Hurdles in policy implementation and efficiency in decentralization: a case study of the decentralized policy by Rwanda Governance Board

Abstract

The Government of Rwanda has adopted many policies for her governance processes. Of the many policies, the Decentralization policy, for purposes of this research project, was taken as a case study. The Policy was adopted on the 26th May 2000 for Rwanda’s various governance approaches. Thirteen years down the road, as evidenced by 100% of all respondents. Some of them include limited finance, poor coordination, poor human resource capacities to mention but a few. More will be discussed in details. The decentralization policy was chosen because it crosscuts all sectors and therefore its ineffective implementation affects all other policies. The researcher took a census of all the 63 employees of the Rwanda Governance Board because this is generally a small number and the researcher tried to have every one respond to questionnaires. The RGB has the overall oversight function of policy implementation not only of the decentralization policy but of all other governance policies and was therefore considered best case study for this reason. The researcher used the descriptive research design. The study was guided by both a general objective and specific objectives. With the general objective, the researcher assessed the hurdles encountered in policy implementation and efficiency in decentralization. With the specific objectives; the research firstly identified the hurdles to policy implementation and efficiency in decentralization, secondly; to determine the efficient strategies toward policy implementation and thirdly; to explore the different policies governing public institutions. Data was collected from respondents to help understand why to date there are yet hurdles in policy implementation and efficiency in decentralization. Findings will be useful to many stakeholders in a number of ways; the academia, the public, learning institutions, and non-government stakeholders. Government will use the findings for appropriate decision making to address the hurdles further. They will also be a basis for further research. In order to ensure policy implementation and efficiency in decentralization, it was therefore recommended that the government increases the funding in public institutions, consider various stake holder participation, increase financial resources, capacity building, and also increased coordination and monitoring to mention but a few.