Browsing by Author "Kakuru, Medard"

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    Is Uganda’s middle class strong enough to deliver national aspirations?
    (Economic Policy Research Centre, 2020) Odokonyero, Tonny; Guloba, Madina M.; Kakuru, Medard
    Uganda envisioned to become a lower middle-income status by 2020 as a foundation for achieving vision 2040. Policies, including the National Development Plan (NDP), were instituted to drive the aspiration. However, the target was not achieved during NDPII (2015-2020). Building a strong middle class is a crucial strategy for achieving the target, as we advance into NDPIII (2020-2025). This brief provides insights into the size and strength or ability of the middle class, to drive the middle-income agenda and prerequisites for building or driving transition into a strong and stable lower middle-income status country. Using the 2016/17 Uganda National Household Survey, the analysis shows that the size of the middle class (without those in floating category) is about 8.3 million, which is 22% of the population. This is a more than two-fold increase from 2012/13. Considering those in floating middle-class category, the size of the middle class becomes 21 million, indicating that majority (61%) of Uganda’s middle class (over 13 million) are floating and susceptible to becoming poor incase of any negative economic shock occurring. The analysis further reveals that transition into the middle class is driven by urbanization, household size, economic activity, and education as a tool for human capital development. In conclusion, Uganda’s middle class is highly fragile. Therefore, the middle class in Uganda is a weak one, incapable of driving the economy to achieve and sustain the middle-income status goal.
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    Multi-stakeholder Partner Value Chain Development A case of the Organic Pineapple in Ntungamo district, Western Uganda
    (Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, 2018) Kalibwani, Rebecca Mutebi; Twebaze, Jennifer; Kamugisha, Rick; Kakuru, Medard; Sabiiti, Moses; Kugonza, Irene; Tenywa, Moses; Nyamwaro, Sospeter
    The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that agricultural commodity value chain development using multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) can fast-track improvement in the livelihoods of rural farming households. With the view that such partnerships can raise farmers’ incomes, the study uses the case of the organic pineapple (OP) value chain in Ntungamo, Western Uganda, to understand the governance features that hold the value chain partners together, to analyse the costs and margins to the participating farmers, to identify opportunities for demand-driven upgrading of the farmers’ skills and knowledge, and the role that partnerships play in such upgrading.
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    Scaling Smallholder Farmer Empowerment: Lessons from the Lifelong Learning Program in Uganda
    (Journal of Learning for Development, 2021) Kalibwani, Rebecca; Kakuru, Medard; Carr, Alexis; Tenywa, Moses
    An evaluation study of the Lifelong Learning for Farmers (L3F) program was undertaken in two sites; in the central and northern regions of Uganda. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was used to measure the impact of the program on crop and household income, as well as the empowerment levels of its participants. The two sites had differences not only in geographical location but in historical background and implementation of the program, which may have influenced the livelihood outcomes. Despite these differences, the results of the study confirm the potential of the L3F approach to raisen participants’ crop and household income relative to non-L3F counterparts, significantly so for women participants. There is also sufficient evidence to confirm that L3F positively contributes to farmer empowerment, and, subsequently, their livelihood. The paper draws lessons for scaling the empowerment process using the lifelong learning for farmers’ model in Uganda.