Hi again 🙂

Zen Citizen Rwanda 

This month we are excited to share that our volunteer Gaius has launched ‘Zen Citizen Rwanda’. Gaius has been with us for a year now, mainly helping with our website. In his words, “I came to deeply appreciate the kind of impact regular citizens can create, and made a promise to bring the same civic spirit to Rwanda and start ZC Rwanda.” 

As a first step, he has developed ‘Urumuri’ a platform to enable citizens to submit information requests to public authorities and explore a searchable public archive of the collected information. “Urumuri” means light in Kinyarwanda/ bringing public information to light. 

Gaius, you’ve created a circle of inspiration – thank you, and the best for ZC Rwanda! 

Solving for the “29th day reshuffle” in RTI

Along with writing guides that cover undocumented processes and hacks and building simple tools that bridge gaps in government websites, we also examine: is the system built for Govt. staff who are trying to do their jobs well? What constraints are they operating under, and where does it break down? And importantly, is there a role for citizens not just in demanding accountability, but in helping the system work better?

When an RTI is filed, it lands with the PIO and the 30-day clock starts immediately. The PIO forwards it internally. Section officers are supposed to pull records and prepare draft responses, which the PIO compiles and sends to the citizen. Often in practice, once the PIO forwards the RTI application internally, it sits in a section, and around Day 25-29 returned to the PIO with a note “not our section.” The file gets bounced in this manner and the PIO is ultimately held responsible for the delay. 

We’re working with a Public Information Officer (PIO) to build systems to help with workflow management for RTI applications; a system that can sends auto-reminders and gives visibility into who is holding the file, and atleast a semblance of escalation mechanism. 

We are aware this is as much an attitude problem as a systems problem, and in the end our work may come to naught. But that’s not a reason to avoid putting a system in place!

Will keep you posted 🙂 

Link to testimonial in the featured image