Democracy and Governance
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Objective: Improved Governance through Increased Citizen Participation
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Program Themes
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Photo Gallery
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Millennium Challenge Corporation Threshold Program
In July 2008, the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Board approved Rwanda’s Threshold Country Plan. The ensuing Threshold Program will be implemented by USAID and the U.S. Department of Justice in partnership with the Government of Rwanda. It will address Rwanda’s MCC Ruling Justly indicators in the areas where Rwanda fails, namely political rights, civil liberties and voice and accountability. It will do so by strengthening the capacity and independence of the judiciary, strengthening opportunities for civic participation, building the capacity of civil society organizations, increasing the professionalism of the media, and supporting efforts by the Rwandan National Police to monitor and improve internal police performance.
Decentralization
USAID supports Rwanda’s decentralization process through the Twubakane Decentralization and Health Program. Twubakane builds the financial and management capacity of local governments in 12 of the country’s 30 districts in order to increase access to and improve the quality of health services. In FY 2008, each targeted district directly received $100,000 to provide better health care in local communities.
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Rule of Law
To promote the rule of law in Rwanda, USAID supports provision of legal aid services to the poor and other vulnerable groups, helping to ensure equitable access to justice. In addition, USAID helps to strengthen the legislative process, supporting Rwanda’s Ministry of Justice and other parts of government in their effort to improve the quality of legislation and ensure that the laws supporting people living with or affected by HIV and AIDS are adequate. Finally, USAID supports activities that assist the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Rwandan judicial system in general to reduce the backlog of pending cases that have accumulated in the national courts due to personnel shortages following the restructuring of the judicial system in 2004-2006.
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Political Party Strengthening
To help build a political system that offers meaningful political choices to its citizens while maintaining a spirit of national unity, USAID supports a political party strengthening project. The project supports and reinforces mechanisms to promote interparty dialogue and builds political parties’ capacity to organize, communicate, and reach out to constituents at the grass-root level.
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Peace and Dialogue
To promote reconciliation and reduce the potential for conflict through increased dialogue and debate on important and sensitive national topics, USAID supports a project that aims to set up permanent fora for debate involving citizens from all sectors of society at the national, provincial and district levels and abroad.
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Education
Building civil society and reducing gender disparities requires an educated population. USAID provides scholarships to disadvantaged, but academically talented, girls and boys. Scholarship recipients are often orphans of war or HIV/AIDS and have limited financial means. In Rwanda, the program grew from 67 beneficiaries in 1999 to nearly 2000 in 2008 of which 77 percent are girls.
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Rwanda Youth Project
The Rwanda Youth Project is a five-year program (2008-2013) with $8 million activity targeting 2,500 out-of-school youth, aged 15-24, in urban areas. Through a combination of education, training, and support services, the Project will help Rwandan young people develop the skills and attitudes necessary to find jobs or create their own employment, as well as to maintain healthy lifestyles and participate constructively in their communities. The Project will also build the capacity of local youth workforce development organizations and seek to contribute to emerging Government of Rwanda policy implementation in this area.
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