RUYIGI, January 14th (ABP) – Non-governmental organizations that support the government in the field of food security are called upon to participate in the drawing up and adjustment of their projects to district community development plans.
These same NGOs are also called upon to be transparent and not to hide the budgets dedicated to the projects they implement for the benefit of the people.
This appeal was made on Wednesday January 10, 2024, by the governor of Ruyigi province, Mrs. Emerencienne Tabu, after a retreat of members of the provincial food and nutritional security platform in Ruyigi, with the technical and financial partners who intervene in this field, with a view to evaluating and setting objectives for this year 2024.
During the retreat, the medical director of the health province of Ruyigi, Dr. Prosper Bigendako, said that statistics show that food security has significantly improved during the year 2023 compared to the previous year. He stressed, however, that despite this improvement some localities of that province remain behind in the fight for healthier food security.
To that end, he pointed to the Gitwa-Bukamba village, which alone has more than 45 people with severe malnutrition, in need of treatment within the learning and nutritional rehabilitation centers (FARN). He insisted that this locality requires a combined action of awareness and practical actions for the eradication of diseases linked to malnutrition.
The head of the provincial branch of the community development plan in Ruyigi commune, Jéditus Nirera, spoke of certain shortcomings which appear in the collaboration with technical and financial partners who intervene in the field of food and nutritional security at the district level.
Some do not participate in the Annual Works and Budgets Planning (PTBA), thus pushing administrative officials to a certain distrust and gaps in the reports which are transmitted from the communes to the rest of the higher levels of the administration.
Mr. Nirera also noted a certain opacity regarding the management of financial resources and the sums of money allocated to the projects of certain stakeholders and suggests that things be changed.
Faced with this situation which characterizes the field of food and nutritional health in that province, the governor of the Ruyigi province warned the NGOs working in that field that the lack of transparency must stop for the welfare of the people. They were also called upon to be punctual in all meetings that concern them with a view to good communication to strengthen trust among partners.
Note that the members of the provincial platform and those representatives working in the field of food and nutritional security have agreed to meet in March for an evaluation of the step already taken in putting all of those pieces of advice into practice.