ACBF APPROVES CAPACITY BUILDING SUPPORT FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND CIVIL SOCIETY
On August 28, 2007, the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) signed a grant agreement with the Rwanda Private Sector Federation (PSF) to the tune of US$ 1.7 million in Harare, Zimbabwe. Dr. Sako, ACBF Executive Secretary pointed out that African governments have started to realize the centrality of the private sector as an engine of growth, and as such, should play an active role in the design and implementation of economic policies. He remarked that Rwanda, a land-locked country, is currently investing in the development of its private sector, particularly the services sector, as part of its post-conflict economic recovery programme. Representing PSF, Mr. Faustin Mbundu Kananura, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, in response, thanked the Foundation for the support and indicated that the signing of the grant agreement represented an important milestone for the Rwandan private sector. He indicated that the grant would serve to build and strengthen the human and institutional capacities, contribute to the development of the services sectors, and thus contribute to efforts to realize the 2020 Vision goals in terms of overall poverty reduction and economic development of the country. He expressed PSF’s commitment to implement the objectives of the project, and to make the project a best-practice case in Africa.
Dr. Soumana Sako (right), Executive Secretary of ACBF, exchanging instruments of the grant agreement with Mr. Faustin Mbundu (left), Chairman of the Board of Directors, Rwanda Private Sector Federation (RPSF), Rwanda
The US$1.7 million grant for the Rwanda private sector seeks to improve the private sector competitiveness in and access to local and international markets; enhance the public-private interface for effective engagement of the private sector in Rwanda; strengthen national business development centers (BDCs) to improve their performance as effective one-stop business centers for the private sector; and, enhance the human and institutional capacity of PSF.
In a related development, ACBF has officially approved US$ 400,000 to support a one year pilot capacity building project for the civil society. The objective of this project is to enable the Rwandan Civil Society build analytical and professional skills for decision making; to clarify and strengthen the interface between the Civil Society and other sectors; and to increase their participation in the formulation of national policies and programmes. The project is a consolidation of 6 individual projects from: CCOAIB; Rwanda Civil Society Platform; Centre IWACU; DUTERIMBERE (Women entrepreneurship and banking scheme); Rwanda Journalists’ Association (ARJ); and CESTRAR (Rwanda Workers Unions Federation). The project activities will entail (i) reinforcement of professional skills; (ii) reinforcement of the framework of dialogue between civil society, the government authorities and the private sector and (iii) to reinforce the use of ICT as tool of horizontal and vertical communication within and outside civil society organizations.
Until 1999, the lead donor in capacity building in Rwanda was UNDP. The African Capacity Building Foundation (ABCF) entered the arena in 1999, when it initiated a needs assessment and formulation of a capacity building strategy for Rwanda’s economic management institutions. In light of past experience and the capacity building needs, ACBF recommended that Rwanda needed a different approach to capacity building and more specifically public financial management. To this effect, in June 2001, ACBF approved a Grant of US$ 3 million for the Government of Rwanda (GoR) to support Government in strengthening economic public financial management. In December 2004, ACBF approved another Grant of US$ 4 million for the Rwandan Government in support of the MSCBP whose implementation is managed by HIDA.
HIDA is the national focal point for ACBF and is currently managing the implementation of the two Grants (65 and 143). A consultative seminar organized by HIDA and ACBFA was organized with the private sector, civil society and government officials and held on June 15 2006. This workshop generated discussion particularly on the interface between the non state actors. ACBF also used this occasion to brief participants on possible capacity building support. The concerned participants were requested to prepare project proposals to this effect and it is against this background that ACBF approved capacity support for the private sector and civil society in Rwanda.
HIDA is now a member of the Project Steering Committee of the PSF Capacity Building Project and is due to sign an MoU with the Civil Society to kick-start their capacity building programmes.
