Rwanda leads the way in the adoption of a global standard to strengthen the governance of grant funding

Rwanda has broken new ground to become the first African country to adopt a global standard that promotes transparency and strengthens the governance of grant funding worldwide.

The African Academy of Sciences (The AAS) and the African Organization for Standardisation (ARSO) developed the Good Financial Grant Practice (GFGP) standard in a three-year process involving many workshops and stakeholders from across the globe who defined, tested and endorsed it. Conformity to the requirements of the standard is performed through an online self-assessment tool (Global Grant Community Portal) in which community based organisations, NGOS, research and academic institutions of any size can rate their capabilities to manage funding.

The online self-assessment tool covers four grant management practice areas –financial management, human resources, procurement and governance. The GFGP standard, which was adopted by ARSO in June, promotes transparency in the use of funding by local organisations and mitigates the risk of fraud and corruption.

Institutions are benchmarked through a cumulative four tier assessment– Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum– that provides a rating of their capabilities to manage grants with the goal of making African organisations even more attractive to funders and to help them recognise potential areas of greater growth that can be addressed by developing appropriate responses to build their capacities.

Rwanda adopts the GFGP standard as part of a new three-year cooperative agreement signed today between The AAS and the Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) to foster interaction, knowledge sharing and the development and implementation of financial grant standards to promote the socio-economic growth of Rwanda and Africa.

Prof Nelson Torto, The AAS Executive Director and Mr Raymond Murenzi, the RSB Director General, signed the memorandum of understanding today at a ceremony attended by representatives of government, industry and policymakers in the Rwandan capital of Kigali.

Prof Torto said: “We are pleased to sign this landmark MoU with the RSB that marks a progressive step in the implementation of the GFGP standard. The collaboration is mutually beneficial, allowing the parties to harness their capabilities to promote the development and implementation of quality standards for the efficient, transparent and accountable delivery of products and services.”

Mr Murenzi said: “Rwanda Standards Board welcomes the signature of this MoU to implement the GFGP standard. Implementation of this standard will enable us to strengthen collaboration with regulators, stakeholders and partners in the financial sector in Rwanda towards betterment of the governance of organisations that receive funding from the government, such as cooperatives and other partners. Organisations found to be compliant in the accountable use of government or partner funding will earn a GFGP certification to showcase their ability in managing grants”.