With the elections forthcoming, a delegation composed of UNDP Rwanda staff, officials from the National Electoral Commission of Rwanda (NEC), the CEO of Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) and representatives from the National Parliament, CSOs and the National Forum of Political Organizations all convened in Nyabihu District to witness a demonstration by electoral volunteers on how ballot-box voting works.

The Joint Field Visit was organized under the auspices of the Deepening Democracy and Accountable Governance (DDAG) Joint Programme, which features a collaborative effort between the Government of Rwanda and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).  

The purpose of the programme is to support Government’s effort to strengthen inclusive citizen participation and political accountability thus deepening democracy in Rwanda. It addresses issues of political participation, media-sector reforms and use of evidence based governance and planning.

Speaking at the event, the One UN Rwanda Resident Coordinator Lamin Manneh pointed out that the fundamental tenets of democracy include having leaders who are elected for the people and by the people; by presenting a manifesto that is favorable to the people.

He added that there should also be mechanisms in place that enable the people to hold them fully accountable.

NEC depends on its staff at its headquarters, provincial and district levels to oversee and manage training for up to 75,000 electoral volunteers countrywide, with direct support from the One UN in Rwanda.

This is made possible by using   the volunteerism system to support elections cycle management, first “training of trainers” roll out, which is a national training programme implemented under a “cascade” model where volunteers train other volunteers in thrie turn.

It is noteworthy that basing on the most recent election, NEC reduced the cost per voter from approximately $2.90 in 2008 to $1.20 in 2013, amongst the lowest on the African continent. This was achieved mostly through the use of election volunteerism system, which was first implemented in the 2003 Presidential elections and has been relied on since.