Exploiting International Development Ideals. The Rwandan Government’s Approach to Local Participation in Light of its Exercise of National Ownership

Abstract While the Rwandan government is acknowledged for assuming national ownership and eloquently commits to local participation, its participation practices are severely criticised and its governance deemed authoritarian. This points to a tension between two long-lasting ideals in international development cooperation and this article argues that – despite their shared aim of increased recipient agency, initiative, and influence – the interrelation between national ownership and local participation needs to be investigated. Rwanda, also known to prudently navigate opportunities and requirements of the aid sector, provides a critical case for such an investigation and the article asks how the Rwandan government’s approach to local participation relates to its exercise of national ownership. Based on previous own and others’ research along with extensive government and donor documentation, the analyses point to interlinkages in the government’s employment of the two ideals, and to the interrelation between national ownership and local participation inevitably depending on the recipient state and its population.