A 4 day LFA workshop with 20 senior police officers from the RNP identified key areas on which to focus in the next strategic plan.
Rwanda National Police (RNP) in its present form was established in 2000, as part of on-going reforms in the justice and security sector in Rwanda. The reform merged the three institutions Gendarmerie Nationale, Communal Police and Judicial Police into one – RNP. The reform was aimed at enhancing efficiency through establishing an efficient, harmonized, professional and popular policing institution and included also a reform of the legal and policy frameworks.
RNP’s mission statement is to deliver high quality service, accountability and transparency, safeguard the rule of law and provide a safe and crime free environment. Apart from the regular work of a policing institution (enforce the law, maintain public order, prevent, detect and investigate crime etc), RNP participates in the reconciliation process in Rwanda, e.g. in over-seeing the traditional resolution mechanism / court of Gacaca.
Development cooperation between Rwanda National Police (RNP) and the Swedish National Police Board (SNPB) was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The cooperation aimed at strengthening the capacity of RNP as a young police organization. After the first phase discussions with the South African Police Service (SAPS) were initiated and a tripartite police cooperation between the three police organizations was launched, code-named the “Programme for Democratic Policing” (PDP).
The PDP objective is “to strengthen the institutional capacity of RNP to deliver quality services to the community as a professional police organization based on democratic values with respect of rule of law and human rights”.
In order to select the right strategic focus for Rwanda National Police as a whole and the PDP project in particular, a Logical Framework Analysis workshop was carried out. The four main areas identified then were: improved criminal investigations, institutional accountability, management development and community policing. Later two other components were added, namely (basic) training and RNP women capacity development.
The guiding principles that are mainstreamed within the program are human rights, gender equality, children’s rights, a holistic perspective on the criminal justice system and HIV / Aids. Features of the cooperation are shared ownership; focus on transfer of knowledge and skills; institutional capacity development, promotion of international cooperation and built-in policy mechanisms for monitoring.
Obviously the previous strategy touched key areas of concern that are still very valid and will remain in focus in the next plan. However this latest workshop highlighted those additional areas that are comparatively still too much ‘in pain’.
Following a prioritization of end-users on the one hand (with highest scores for: survivors of the genocide, girls, witnesses of any crime, investors and criminals of course) and partners on the other (with highest priority for: Community Policing Committees, Local Leaders, Prosecutor Office, Schools, Media and Civil Society Organizations) the emphasis focused on strengthening Community Policing (even though RNP is considered to be exemplary already) and on internal capacity building.
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