A mission was commissioned to the PCM Group by Sida to assist in the process to draft a quality project proposal for the Rwanda Information Technology Authority Capacity building project, a project which will be carried out from July 2006 to December 2009.

Due to serious delays in the implementation of the first phase it was considered necessary to initiate a process to analyse and revive the functioning of RITA and to present such initiatives in a new quality proposal in order to provide confidence for continued support by Sida.

ICT was identified by the President of Rwanda as an important sector for the socio-economic development in the country. Since 1998 the government has been working with the elaboration of a _frame_work for the ICT development in Rwanda. This resulted in an ICT Policy that was adopted by the Cabinet in the spring 2000. The ICT policy states the visions and the strategies for how Rwanda should be changed into a information and knowledge _base_d society.

The principal policy instrument is the National Information and Communications Infrastructure Plan (NICI). The NICI Plan is supplemented by a comprehensive blueprint with a series of specific initiatives for achieving the policy _object_ives.

The implementation of the first NICI plan has been followed up by Rita. On an aggregate level roughly 25 % of planned activities were implemented during according to plan. The failure rate of 75 % can mainly be explained by the plan being extremely ambitious in correlation to available resources.

However, it is evident that Rwanda has made great progress since 2003 within the ICT area. RITA has been established and is now a functioning as statutory organisation with ability to take initiatives and to implement activities. A basic infrastructure in the form of a fibre back-bone and an internet exchange point has been established. The central Government operates a functioning WAN that interconnects most Ministries and other Government institutions in Kigali. All ministries have established ICT departments, and are developing and operating various information systems. In some cases, like Ministry of Finance, fairly advanced in-house development of Financial Management and Human Resource systems is ongoing. Most ICT related staff at the Ministries and Rita has also been trained in ICT related issues, and students are being trained at Kigali Institute of Technology (KIST).

Because RITA had already an agreed Plan of Operations, and because the major difficulties were perceived to be concentrating around the functioning of RITA, the workshop focused on the internal issues affecting the functioning of RITA. We call this the ENTITY and determined the boundaries or _frame_work of the discussions.
In order to get the relevant information ‘on the table’ we invited key staff and some externally involved persons. They were supposed to know the quality of the services rendered and related satisfaction levels of the beneficiaries and know the internal constraints affecting such quality.

The moderator used primarily brainstorming techniques where by all participants brainstormed on the ‘entity’ and all issues written on (yellow) cards and placed on the wall paper. The all these issues were read out load and clarified by anyone if necessary. Then those issues were clustered under specific categories identified by the group and discussed in depth. Small sub-groups of 4-6 persons were invited to brainstorm solutions to the issues raised (written on white cards), after which these were presented by a representative of the sub-group to all participants in a plenary session. Further intensive discussions and modifications took place leading to agreements on the approaches suggested. This process was repeated for each category.
After the workshop a couple of days were devoted by the moderator to coach team in the proposal writing process. In order to streamline that process an outline with chapters of the proposal was suggested. Chapters were primarily written by RITA staff members. Some text of sub-chapters and editorial modifications were offered by the moderator.

Main results of the workshop
The main and most important result of the workshop was the immediate replacement of the Executive Director. The amount of evidence of poor management that was disclosed in the workshop was of such serious nature that the Minister acted upon this by replacing him even during the workshop.

Apparently the large number of incidences of poor management had de-motivated most staff members and had created quite a bad atmosphere at work and had almost paralyzed the institute. The anonymous brainstorming technique used in the workshop gave room to ‘empty their bucket’ and express all those pending and none resolved issues. The Executive Director could accept most of the criticism expressed and showed willingness to adjust and introduce changes.

Dynamics of the workshop
Most participants had never experienced such a facilitated workshop which is characterized by an unusual and frequently mixed seating arrangement in half a circle without tables facing the moderator and the wall on which the visualization of issues took place.

It was quite interesting to see how quick the participants trusted the workshop process and were willing to express their deepest concerns. Apparently ‘the lid had been kept on the pot’ for too long and the anonymity and confidentiality proclaimed were trusted to share even the very sensitive issues.
During the workshop a strong process of ‘bonding’ and team building was observed leading towards a very constructive dynamics which motivated them to even continue the workshop until late.
The enthusiasm by many participants even continued after the workshop by sharing the changes that were implemented and the positive effect these had on the atmosphere in the office.

Hi Erik,

It’s nice to hear from you. I’m sorry that we didn’t get a chance to say good bye, that Monday was really hectic for me.
I apologize for not sending this evaluation questionnaire earlier. I was in Japan when you sent the first mail and when I got back I had 250 e-mail, so I guess it slipped though my fingers.
Please let me, once again, thank you for an excellent workshop. This was exactly what RITA needed and people here are really enthusiastic. The “new mentality” has been passed down the hierarchy and RITA is once again an institution with motivated and, most importantly, happy employees.

Best Regards
Jorge

PS. RITA has now opened a coffee-shop and it really has brought people together.

Hi Erik

Good to hear from you, I can’t believe you left before we could meet again and say bye. I must say am disappointed. However, that should not stop me from telling you what I observed and appreciated about you. You did your job way too well; It is amazing how you did the job. I was challenged on how you handled and facilitated such an important discussion.

It was unfortunate that I did not manage to be part of it fully. My boss (Dr. Mmasi Raphael- eRwanda Project) was attending full time and so as his assistant there was so much to run in the office. I had to stay behind and take charge of the day to day running of the office.

I am quiet sure that everything will soon go as planned. Due to the fact that I did not attend up to the end, I guess I would find it a little difficult to contribute towards the chapter you mentioned that was not completed.

I would also like to thank you for making me feel important and needed during the sessions I attended. It was very encouraging and I still feel terrible that I was not able to participate to the very end.

Hoping to hear from you soon. Thank you !

Annet

Dear Erik,

Please accept my heartfelt thanks for the wonderful job you did for RITA. I sincerely appreciate the way you moderated the workshop and the values you added geared towards fruitful workshop deliberations.

Please find attached complete evaluation form.

Wishing you all the best.
Raphael