From left to right : Vice Chair of Transparency International Movement, Chairperson of Transparency International Rwanda and Rwanda Minister of local government at the symposium
“When we talk about the 16 year old Greta Thunberg, we first of all think about climate change. But, it is actually more – it is about social accountability and how effective social accountability can impact on lives and governments’ prioritisation. When citizens are actively participating, their voices can be even amplified at the global scene through use of technology.” These reflections were made by Mrs Thelma Quaye, project manager at Smart Africa during the two day symposium on social accountability organized by Transparency International Rwanda (TI-Rwanda), the grantee of the Global Partnership on Social Accountability.
With the support of the German Development Cooperation (giz), TI-Rw gathered around 100 participants in Kigali, Rwanda on 26th and 27th September 2019 to “explore what it takes to enhance social accountability”. The participants were from government institutions, national and international organizations, academia and the media, from Rwanda, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi and Germany.
During his opening remarks, Program Director of the GIZ Decentralization and Good Governance Program, Mr. Ulrich Berdelmann emphasized on the benefits of social accountability in this era “in a world that is increasingly becoming more volatile with complex challenges of climate change, regional conflicts and changing economic dynamics”. He further emphasized that this symposium is important “to help position citizens in the right place to respond to such challenges”.
TI-Rwanda’s main purpose of organising the symposium was to discuss impactful social accountability tools, frameworks and strategies in Rwanda, the region but also integrating global experiences. In her opening remarks, Mrs Ingabire Marie Immaculée, chairperson of TI-Rwanda highlighted that the Symposium was an opportunity for participants to meet for knowledge sharing and set strong foundation for improved cooperation to deliver to their respective objectives.
Responses from participants : The meaning of social accountability in one word
During the discussions on social accountability tools from government, CSO & development partners’ perspective, the panelists emphasized on the role of civil society organizations ! Successful best practices were shared which include among others Community Scorecards in identifying priorities of citizens and their concerns and specific Rwandan homegrown solutions “Community meetings, public hearing,…”. Mr. Rueben Lifuka, the Vice Chair of Transparency International Movement, recalled that the sustainability of social accountability activities lies in the manner the government, CSOs to engage and involve citizens.
From left to right : Norwegian People’s Aid Country director, CEO of Rwanda Governance Board and Vice Chair of Transparency International movement discussing about social accountability tools from government, CSO & development partners perspective
Monica Kirabo, Angela Izi Nkusi, and Odile Abimana are the three secondary students from Gashora Girls Academy who developed an anti-corruption app and invited at the Symposium by TI-RW. “Democracy is a government of the people by the people and for the people, if we need a democratic nation we need to make sure that we participate by also finding solutions to challenges the country is facing,” the 19 year old Monica stressed during the symposium.
Students from Gashora Girls Academy with Sam Kamau talking about role of youth in social accountability
During the discussions, whether digitization can transform social accountability, added values of digital tools such as increased transparency, improved accessibility, easy reporting, less bureaucracy, and empowerment were mentioned. The session concluded that technology can transform social accountability, but we are not quite there yet. It also highlighted that device and internet affordability are prerequisite, which is far from being perfect in many countries of the world.
The symposium also discussed on strategies to institutionalise the use of social accountability and the use of tools to promote inclusive governance. The participants agreed that supply and demand sides of social accountability ensure the sustainability and institutionalization of social accountability. They have also emphasized that demand actors need to know they have rights to social accountability and supply need to understand they have obligations to ensure that rights are realized.
Dr Sam Kamau, the Director of the Social Accountability Media Initiative (SAMI), an initiative of Agha Khan Foundation, lead the discussions on fake news and social accountability. The deliberations concluded that Governments and other agencies/institutions should share more information to avoid creating a vacuum which allows fake news to thrive. The executive Director of Rwanda Media Commission, Mr Mugisha Emmanuel reminded that “fake” is not only for media practitioners and he proposed that the term should be expanded from “fake news” to “fake data”.
Participants during the breakout sessions on “Fake news and social accountability.”
The symposium also tackled the issue of the SDGs data gap, which hinders tracking progress of several SDG indicator. The panelists on this session, entitled “Social Accountability for achieving SDGs- Leaving no one behind”, emphasized the need to further unpack the issue of data for social accountability. “Citizens need to have a good understanding of what is happening around them and that means that they need information, they need data" stressed Mr Yusuf Murangwa, Director of National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda.
Mr. Apollinaire Mupiganyi, the Executive Director of Transparency International Rwanda during the session “Designing and enhancing citizen-led Governance”
The future of citizen led governance was also among the discussion points with reflections on lessons learnt and future opportunities. Mr Apollinaire Mupiganyi, the Executive Director of Transparency International Rwanda emphasized that Government must create conducive environment that allows citizens’ activities to take place.
The two day symposium was a great opportunity to discuss how to enhance social accountability within Rwanda and in the region. When officiating the closing of the symposium, the Rwanda Minister of Local Government Prof Shyaka Anastase commended Transparency International Rwanda for organizing such important platform to discuss how to involve the main partner in the development : citizens.
The Social Accountability Symposium was initiated based to TI-RW GPSA ongoing project to increase stakeholder’s awareness and knowledge on the use of Social Accountability tools, which proved to be effective in filling the existing gaps of bottom up and top down accountability.