Rwanda and Liberia sign agreement on local governance and decentralisation
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on The New Times (Rwanda)
Rwanda and Liberia signed a five-year cooperation agreement on local governance and decentralisation in Kigali on 10 November. It aims to improve public services in Liberia’s 15 counties through digital tools and revenue mobilisation, according to The New Times.
Rwanda and Liberia signed a five-year cooperation agreement in Kigali on Tuesday 10 November to strengthen local governance, improve public services and support local economic development, The New Times reports. The agreement is between the Rwanda Cooperation Initiative and Liberia’s Ministry of Local Government. It aims to improve service delivery in Liberia’s 15 counties through digital transformation, stronger local institutions and better revenue mobilisation.
The cooperation covers five areas: the digitisation of Liberia’s county service centres, fiscal decentralisation and domestic resource mobilisation, the development of natural resources and local economic development, institutional partnerships and capacity building for local authorities. The two countries will examine how Rwanda’s experience with Irembo, the digital platform for public services, can inform the modernisation of services in Liberia. Institutional assessments and pilot projects in some counties are planned.
The fiscal component will target local revenue administration systems, land registries and collection, so that counties can fund more of their own priorities. Exchanges will take place between the Rwanda Management Institute and Liberia’s Local Government Training Institute. Rwanda’s Minister of Local Government, Dominique Habimana, attended the signing.
