Effective Monitoring & Supervision improves service delivery & accountability

ToroDev initiated advocacy forum groups in communities to help monitor service delivery aimed at improving services at community level. Todate we have 21 advocacy forums in different sub counties and districts of the Rwenzori sub region. The members of these forums get trainings from ToroDev where capacity is built especially in areas like minimum standards in health, education, etc which knowledge and skills help them to monitor services offered at Sub county level.

On 19^th April 2017, KRC Fm under ToroDev supported radio program ‘Manya Ekiragiro Kyawe’ that is aired live every Wednesday 8:00pm-10:00pm hosted the co-coordinator of Kicwamba peoples’ development forum & advocacy Mr. Rwaheru Gilbert who shared his experience and how his community has benefited in terms of service delivery as a result of advocacy & monitoring work done by the forum members.

Kaahwa Kansengerwa the program moderator

 Gilbert said effective supervision of government projects should be given priority by duty bearers if we are to achieve quality services and development. We move to these public offices and see how duty bearers conduct their business there, we need to support each other if we are to achieve development because as forum members we have done our role of monitoring how things are done and to some extent through the reports and engagements we get with top district leaders some improvement in service delivery has been realized. For example there was shoddy work being done by the contractors of Kicwamba-Harugongo road and when we realized that what was being done was not quality service and not in-line with the MOU signed between them and the district, we mobilized ourselves, went on radio and also wrote to the district chairperson who responded positively by coming on ground to see what was being done. Reaching the site he too realized that something was wrong and ordered the contractors to use quality materials for road construction, now we have a quality road which we are sure will take some years transporting goods and people.

‘’As a coordinator of the forum I take the honour to thank ToroDev for the skill imparted in us which we have used to advocate for better services and also monitoring the education and health sectors in the sub county and of us thank them for the radio programs & talk shows which have been used to inform and educate people on a number of development interventions’’, said Gilbert Rwaheru.

In coordination with the health management committee we have tried to lobby and monitor health service system functionality and Kicwamba health centre 111 now patients no longer complain of harassment by health workers and drug stock-outs. We have also engaged in sectors that help to support and transform our societies through lobbying for under performing sectors especially health, education, water, roads, economic development and there is positive change especially when we go on radios and point out the issues and responsible duty bearers they act positively which results into improved services for our citizens.

However, We still have problems with roads which are impassable and this has affected people especially those that engage in agriculture as an income generating activity, we therefore call upon the ministry of works and the district engineer to work hand in hand with the contractors so that they can improve on the road network in the sub county especially roads like Kigogo- Kibura road and Kisanga road, said Mr. Rwaheru Gilbert.

We still have challenges of regular supervision of inspectors of schools & SMC ‘s members in schools, limited scholastic materials, in active school management committees and parents teachers association, under staffing, school drop-out, etc all these have affected performance of learners hence poor results especially at PLE. We are trying our best as advocacy forum members to monitor and encourage sub county leaders to play their roles right in order to improve the education sector in our sub county and district as a whole, said Rwaheru Gilbert.

We take a great opportunity to thank SIDA, NED, SPIDER, ICT4DEM, and CIPESA for financial and technical support.