NRU :: Browsing by Author "Barungi, Mildred"

Browsing by Author "Barungi, Mildred"

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Expanding HIVAIDS prevention programmes through Safe Male Circumcision and Voluntary Counselling and Testing in Uganda
(2013) Ahaibwe, Gemma; Kasirye, Ibrahim; Barungi, Mildred
Although Uganda initially registered large reductions in HIV/AIDS prevalence rate during the 1990s, the rate of new HIV infection is on the rise across the country. At least 1.2 million Ugandans are infected with the HIV virus1 . Recent evidence from the 2011 Uganda AIDS Indicator Survey revealed that the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate had increased from 6.4 percent in 2004/5 to 7.3 percent by 20112. The trends in new HIV infections in figure 1 suggest that the annual number of new HIV infections increased by 11.4 percent from 115,775 in 2007/08 to 128,980 in 2010/11, despite the huge amounts of resources earmarked for HIV/AIDS related expenditures. The increase in the HIV/AIDS prevalence has been blamed on the complacency of Ugandans with the availability of anti-retrovaral therapies (ARTs)— especially regarding sexual behavior.
How to overcome the challenges faced by private companies engaged in agricultural research and development
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2019) Barungi, Mildred; Nakazi, Florence; Mwesigye, Francis
In line with their mandates, public institutions, particularly the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), have developed several improved technologies for crops, animals and fisheries. However, most of the developed technologies are yet to be adopted by the intended end-users. Some private companies are making significant contribution towards closing the gap between research, technology generation, dissemination and uptake by farmers. Nonetheless, private companies face various challenges, which limit their overall contribution. This brief recommends specific actions that could ease private sector engagement in agricultural research and development.
Is Implementing Uganda’s Single Spine Agricultural Extension Reform Feasible?
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2017) Barungi, Mildred; Adong, Annet; Guloba, Madina
Uganda has undertaken a number of reforms in extension service provision, ranging from a commodity-focused extension system in the colonial times to a farmer demand-driven extension system (National Agricultural Advisory Services-NAADS). Due to the challenges and unsatisfactory impacts associated with NAADS, in 2014 Cabinet approved MAAIF’s position to develop a more integrated, coordinated and harmonized public extension system—the Single Spine agricultural extension service delivery system. However, the feasibility of implementing the Single Spine reform can only be realised if challenges faced by predecessor agricultural extension systems are addressed immediately. This calls for increasing public financing for agricultural extension service delivery or exploring new financing options, recruiting more staff to fill the vacant technical positions, expediting the development of a framework for implementing the Single spine reform, and creating and maintaining good relations among institutions that contribute to delivering extension services to farmers.
Land Tenure Insecurity, Fragmentation and Crop Choice: Evidence from Uganda
(The African Economic Research Consortium, 2021) Mwesigye, Francis; Barungi, Mildred
This study uses household, parcel, and plot-level data to analyze the effect of land tenure insecurity and land fragmentation on crop choice. We use formal land titling as a proxy for de jure land rights, and the perceived transfer rights over parcels as a proxy for de facto land rights. Using two-part model, the study shows that both de jure and de facto land rights significantly increase the likelihood of planting perennial commercial crops, and increase the hectares allocated to commercial crops. The results also show that when the rights to land are weak (i.e., no land titling and no transfer rights), farmers tend to grow annual crops.
Lowering the Cost of Secondary Education through Strategic Public-Private Partnerships: Evidence from the PEAS programme in Uganda
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2019) Barungi, Mildred; Mwesigye, Francis
The need to pay school fees remains a challenge for many secondary students despite the existence of the Universal Secondary Education (USE) programme in Uganda and its associated capitation grants. Due to the variety of income sources for secondary schools, the average expenditures between public and other schools differ markedly. This brief examines the drivers of secondary school expenditures and whether private schools delivering USE services offer an opportunity to reduce the overall cost of secondary education in Uganda. The brief is based on the analysis of costs of secondary education undertaken as part of the 3 year impact evaluation of the Promoting Equality in African Schools (PEAS) programme in Uganda—implemented under a Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) arrangement. We find that government schools on average have a total expenditure of UGX 548 million per year and this is about 60 percent more than what is spent on average in non-government schools. The large differences in expenditures between public and other schools is primarily attributed to higher teacher salaries in government schools as well as the provision to teachers of several non-salary benefits like meals and rent for accommodation —paid from the school dues. As such, the estimated per student recurrent expenditure is highest for government schools at UGX 1.4 million compared to UGX 1 million and UGX 736,000 for PEAS and private schools respectively. As such, strategic partnerships between Government and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have the potential to significantly reduce the cost to households of sending their children to school.
