Green Party Strengthens Grassroots Structures as It Prepares for 2029 Elections
The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) says it is strengthening its grassroots structures and equipping local leaders with new skills as part of preparations for the 2029 general elections.
The announcement was made by Dr. Frank Habineza, President of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, during the closing of a leadership training program held in Nyanza District on June 14, 2026.
According to Habineza, the training targeted party leaders from sector-level structures, including women and youth representatives, and formed part of a broader capacity-building initiative being conducted across the country.
“Today we concluded a series of training sessions for our party leaders, including women and youth representatives as well as district-level officials. We have spent the last two months conducting these trainings in the Southern Province after completing a similar exercise in the Northern Province,” Habineza said.
He explained that the primary objective is to equip party leaders with the knowledge and skills needed to establish party structures at the sector level and expand the party’s presence nationwide.
“We want our leaders to have the capacity to build strong party structures at the grassroots level as part of our preparations for future elections,” he said.
The Green Party has already completed elections for its women, youth and district-level structures, as well as provincial leadership positions. The current phase focuses on strengthening the capacity of those elected leaders so they can mobilize more members and help establish party structures at lower administrative levels.
According to Habineza, the party considers the absence of structures at sector, cell and village levels to be one of the gaps that affected its performance in previous elections.
“The challenge we faced in the past was that our party structures existed only at provincial and district levels. That made it difficult to reach our members quickly and to recruit enough representatives to monitor electoral activities across the country,” he said.
He noted that expanding the party’s presence to lower administrative levels will help spread the party’s ideology more effectively, increase membership and improve communication between leaders and ordinary members.
The strengthened structures are also expected to help the party collect ideas and concerns from grassroots members that can contribute to policy discussions in Parliament and other national institutions.
Habineza said the initiative is intended to ensure that the party enters the 2029 elections with stronger organizational capacity, a larger membership base and enough representatives to oversee electoral processes throughout the country.
“We believe these efforts will enable us to reach the 2029 elections well prepared, with strong structures and election observers drawn from sector-level leadership and beyond,” he said.
The Green Party leader also encouraged party members to participate in this year’s local government elections, even though political parties do not officially contest those polls.
“We are encouraging our members to stand as candidates in local elections where they live. Some of our members who contested in previous local elections were elected to district and sector councils. We believe others can also succeed,” habineza said.
About The Author
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
