The participatory governance aspect of the programme helps citizen groups to bring their priorities to the attention of policy- and decision-makers at the local, district and national levels. This makes it possible for decision-makers to consider citizen voices and priorities at critical stages of policy making, public programme development and assessment. Interpeace and Never Again Rwanda also work with constructive media, mostly through the use of community radio programmes. This helps facilitate communication between citizens and local decision-makers, in addition to serving as a bridge between these groups through objective reporting and providing dedicated spaces for dialogue.

The programme has gained trust of authorities at the national and local level and has now partnered with public institutions to reinforce local authorities’ capacity to make existing consultation mechanisms more inclusive and participatory. It has also established permanent dialogue spaces for CSOs and government to discuss regularly emerging issues in the communities, thus bridging the vertical governance space.