From Thursday 23rd to Friday 24th February 2012 in the conference hall of " Rwanda Institute of Technological Research"(RITR) commonly known as IRST based in Huye District, Southern Province took place a two days Retreat and the main objective of this Retreat was to see what strategies and measures that need to be taken in speeding up development in the Southern Province and how to improve Service Delivery in this Province.

The participants in this Retreat include the Minister of Local Government James MUSONI who was also the guest of honor in this Retreat, the Governor of Southern Province Alphonse MUNYANTWALI, the Executive Secretary of the Southern Province Madam Jeanne IZABILIZA, the Army and Police Commanders in the Southern Province, the Districts Executive Committees, the Districts Advisory Councils, the Executive Secretaries of the Sectors in the whole Province, the Executive Secretaries of all the Cells in the Southern Province among others.

Addressing to the participants in this Retreat during these two days, the Governor of Southern Province Mr. Alphonse MUNYANTWALI reminded them to approach more the population, to listen to their concerns and underlined that every plan should be done based on the priorities on ground and household to household and none should be left behind.

Mr. Alphonse MUNYANTWALI also highlighted that leaders need to have a critical thinking,to have a teamwork spirit, to share views on different issues that can help in speeding up development in the Southern Province, to exchange ideas with the population, to explain clearly Government Programs, to learn from the best practices and share them with others.

Minister James MUSONI who was the guest of honor at the closing date of this Retreat congratulated the Southern Province for having organized such a big Retreat and called the leaders in this Province to keep this teamwork spirit up.

Addressing to all participants in this Retreat, Minister James MUSONI underlined that a good leader is the one that cares for the population under her/his leadership and engages them into the daily life of their respective home places.

Still in his speech, Minister James MUSONI called the leaders to be positive transformers, to work hand in hand with others, to plan well always engaging the population from the household level in order to overcome the drama of poverty and reminded everybody to be self confident, to have positives attitudes, manners and ambitions, to look for own solutions to the problems instead of relying on donations or support that would come from benefactors.

Jean Paul BYIRINGIRO Public Relations and Communication Office Southern Province