THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT ISSN 2321–8916 www.theijbm.com 278 Vol 9Issue 5 DOI No.: 10.24940/theijbm/2021/v9/i5/BM2105-068 May, 2021 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT Influence of Public Participation Practices on the Quality of Social Service Delivery in Rwanda 1. Introduction The concept of good governance practice is not new as its origin can be traced right from the beginning of civilisation (Al-Rodhan and Nayef, 2009). Available literature also shows that both eastern and western civilisation recognized and preached the principles of good governance. Religious studies like the Hinduism, Islamism, Christianism, Judaism, Buddhism and others have also been cited as advocates of good governance (Arndt and Oman, 2006). In the modern world, the advent of good governance practices can be traced right from the Watergate scandal in the United States. Nevertheless, the practice become more popular with the Cadbury Committee Report in the United Kingdom (1992) or the recommendations of the National Association of Corporate Administrators of the US (1995) (Mimicopoulos, 2006). Since then, many occasional international conferences on the desirability of good governance have Ngirabakunzi Bategeka Ph.D. Student, Department of Entrepreneurship, Technology, Leadership and Management, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kigali, Rwanda Dr. Mike A. Iravo Professor, Department of Entrepreneurship, Technology, Leadership and Management, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Juja, Kenya Dr. Gregory Namusonge Professor, Department of Entrepreneurship, Technology, Leadership and Management, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Juja, Kenya Dr. Patrick Mulyungi Professor, Department of Entrepreneurship, Technology, Leadership and Management, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kigali, Rwanda Abstract: Public participation in public institutions is important for the quality of social delivery of services. Public participation encourages citizen- focused service delivery and improves credibility among the citizenry. Public participation is the process through which stakeholders input and share control over development initiatives, decisions and resources which affect them. The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of public participation practices on the quality of social service delivery in Rwanda. The investigation focuses on service providers' views of the qualities, as it is only through their understanding of the situation that service quality can be improved. This is a qualitative study based on interviews with employees of government organizations and document analysis. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design. The target population of the study was 7000 respondents. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected through structured questionnaires. A pilot test was conducted to detect weaknesses in design and instrumentation. The sample size of 378 respondents is determined using the Yamane’s formula. The questionnaire was pretested before data collection for validation and reliability. The collected data was coded and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods with the help of descriptive and inferential statistics. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21 was used. Testing of hypotheses was done using analysis of variance. Variance Inflation Factor was used to illustrate the significance of the association between governance practices on the quality of social service delivery by local governments in Rwanda. Analyzed data was presented using tables and percentages. coefficient of determination (R 2 ) of 0.658, which means that this variable alone can explain up to 65.8% of the variations in the dependent variable, quality of social service delivery by local governments in Rwanda. The findings further confirm that the regression model of public participation practices on quality of social service delivery by local governments in Rwanda is significant for the data F=156.122, p<0.01) since p-values was 0.00 which is less than 0.05. The study recommends that Public sector in Rwanda must provide training, workshops and sessions in the workplace to assist officials to understand the process of public participation. Manuals need to be provided to officials of the public sector guiding them on procedures of public participation. Keywords: Public participation practices, quality of social service delivery, public institutions in Rwanda