Abstract:
This study aims to investigate the contribution of public accountability in influencing
government institutions policy formulation in Rwanda, focusing specifically on the Ministry of
Youth and Arts. The objectives of the study are threefold: to examine the role of public
accountability in policy formulation, to analyse its influence on the Ministry of Youth's policy-
making processes, and to identify strategies that can enhance the impact of public accountability
in policy formulation within the ministry. This study lies in its potential to inform policymakers
about the importance of accountability mechanisms in crafting responsive policies that reflect the
needs of youth in Rwanda. By enhancing public accountability, the study anticipates that
government policies will become more transparent and inclusive, ultimately benefiting the youth
population. It involves a quantitative approach, where data was collected from 150 youth through
questionnaires that include both open-ended and closed-ended questions. The analysis of the
research was done by the use Statistical Package for the Social Science and the results
discovered that public accountability strongly enhances policy formulation at the ministry of
youth and arts. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used and provided table showing the
numbers of the respondents with their percentages whether it was very low, low, moderate, high
and very high. Age, education, gender and marital status were considered when selecting the
respondents of whom sought to have the right information. Major findings revealed a strong
correlation between public accountability and effective policy formulation, underscoring the
necessity for enhanced accountability mechanisms in governance. The study was concluded with
recommendations for the Ministry of Youth and Arts to implement strategies that further
strengthen public accountability, ensuring that youth voices are adequately represented in policy
decisions. Further researchers in the same field should enlarge the population size to have
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extended information on how public accountability enhances government institutions policy
formulation in Rwanda.
