United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Kinigi is one of the sectors that make up Musanze district which is situated in the northern part of the country. The district is made up of many volcanic mountains and Kinigi sector is situated in the middle of those mountains making habitable and arable land very small. Due to its location, the sector attracts a lot of tourists because of the mountain gorillas. However, this sector is not developed to take advantage of its location and the tourists that come to this place.

The executive secretary of Kinigi sector in a way of implementing the government policy of having planned settlement, discussed and agreed with Kinigi inhabitants to regroup themselves and live in planned settlement which is locally known as Imidugudu. This initiative comes to address mainly the following concerns;

The residents of Kinigi sector were dispersed, each living on his plot of land. As already mentioned above the size of arable land is small and the situation is worsened due to further fragmenting of the already small land. This was a big problem in that development is practically impossible because coupled with the size of land; Kinigi inhabitants still practiced traditional means of farming.

Before the initiative, due to this dispersed settlement, it was difficult to develop infrastructure such as roads, schools, health centers and others for the inhabitants. In relation to this, it was not easy for the inhabitants to get services related to the mentioned infrastructure and other services including security.

More to that, Kinigi sector was not able to take advantage of their location by having other income generating activities. This was due to the fact that, there was no developed trading center.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The key benefits resulting from this initiative are: The local residents were regrouped in planned settlement where the basic infrastructure for a sustainable development were made available; among such infrastructure, we can cite; roads, electric power, water tanks, nursery schools, easy communication connections and others. In relation to this, they have been able to develop a trading center with a modern market that works until 8 pm (local time) because they have accessed electricity, which is a big development in a rural setting. Another important benefit of this initiative is that inhabitants of Kinigi sector have consolidated their land so that they can practice modern methods of farming on relatively sizeable land and to also enable them to concentrate on crops (pyrethrum and Irish potatoes) that yield much with their type of soil. This has greatly increased their produce and created a team work spirit and togetherness. The type of settlement has made trade an inevitable practice in the sector, as they concentrated on what they can produce best sell the produce and buy rest. Important to note also, is that from this initiative, the sector leadership has won confidence from the community and as result their participation is no longer an issue of negotiation. The population is more active in implementing development and government programs.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The initiative was proposed by the executive secretary of Kinigi sector. He made efforts to sensitize and mobilize the residents of the sector the advantages of living in planned settlement. The key implementers of this initiative are the inhabitants in close collaboration with Kinigi sector. As mentioned above the residents after buying into the idea, they started contributing money to buy certain services and also agreed to consolidate land for better yields. ELECTROGAZ (national company that provides electricity and water) and the district have been the main partners in the implementation of the initiative.

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.
Sensitization campaigns were the most important strategy that was used. The sector leadership held weekly meetings with each village, together with the inhabitants to discuss their respective problems and possible solutions to them. In line with this, the sector leadership partnered up with the coordinators of all cells in the sector to combine efforts required for this initiative. After the campaign the leadership decided to start with one village which seemed to buy into the idea, so as to attract other villages after realizing the benefit of the initiative. This yielded results, as more villages took on the idea. The main objective of this initiative was to create villages through planned settlement in order to improve the livelihood of the inhabitants through development of infrastructure and economic development. Another objective was to enable the population to shift from traditional methods of farming to modern ones so as to increase their yields and income subsequently increasing economic diversification by creating other income generating activities.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The key implementation steps and their chronology can be summarized as follows: The initiative began in January 2007, and in the month of May of the same year, the first beneficiaries of electricity were registered in KINIGI sector. The sector’s leadership held different and various meetings, in order to raise awareness of the local resident in living in planned settlement and accessing different advantages related to it especially being connected and served with electricity and water. In line with this, the leadership solicited support of coordinators of all cells in the district to be strong partners in sensitizing and mobilizing the population in order to implement this initiative. This process lasted some time and finally, the people agreed on the resulting advantages and grouped themselves in the planned settlement where the economic infrastructures were to reach them. The residents after regrouping themselves, elected an organizing committee, to implement the initiative, they unanimously agreed on an amount to be put aside by the village for electrical connection. The committee met the ELECTROGAZ management for further discussions. After contacting the ELECTROGAZ, and agreeing on contract terms, the residents were then brought to the initiative execution, by contributing financially and physically. They also consolidated their land and agreed on the crops to concentrate on, to improve their yield.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main encountered obstacles are that it took a long time to convince the local residents. Some are not educated; the others have no required financial means, whereas the others even though having money, had no motivation. It took the local administrative units time to organize various, sensitization meetings with the local residents in order to get their consent. This was overcome by using the residents who had quickly owned the initiative to convince their neighbors to adhere to the initiative and this yielded a lot of results more than when the leadership was alone in the campaign.

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
Mainly the resources were mobilized from the community both financial and human resources, and through the organizing committee agreed on an amount for each family to contribute for electrical connection. Other resources were from the central government to support the efforts of the population. ELECTROGAZ provided the technicians while manual labor was and they other labor required was provided by the community and as result in May 2007 KINIGI sector got electricity.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The initiative was realized through community own effort. This means that they will work tirelessly to protect and maintain the results from their own efforts. The connection to electricity has led to the emergency of other economic activities, the evidence of which is increased incomes and improved livelihood. The initiative is being replicated as Kinigi sectors, and KINIGI sector now receives people who come for a study tour to see and learn from them.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
There are many lessons that were learned and of the many are the following: The power to change the environment, living conditions and economic status is in the people, it only has to be properly exploited. In addition to this when the community is involved in their development; the leadership spends less time in trying to solicit their participation. Partnership between the leadership and the community is a big determinant for any development activity to take the required speed and to be sustainable. More to that, as the saying goes “where there is will there is a way”, when the community is convinced of what they want and how to get to it, they will mobilize resources themselves to see it done. Change is a phenomenon that always brings resistance with it, however good it may be. As commonly said perception is a process and therefore people may not easily give up their traditional way of doing things. Showing tangible results may be a drive for people’s participation, involvement and commitment.


Institution Name:		Kinigi Sector
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		ROGER RUBERWA
Title:		Executive Secretary
Telephone/ Fax:		(+0250) 08590045
Institution's / Project's Website:
E-mail:		musanzedistrict@minaloc.gov.rw
Address:		MUSANZE District /KINIGI Sector
Postal Code:		P.O. BOX 03
City:		MUSANZE
State/Province:		NORHERN 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