Since May 2025, Transparency International Rwanda (TI-Rwanda) has been working with PTF Europe on a 3-year European Union (EU)-funded project to promote environmental and social justice for citizens during the planning, design, and execution of public infrastructure development.
This €2.1 million project seeks to promote more open and transparent governance of environmental and social safeguarding through better information sharing and participatory environmental and social impact analyses that are meant to inform infrastructure investment plans. It also includes training for public officials on environmental and social safeguards, and for citizens and CSOs to monitor compliance of existing legislation ; the training also has a social accountability component focusing on bottom-up and demand-driven development.
The project is being implemented between May 2025 and May 2028 in 13 districts of Rwanda (see map).
The overall aim of the project is to ensure environmental and social justice along the planning, design, and execution of public infrastructure development in Rwanda for adversely affected citizens. This is being done through activities that are designed to achieve the following outcomes :
Outcome 1 : Open and transparent governance of environmental and social safeguarding of the planning, design and execution of public infrastructure projects by government and donors.
This will mean in practice :
- Working to ensure timely information-sharing with citizens about upcoming new public infrastructure projects and host neighborhoods.
- Supporting participatory environmental and social impact analyses (ESIAs) to inform infrastructure investment safeguarding plans.
Outcome 2 : Rights holders and local duty bearers are becoming more knowledgeable about environmental and social safeguards and applying them to public infrastructure development processes
This will mean in practice :
- Capacity building for CSOs and citizens on existing legislation (relating to environmental and social safeguards) to ensure they are able to monitor the compliance of public officials’ (‘duty bearers’).
- Capacity building for public officials so that they know and can apply existing legislation (relating to environmental and social safeguards) and ultimately improve compliance.
Outcome 3 : Duty bearers increasingly subject themselves, whether voluntarily or not, to accountability for unmet liabilities in relation to public infrastructure developments environmental and social safeguarding
This will mean in practice :
- Creating and managing partnerships to promote accountability, and ensuring their capacity to monitor and report on the compliance of public officials with existing legislation.
- Using monitoring results to demand accountability when issues are found, and to shape the decisions and actions of public officials.
- Providing legal aid and advocacy services to a select group of adversely affected citizens in order to help them ensure their environmental and social rights are respected.