In 2005, countries from around the world endorsed the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, a comprehensive attempt to make aid more effective based on principles of partnership, in order to produce better development results. As part of this initiative, Belgium committed to the principle of ‘alignment’, both with the partner’s development agenda and its management systems for the delivery of aid.

'National Execution' implementation modality
Throughout the years, BTC (now Enabel) has progressively relied more and more on Rwandan systems for the implementation of its projects: for a long time, most tenders have been managed according to the Rwandan Public Procurement law, and projects and programmes have been integrated in the Single Project Implementation Units (SPIU) that were established in ministries to coordinate projects funded by external and domestic grants. In the Indicative Cooperation Programme 2011-2014, it was agreed that Belgium would further enhance the use of country systems, by implementing projects under ‘National Execution’ modality. The Ubuzima Burambye (UB) Health Programme was identified as a pilot thanks to the long-standing and excellent relationship with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and its well-established SPIU.

Use of Rwanda's country systems and procedures
The most important change relates to the full alignment with the Rwandan planning and budgeting calendar, as well as the use of the Government of Rwanda’s systems for procurement and financial management (better known as ‘Umucyo’ e-procurement and ‘Integrated Financial Management Information System’/IFMIS respectively). The former change implies that UB’s activities are planned and budgeted for according to exactly the same procedures and timeline as MoH’s activities funded with domestic resources, which reduces transaction costs for the partner. The latter ensures that the UB Programme is integrated in the national budget and its expenditures reported in the GoR financial statements. Moreover, this close involvement offers opportunities for strengthening those systems through regular feedback which is provided to the relevant units in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) or the Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA).

Capitalising on the UB Programme experience
After two years of programme implementation, it can be said that the integration into national systems has been successful, although it has not always been without challenges. Notwithstanding the drawbacks, it is assured that future cooperation programs may benefit from the UB Programme experience thanks to an elaborate ‘lessons learned’ overview which has been built up over the years.

For more info about the use of the National Execution modality, contact pieter.deparcq@enabel.be