More than 46% of young people know nothing about national planning and budgeting.

RYOF member organisations are determined to ensure that issues that prevent young people from participating in government planning and budgeting, including lack of information, are addressed.

This was a study conducted by the Rwanda Youth Organisations Forum (RYOF) in collaboration with Never Again Rwanda to understand why youth are not involved in the planning and implementation of the Planning and National Budget programmes, when it is already clear that Rwanda scores very poorly at an international level.

The study (analysis) of 3,000 young people conducted in April and May this year (2024) in different parts of the country found that most young people said they did not have any information, so they did not know how, where, who and how to participate, making their contribution invisible.

On the other hand, about 99.6% of the respondents said that there is a need to increase the participation and sharing of young people, and they found that what is needed is to change the mindset, get information and understand how it happens. This is to enable them to make their own contributions.

RYOF executive secretary Mutangana Kabera said they found that the main reason for this was that young people did not have the right information.

RYOF Executive Secretary Mutangana Kabera said they found that the main reason why young people were ignorant about the preparation and implementation of national planning and budgeting was lack of information.

He said, “That is, the agencies responsible for the activities we also have information that we need to update and understand, they are there, they need to contribute because they have shown that they need to contribute, but they need to know that these things are happening, how they provide their information, their ideas, where they started, when they submitted, how they see the results of the results, the main role comes from the authorities responsible for investigating them because they have shown that information is needed to understand these things.

Coordination Director of the Rwanda Human Rights Organization (CLADHO), Everiste Murwanashyaka, who was one of those who reached an agreement with the Ministry of Finance and Planning to coordinate all activities related to the role of citizens in public finance planning and budgeting, said low youth participation affects the country as a report by the International Research Center on the Use of National Budgets showed that Rwanda’s score for “citizen participation in national planning and budgeting” was 16%.

Everiste Murwanashyaka, coordinating director of Human Rights Rwanda, said the lack of knowledge among young people is affecting the country.

He said, “When countries score low, they still face sanctions, including lack of support from the World Bank and its affiliates, including being included in the list of countries that are not allowed to get loans. In fact, they have a lot to lose because the country does not provide a clear fiscal budget. If there is a little lack of time for the public to express their opinions on the national budget, they will be scored.

He added: “This has a big impact on the health of the country and the people because if the country gets international aid, if it stops getting any loans from foreign banks, and all the people who read these reports they feel that the country is not trusted, so this requires us to take serious steps to move us from the current score to a higher score so that the world can grab this opportunity from us and not miss it.”

National Youth Commission Executive Secretary Robert Mwesigwa said it was important for youths to participate in the planning and implementation of the government budget.

Robert Mwesigwa, executive secretary of the National Youth Commission, said it was important for youth to be involved in the preparations.

“The youth understand that this plan is for the beneficiaries and they have a very important role to play in it, but they should also continue to pay attention to what they see and let people know because their participation is very necessary,” he said.

Once the findings are received, a report will be prepared and submitted to all agencies dealing with youth to see what steps can be taken to ensure that the information that youth need to receive is implemented.

Furthermore, when countries are below the above penalty, the world average score is 15%, although Rwanda is 16%, there are also countries such as Georgia and Hungary that are above 80%.