. It offers opportunity to know best practices and disseminate them; to strengthen the culture of competition, excellence and creativity among the population; to strengthen trust between leaders and the population; to encourage participation and to promote peaceful cohabitation. IMIHIGO WINNER DAY is a kind of public accountability day that encourages collective self-evaluation and common vision building. Among the winners came people who protected and succeeded in saving Tutsi people during the 1994 genocide, including 2 non Rwandese citizens. Recognition of such a bravery action pushes the community to take it as a value to build upon. The evaluation also revealed that the Joint Action Social and Development Forum IHURIRO had paid 700 000 Frw of school fees and that all the 60 children who had dropped out from school were attending, that the cooperative of entrepreneurs IBAKWE had mobilized 1 000 000 Frw for its savings and credits scheme. These are achievements to be praised and to be known by all the community members so that they support, imitate or join.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The solution was proposed by the Executive Secretary of Cyeza Sector to his council. Once adopted, the first stakeholders involved in the implementation were the members of the cooperatives, and the second category of implementers was made of the whole community.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The major objective of the initiative being to unify the people of the sector, the first step was to design a way of bringing them together around common challenges and possible common solutions. The leaders association was thus created in March 2006. Later on, local entrepreneurs were grouped together as a category of people who face similar challenges. The third group to be created was all those individuals and organizations involved in social and economic transformation activities. Once the people accepted to come together, attracted by their personal interests, it was then possible to rely on them and help them realize the challenges facing their community. Not only together they would find appropriate solutions to these challenges, but also they owned any decision they had contributed to. Moreover, spending time together and achieving things together allowed mutual acceptance and respect. From the side of the leaders, sensitization became also easy, since people were together and had a common understanding of the future and a shared vision.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The period between January and March 2006 was devoted to the analysing the problems facing the sector. In March 2006 a sensitization meeting was held for the Cyeza sector and cells elected leaders. One of the resolutions of the meeting was to create the association of leaders, whose goals are mutual help and assistance to vulnerable citizens, particularly the shelter less. The association was operational by March 2006 and started building houses for vulnerable fellow citizens in July 2006. 10 houses have been handed over to needy households so far. In March 2007, the association noticed that some children had dropped out from secondary school due to lack of school fees. The leadership made a list of those students and organized a meeting on 29th April, 2007. The participants to the meeting were the organizations that operate in Cyeza Sector, the Catholic Parish, the Protestant Churches, the NGOs and other opinion leaders of the Sector. The meeting resolved that there would be contributions from all the actors in the life of the sector. The following day, all the 60 could attend school again. In addition, the meeting also resolved that it is shameful for the community to fail to pay school fees for children, and that from then on, the case of children dropping out of school because of lacking school fees would not occur anymore in the sector. They decided to create a forum that would be responsible for these education issues as well as economic development issues. All these actions led to tremendously positive results. IMIHIGO WINNING DAY (UMUNSI W’UMUHIZI) was designed by the leaders of the sector as way to celebrate the achievements, motivate the achievers but also inspire the community that it is possible and they can do it. This would in term make it sustainable in more participatory manner.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main obstacles encountered are in two categories: The first is related to the population. The citizens are slow in changing practices and habits. This obstacle was overcome on the one hand by focusing on personal interests and concerns, and on the other hand by teaching through the examples of the leaders who accepted to change themselves. In October 2007, the IMIHIGO WINNER DAY was organized to reward publicly the best performing citizens so that the others follow the example. The second category of obstacles has to do with the financial and logistical limitations. Money, equipment, materials and transport at times lacked yet needed. These obstacles were overcome by voluntary contributions, and commitment to work in hard conditions. For example, the members of the association of leaders made long distances on foot while visiting every household to sensitize, mobilize and evaluate the implementation of agreed upon programs.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
All along the process from March 2006 to the celebration of UMUHIZI DAY, the most important resources used are human resources, the members of the associations in particular when it came to organizing and implementing activities. Financial resources were also necessary at times; then the members of the associations and other stakeholders would contribute, like in the construction of houses for the poor where Muhanga District provided iron sheets and tiles. The association of leaders also built a canteen valued at 800 000 Frw to earn money that can help in such circumstances. As far as the IMIHIGO WINNING DAY celebration is concerned, the associations, local partners as well as local community members did contribute.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Rewarding publicly and celebrating individual and collective achievements to recognize their merit is a sustainable initiative, since it is built around the interests of the community. This initiative can be transferred elsewhere in Rwanda and even throughout the world. All that is needed is organizing people and build partnerships locally.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
After the implementation of this initiative the lessons learned are: If empowered, communities can organize themselves, build values, analyze problems, find solutions and implement them. Partnership between the public sector, the private sector and civil society can speed up the implementation of programs and boost social and economic development at local level. It is indispensable to uproot underlying challenges before solving problems that are directly observable Competition and recognizing the merits of people can be good tool to motivate and inspire them and others to improve their performance Mentalities and methods of work can change positively if proper strategies are used. The people of one cell in Cyeza value togetherness and unity in their target to be the best among the cells, thus forgetting about their differences.


Institution Name:		Cyeza Sector
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		François UHAGAZE
Title:		Executive Secretary
Telephone/ Fax:		+250 08892058
Institution's / Project's Website:
E-mail:		uhagaze@yahoo.fr
Address:		Cyeza Sector
Postal Code:
City:
State/Province:		Southern Province
Country:		Rwanda

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information