Effectiveness of Performance contract in the Rwanda's Local Government

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Effectiveness of Performance Contract in the Rwandas Local Government Olivier RWANGABWOBA Public Administration Major Graduate School of Public Administration Master of Public Administration Seoul National University

Strong institutions and speed in service delivery, policy implementation are some of the strategies to speed up national and local development in Rwanda consequently improving the life of Rwandans and achieve a sustainable economic development. The goal of the Rwanda government is to become a middle income country by 2020. Committed to this end, the government of Rwanda has instituted a number of policies and initiatives to provide better service which improve the life of the population while respecting good governance principles. One of those initiatives is performance contract, Imihigo which means that government institutions at all level plan to achieve goals within a specified period. This study, therefore, assesses how this initiative has contributed in the implementation of government programs and policies as well as in behavior change among employees. The focus of this study is at local government level, more specifically at district level. According to the analysis, Imihigo has positively enhanced the way of planning, budgeting and implementation which are carried out at district level. This is caused mainly by the involvement of all stakeholders in the policy process. Interviewees who work in District and central government observe that planning of activities is discussed from the lowest level of the district entities (villages) taking into consideration other stakeholders priorities and the budgeting process is eased because there is a full participation of donors, the government and NGOs along with the district management board. The result showed that Imihigo enhanced behavior change among employees of the district, as well as strengthened relationship between district and its stakeholders, but also among the district staff which result into speed in delivery, team work spirit, and good coordination among others. This study also identified a number of challenges in the whole process of Imihigo. These problems are usually caused by lack of proper skills among employees. The government need to strengthen performance contract, Imihigo system through an integrated performance based management system and a better monitoring and evaluation system is recommended. Key words: Performance contract, Imihigo, effective implementations, behavior change, Performance Management.