Effects of performance contract policy implementation on the performance of local government organisations in Rwanda : case study of three sectors from Huye district

Abstract

Organizations have always been seeking to find new ways and strategies for better performance in order to continuously enhance their growth. Among others, the performance contracting was introduced as one of the strategies to improve service delivery to clients in a transparent manner by private and public organizations. The performance contract is meant to improve the performance of every employee and facilitate the fairness of performance evaluation based on results instead of bureaucratic rules and regulations. The policy of performance contract in Rwanda is considered as a key tool to reinforce the result base performance of Government institutions and organizations and more specifically the local government capacity to improve planning, efficiency and effectiveness. The present study was designed to assess essential public service delivery, empowerment of people to actively participate in the policy, social and economic transformation of the entire country based on the performance contract policy. Moreover, this study specifically aims to assess the effects of performance contract policy implementation on the performance of local government employees and institutions. The present case study has targeted three sectors (Karama, Tumba and Rusatira) from the District of Huye in the Southern province. The data were collected by using a structured questionnaire and interviews, to obtain deeper and comprehensive information. Data were captured and analysed using SPSS statistical computer package. From this study, it is important to note that the implementation of the performance contract in the three Sectors has generally resulted in improvement of the service and the performance of the three sectors followed the trend: Rusatira, Tumba and Karama. Indeed, Rusatira Sector is performing better than Tumba Sector while Tumba Sector is performing better than Karama Sector. It is clear that the three Sectors have performed differently due to the different way of implementing the same policy. The three Sectors differ in terms of their performance evaluation. Rusatira Sector is representing the best performers; Tumba Sector is representing the medium performers while Karama Sector is representing the least performers. Based on the results, the reasons of the discrepancy observed within the three Sectors were related to many factors including: motivation of workers, employees who are proud to contribute to the development of the country, achievable targets, facilitation from the supervisors, regular performance monitoring and evaluation, knowledgeable employees, transparency and fair xii

employee‘s evaluation. On the other hand, Karama which was the least performing Sector, had encountered challenges such as poor procurement services, employees mainly motivated by their own interest rather than being proud of serving and developing the Sector, long distance from the main road, employees motivated to get another job in Huye town or any other etc... The study recommends that more continuous evaluation be introduced in all sectors, procurement service be improved, incentives for the best performer workers be reinforced and drafting performance contract be based on tangible, achievable, realistic and feasible activities. More country-wide investigations on this vital subject are recommended to get comprehensive picture of the situation for a fact based improvement of the performance contract policy and its implementation.