As infrastructure investment continues to expand across Rwanda, effective environmental and social safeguards remain an essential in promoting inclusive and sustainable development. It is in that regard that, Transparency International Rwanda, through the APESA Project has conducted a baseline assessment in 13 districts on how environmental and social safeguards (ESS) are implemented in public infrastructure projects.
Findings revealed that Rwanda has strong legal framework on ESS, including obligation to conduct impact assessments, public consultation, and grievance redress mechanisms. Findings confirmed that those mechanisms are largely in place and functional. However, the assessment highlights gaps between policy commitments and routine implementation, hence emphasizing the need to amplify monitoring efforts, strengthen institutional capacity, and active stakeholders’ engagement.
Across sectors, the assessment identified best practices and areas for improvement. Road projects generally meet procedural requirements but face challenges related to site safety, environmental protection measures, and consistent use of personal protective equipment.
Electricity projects show strong adherence to environmental and social safeguard planning and expanded energy access, though improvements are needed in occupational safety practices and community awareness of electrical risks. In the water and sanitation, operational delays after construction were noted, hence underscoring the need to ensure sustainable planning into project lifecycle.
Regarding citizen consultation and feedback, findings reveal that even if citizens attend consultation forums, 67.1% of People Affected by Projects, 79.7% of workers, and 76.9% of nearby citizens reported that they did not have opportunities to influence project decisions. This might be the reason for citizens’ satisfaction reported low, evidenced (35.1%) overall citizen satisfaction, (27.5%) satisfaction rate among project-affected persons (PAPs), (35.4%) in workers category and (40.1%) of citizens living near project respectively. Connected to that, access to grievance redress mechanisms and access to justice through legal assistance remains uneven, yet (46.2%) of people affected lost their land. This reflects the need to deliver legal aid services, strengthen participation and accountability efforts to build trust between communities and implementing agencies.
The findings recommends priority areas for action, notably : “strengthening institutional capacity, improving monitoring tools, enhancing citizen engagement, and ensuring that social safeguards are integrated into construction and operational phases”. The findings provide a foundation for improving data-driven accountability, where progress can be measured and evaluated.
The added value of assessment in the implementation of APESA Project is that, it set a basis for analyzing effectiveness of APESA project interventions especially in the variables of citizen satisfaction on environment and safeguarding, compensation mechanisms, citizen engagement, consultation and their involvement in the project activities.
Gaps identified, provide a basis for designing responsive interventions that protect the environment, promote safety, and respond to the needs and voices of local communities in areas of buildings, electricity, roads and water supply and sanitation (WSS) hence translating policy commitments into measurable outcomes.