Options for Improving Girls’ Access to Secondary Education in Uganda
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2014) Barungi, Mildred; Kasirye, Ibrahim; Ahaibwe, Gemma
Uganda was among the first African countries to initiate a large-scale Universal Post- Primary Education and Training (UPPET) program in 2007. As result of this program, the student population in secondary schools increased by 25 percent, while the population in business and vocational schools increased by 46 percent. The focus on post-primary education led to a reorientation of the education budget, with the secondary subsector accounting for 19 percent of public education resources in 2007–08—up from 14 percent prior to the introduction of UPPET.
Performance of Public-Private Partnerships in delivering social services: The Case of Universal Secondary Education Policy Implementation in Uganda
(Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC), 2015) Barungi, Mildred; Kasirye, Ibrahim
After implementing the Universal Primary Education policy for 10 years, Uganda initiated the Universal Secondary Education (USE) policy in 2007. The objective of the USE initiative was to equitably increasing access to secondary education. The policy is implemented by public secondary schools as well as through a Public-Private Partnership (USE PPP) between the Ministry of Education and Sports and selected private secondary schools—mainly in sub counties without any public secondary schools. Within USE PPP, the government provides a subsidy (capitation grant) to private schools to enrol UPE graduates. This brief examines the performance of the USE PPP. The focus on USE PPP is due to the fact that this type of arrangement never existed prior to the USE policy. Based on primary data collected by the authors in 2013, we show that the USE PPP is performing moderately well in terms of good accountability, relevance, effectiveness, impact and participation. However, the USE PPP is performing poorly in terms of efficiency and sustainability.
Promoting self-employment through entrepreneurship financing: Lessons from the Uganda Youth Venture Capital Fund.
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2014) Ahaibwe, Gemma; Kasirye, Ibrahim; Barungi, Mildred
Youth unemployment continues to be a developmental challenge not only in Uganda but in several sub Saharan countries. Ugandan youth (18-30 years) are twice likely to be unemployed compared to their older counterparts (31- 64 years). As the government struggles to look for solutions to the unemployment challenge, one approach has been the promotion of self-employment through the establishment of National Youth Funds. Specifically, the Youth Venture Capital Fund (UYVCF) worth UGX 25bn (about US$ 10 million) was introduced in 2011 and more recently, in September 2013, government significantly boosted youth schemes by allocating UGX 265 billion (about US$ 100 million) to the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) over a five-year period.1 The major pillars of these initiatives are: enterprise development, job creation and business skills training and development. Using the UYVCF as a case study, this brief examines the level and determinants of youth participation in the fund and evaluates the operations of the fund against the initial guidelines and procedures as stipulated in the Aide memoire 3 between the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development and the participating banks. Furthermore, this brief summaries lessons on emerging youth fund implementation practices in a few chosen countries that could inform the improvement of existing youth funds in Uganda. We majorly relied on secondary data provided by the largest commercial bank –Centenary Bank- participating in the fund and was complemented by a survey of beneficiaries as well as potential beneficiaries.
Reducing the Burden of Diarrhoea among Urban Households in Uganda
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2012) Barungi, Mildred; Kasirye, Ibrahim
Diarrhoea remains a big challenge to attainment of water related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Uganda. This brief examines the cost effectiveness of two water technologies in preventing Diarrhoea illness among urban households in Uganda. We estimate the reduction in the burden of disease arising from accessing either public stand-pipes or boreholes in urban areas. Details
The role of Public Private Partnerships in enhancing access to quality Education: The Case of PEAS Intervention in Uganda
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2019) Mwesigye, Francis; Barungi, Mildred
Despite Uganda’s efforts to enhance access to secondary education through the universal secondary education (USE) programme, access to secondary education remains a challenge—especially for poor students and girls. Also, the quality of education in USE schools remains low. In addition, the secondary school system is characterised by low transition and completion rates. Public Private Partnerships (PPP) offer an opportunity to close the gaps in access to education as well as address quality concerns. This brief summarizes the findings of a study that evaluated the Promotion of Equality in African Schools (PEAS)’s network schools—a PPP arrangement—under the Uganda USE programme. The results indicate that the PEAS intervention enhanced access to education for poor students and those from remote and hard to reach areas. In addition, students in PEAS schools, who hitherto had poor PLE grades, performed as well as those in private and government schools in the assessment exams suggesting that PEAS intervention improved education quality. The main pathways for quality improvement were school inspection, functionality of parents-teachers associations, effectiveness of child protection policies, and teacher motivation through timely pay and in-service training, among others. These findings have key policy implications. First, carefully selected PPPs are key in enhancing education access and quality. Second, school inspections enhance teacher performance and hence education quality. Third, teacher motivation through timely payments and trainings enhance their productivity. Finally, availability of child protection policies at schools as well as actual enforcement are critical for enhancing student concentration and performance.
