Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente has said that the ability of Commonwealth member countries to respond effectively to various shocks and maintain resilience will rely on strengthening governance and decentralization, citing that the two are key enablers of the socio-economic transformation.
The Premier was speaking on Tuesday, November 14, as the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) kicked off in Rwanda, bringing to a halt a six-year virtual-format conference.
The meeting brought together a range of local government players from across government and other sectors: including mayors, ministers, senior officials from local and central government, the private sector, development partners, civil society, academic, research and professional organisations.
In his remarks, Ngirente said that the theme of the conference- Building Local Resilience across the Commonwealth timely.
"It is a call to work together and overcome the current challenges including the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, global economic crisis, and environmental shocks."
He added; "The Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and conflicts have challenged our resilience as Governments."
For instance, Ngirente pointed out that, some reports indicate that the Commonwealth member countries suffered a collective loss of $1.15 trillion to their GDP in 2020 compared with the pre-pandemic estimates.
Likewise, he added, in 2019, climate change-related disasters caused direct economic losses of $70.4 billion in 53 countries, with 60 percent of the losses recorded in the agricultural sector. On top of that, it is estimated that climate change's negative effects could push 100 million people into extreme poverty by 2030.
"This conference is therefore a good opportunity for us to reflect on how to strengthen resilience for local government and explore innovative ways to address these challenges."
Ngirente emphasized the need to build resilience in local government citing that it is crucial to cope with emerging challenges and shocks.
"Our countries' ability to respond effectively to various shocks and maintain resilience will rely on strengthening governance and decentralization. These are key enablers of the socio-economic transformation."
He added; "It is important to ensure that more than 60 percent of the population aged 29 or under, that live in Commonwealth countries are catered for in our development plans."
The Premier also noted that Rwanda is pleased to host this year's CLGF conference, following the successful 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Kigali hosted in 2026.
Speaking virtually at the forum, Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland rallied for joint efforts to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, which calls for making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
"While climate change encompasses political and economic forces on a global scale, it is ultimately about people, how we live, how we move around, how we plan, how we pursue our hopes and dreams for a better world, and how we serve the common good."
Scotland added; "And it underscores that action to build resilience and sustainability brims with co-benefits."
Milestones achieved, but long way to go
Ngirente also highlighted that much as Rwanda has made significant progress in building resilience to local government, there is still a long way to go.
Over the last 29 years, he said, Rwanda has been working to rebuild a stable, united, and prosperous nation.
"Our strategic priorities have been on citizen-centered governance, quality service delivery, and, enforcing the principles of inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability."
"Promoting homegrown solutions as well as sectoral decentralization have been the drivers in building strong and self-reliant local governments entities that contribute to national development."
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To increase citizens' participation, accountability, and transparency from the leaders, Ngirente told a packed hall at the Kigali Convention Center (KCC) that the country put in place a performance contracts program commonly known as Imihigo.
"This program has been a reliable tool for evaluating performance at both central and local government levels 2006. Under this program, every year, Public Servants sign performance contracts with their managers/supervisors or heads of institutions. This is done at all levels of administration, from 5 the local district to ministries and embassies. Those who fail to achieve the set targets are held accountable."
Meanwhile, Ngirente also pointed out that, in order to reduce transaction costs, improve service delivery, and empower citizens, Rwanda has embarked on a complete digitization of public services.
"As a result, today over 90 percent of our government services can be accessed online, and we continue working to have all services digitized by 2024."
