{Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have revealed that inadequate funding and International Organizations’ complicated conditions are among the hurdles to the smooth and successful implementation of most of their programs and projects. }
During a meeting between the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) and CSOs held in Kigali yesterday, it was noted that inadequate funding has hindered some projects intended to support government and community initiatives that feed into successful realization of such aspirations as enshrined in EDPRS II and Vision 2020.
Munyamariza Eduard, the chairperson of Rwanda Civil Society Platform (RCSP) said that some CSOs lack adequate capacity which usually leads to underperformance.
“The Rwanda civil society doesn’t receive enough support. At times we employ personnel with inadequate skills for lack of funding to hire the best talent in specific fiels,” he said.
The challenge was also identified by a survey carried out by Transparency International Rwanda on the scale of civil society performance in Rwanda.
The survey indicated that government provides support of 42.5% of their budgetary requirements, CSOs provide 34.1%, leaving a deficit of about 8%.
Munyamariza says that civil society is overwhelmed by difficult conditions proposed by international organizations to accept partnership. He requests the government to facilitate the reduction of such challenges to receive the support without conditionalities.
“Other bottlenecks arise from international organizations which provide support and propose to operate under their direct control yet we know better what is best for Rwandans than they do,” he said.
The government of Rwanda has committed to building capacity of nongovernmental organizations to enhance their participation in the country’s governance, democracy, development and household welfare.
Prof. Anastase Shyaka, the CEO of RGB confirmed the government is aware of these challenges facing civil society organizations and doing all that is possible to address them.
“The government is aware of such challenges. We encourage CSOs establish income generating projects to be able to accumulate enough operational funds which will help overcome overdependence on donor funds,” he advised.
In the first round of supporting CSOs in 2015, 26 of them received USD 1 million to support community development and USD620,000 was granted to 19 organizations during the second round.
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