Supply of Improved Rice Seed in Eastern Uganda: The Gap and Required Investment
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2016) Odokonyero, Tonny; Barungi, Mildred; Mbowa, Swaibu
This brief explains the challenges limiting use of improved rice seed in three Eastern Uganda major rice growing districts. Insufficient supply of improved seed is a core constraint to intensification in rice production. There are only four rice seed producers in the three study districts, which renders rice seed to be the hardest input to access by farmers compared to fertilizer, herbicides, and fungicides. Rice seed inaccessibility is further compounded by producers having contractual obligations with external seed companies. The volume of seed required by farmers exceeds the supply capabilities of the four seed producers, creating a gap in the rice seed supply chain. Furthermore, the seed producers rarely multiply the varieties grown by farmers, but rather those demanded by seed companies outside the region. The estimated seed supply gap is about 90 percent of what farmers would require. Therefore, in order to meet local farmer’s requirement for improved rice seed, at least 40 new seed production enterprises should be established and this is estimated to cost slightly over one billion Uganda shillings (US $ 300,000).
What interventions are required to achieve gender balance in political representation at the local government level?
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2021) Barungi, Mildred; Nakazi, Florence; Kasirye, Ibrahim
Women remain underrepresented in local government politics which offers men an unfair advantage,ultimately overshadowing women in decision-making. It also implies that issues that uniquely affect women may not be prioritised during planning and budgeting. To attain gender parity in political representation at the local government level, Government should design and implement a mentorship program, create a special fund for female political contenders, and launch campaigns to shift the harmful social norms.
Why Strong Farmer Groups are Ideal in the Marketing of Rice in Eastern Uganda
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2016) Barungi, Mildred; Odokonyero, Tonny; Mbowa, Swaibu
Avenues for marketing rice in three districts of Butaleja, Tororo, and Bugiri in Eastern Uganda are studied based on data collected from a community and market survey. Survey results reveal that majority of farmers sell their rice to traders and middlemen, followed by processors and individual consumers. Consistently, relatively high prices are earned when rice marketing is undertaken in groups across all the three districts, and premium prices are realised from improved rice varieties like WITA9 grown by only 26 percent of the farmers. This demonstrates proof that there are income benefits from economies of scale in rice marketing that accrue to farmers that opt to market their rice as a group. However, the majority (over 79%) of farmers still operate as individuals. The study establishes that there are overriding considerations at community level (like urgent need to offset personal needs, lack of information, and limited group storage infrastructure) that weaken farmer groups for bulk marketing, hence sending farmers to operate as individuals. This leads to loss of farm income, and keeps farmers perpetually in poverty; and makes the case stronger to expedite the implementation of government projects such as the “produce storage facilities development project”, spelt out in the Second National Development Plan (NDP II) in the predominately rice growing Eastern Uganda. The findings further strengthen the case for reviving farmers’ cooperative societies in the country.
Women’s Economic Empowerment in Uganda: Inequalities and Implications
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2019) Barungi, Mildred
Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) is a necessary condition for sustainable development and pro-poor growth. It increases women’s access to economic resources and opportunities. Although, there are laws, policies and programmes supporting Women’s Economic Empowerment in Uganda, evidence from the 2017 Baseline Survey of Perceptions on Violence Against Women, Women’s Economic Empowerment and Women’s Political Participation and Leadership report of the NGPSS 2017; reveals remarkable gender inequalities. Disproportionately more women than men are disadvantaged in terms of education attainment and so they lack the requisite knowledge and skills for capturing decent employment opportunities. Also, more men than women are opposed to females owning and inheriting land, and being part of the key decision-making organs on land and other property. This brief recommends second chance education for the out-of-school females, popularisation and enforcement of land policy provisions, and targeted rolling out of Women Empowerment programmes.

Browsing by Author "Barungi, Mildred"

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