Household performance contract and poverty reduction in the rural area: Case study of Shingiro sector, in Musanze District, Rwanda (2017 − 2018)

Abstract

The research was about the Household performance contract and poverty reduction in the rural area: Case study
of Shingiro sector, in Musanze District, Rwanda (2017 − 2018). The target population of the study considered
Head of households and 8 Key Informants including the local leaders in different villages and the total number of
households is 450. Data were coded, recorded and edited. The analysis used SP SS, and excel as tools. Frequency,
percentages were calculated and interpreted. As the first objective was to assess the level of participation of the
population in decision making while developing household performance contract for poverty reduction in the
rural area of Shingiro sector, Musanze District; The findings showed that though households plan the level of
participation in planning is very small (43.46%) and participation in implementation is moderate (63.46%) while
in evaluation the participation is 37.75%, which is still a gap to be covered. The indication is that, they need to be
trained, explained what performance contract is, its role, the objective and the contribution to poverty reduction to
improve their standard of living before they sign the activities plan. Again, the second objective was to examine the
effect of population involvement in implementation of household performance contract on poverty reduction in the
rural area of Shingiro sector, Musanze District, the findings show that the activities highly affect the infrastructure
and socio-economic living condition at household level which is still a big problem. As many of the respondents
were households who think that there is an effect of household performance contract on poverty reduction. As the
third objective was to analyze the challenges associated with participation of population in household performance
contract on poverty reduction in the rural area of Shingiro sector; Musanze District, the findings indicated that in
evaluation, the lack of citizen (knowledge and skills) was at the high level. The average for all Challenges indicated
that there is a big gap in evaluation of households’ performance contract. Having observed the gap, we worked on
this research. Based on the findings and respondent testimonies, all specific objectives were achieved.