The First Utafiti Sera Stakeholders’ Forum on Urban Governance in Kigali was held on January 18, 2018 in Marasa Umubano Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda. The forum brought together 40 stakeholders from local, national and international institutions concerned with research, urban governance and transformation, and policymaking (see list of participants in Annex 2).
The aim was to introduce Utafiti Sera to the stakeholders in the urban governance in Rwanda, to constitute an Utafiti Sera house and to determine key areas of focus under the Project “Utafiti Sera on Urban Governance and City Transformation: The Case of Rwanda”. The project is being implemented by IPAR-Rwanda in partnership with PASGR.
Ms Kayitesi, Executive Director of IPAR-Rwanda and Prof. T. Aina, PASGR’s Executive Director gave welcoming remarks, with a brief overview of IPAR Rwanda and PASGR respectively. Ms Kayitesi further highlighted the objectives of the project, noting that the project marked an important beginning of a partnership with PASGR and other stakeholders in contributing to a better Kigali City.
Dr Martin Atela, PASGR’s, Research Uptake & Policy Engagement Manager presented on the ‘concept of Utafiti Sera’, highlighting the links between evidence and policymaking. Dr Atela noted that policymakers faced numerous challenges such as complete lack of access to evidence, poor packaging, and inappropriate evidence among other issues, all which inhibited policymakers from using evidence in their policy work. He noted that PASGR’s Utafiti Sera is aimed at addressing these challenges bridging the gap existing between policymakers and researchers.
