Research Policy Briefs and Guidelines

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2016 General Elections: Vote 4 Education, Vote 4 Health
(2015) Nabwowe, Angella; Mncwabe, Nokukhanya
70 Year old Zaina Bakanansa, resident of Kyetume-Bukasa village, Nakisunga Sub- County Mukono District believes elections are just a waste of time. “ No Member of Parliament or Local Council Chairperson has made a difference in my life”, she says. Bakanansa’s need is to have a health facility in her village “ I am weak and sickly and unfortunately I cannot access a health facility. The private clinic close to my house is too expensive for me”. The Mukono Health centre IV or Nazigo health centre III which are public health facilities are quite a distance from her house, several kilometres away. Her only hope would be in voting leaders with a manifesto that addresses her concerns but she has been disappointed many times. “I have participated in national elections but I don’t see the benefits. When I have health needs , I call on a Non- Governmental Organisation to get help and they are always responsive.” The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda gives citizens like Zaina Bakanansa power, to elect the political leaders of the country every after five years. Very soon, Ugandans shall elect political leaders – from the local level to the President.
2021 General Elections: Voting for Quality Service Delivery
(Economic and Social Rights Advocacy (ESRA), 2020) Namusobya, Salima; Nabwowe Kasule, Angella; Mncwabe, Nokukhanya
The focus of this 12th issue of the Economic and Social Rights Advocacy (ESRA) Brief, produced by the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), has as its theme: 2021 General Elections: Voting for Quality Service Delivery. The publication of this ESRA Brief is timely, given that the current term of office for Uganda’s elected leaders expires on the 12th of May 2021. As has become customary, those contesting for different offices/positions will, over the next few months, be laser-focused on ensuring that they campaign successfully and get elected at the next polls scheduled from 10th January to 8th February 2021.1 This edition implicitly asks Ugandans to refrain from getting caught up in the frenetic energy of political campaigning and to critically assess the extent to which incumbent politicians and parties have delivered on the promises made in previous manifestos; whether and to what extent they have been held accountable for failing to deliver on their mandates; it asks citizens to consider the ways in which they may be complicit in entrenching an electoral system that prioritizes short-term patronage over long-term service delivery; and the electoral system itself is critiqued, in the light of the constraints Uganda faces within a global political and economic order, which has budgetary and policy implications for its ability to practically achieve the economic and social rights to which its citizens are entitled.
A Critical Review of the on Going Public Finance Management Reforms: Are the Reforms Yielding on the Expected Outcomes?
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2015) Munyambonera, Ezra; Lwanga, Musa Mayanja
This policy brief examines the progress and impact of the on-going public finance management reforms undertaken by the MFPED since 2012/13. These reforms include the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA); upgrading the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPS); improving wage and payroll management, improving budget formulation, implementation, monitoring and reporting; and strengthening budget transparency. The study employed different but complimentary approaches to gather the relevant data and information at central and local government levels. The study findings show that despite some challenges, the reforms are so far yielding positive results in terms of improved accountability, reporting and service delivery. The key reforms have contributed to improved public finance management at different levels of government. These areas include improved public expenditure management through the (TSA), improved accountability and public expenditure use through the IFMS, reduction in ghost workers and the overall wage bill at MDAs and local governments through the IPPS in a decentralised system.
A feminist approach to sex work
(Akina Mama wa Afrika(AMwA), 2016) Akina Mama wa Afrika(AMwA)
The purpose of this technical brief is to promote a common understanding of an intersectional feminist analysis and approach to sex work in the context of Uganda, where multiple often divisive arguments have been advanced for or against sex work either by those drawing from the prevailing legal and policy framework that criminalizes any acts that fall under the orbit of what is considered sex work or by conservative forces such as religious or cultural leaders that view sex work from a moralist lens or by the feminist movement that draws on the consolidated opinions of four different feminist philosophies that stemmed from the “sex wars” of the 1980s such as abolitionism, neo-abolitionism, decriminalization and legalization or by the public health imperative of stemming STDs especially HIV/AIDs in the society. Further, this brief seeks to contribute to strengthening the voice and agency of sex workers and sex worker organisations to advocate for SRHR interventions that promote bodily autonomy and choice. Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), as one of the implementing partners under the Joint Advocacy for Sexual Reproductive, Health and Rights (JAS) Programme seeks to ensure that an intersectional feminist analysis is infused in the design and implementation of the program including the development of critical feminist analysis pieces on thematic areas of the program. This brief looks at the definition of sex work, the different legal and social contestations on sex work, and also elaborate on SRHR issues for sex workers.
A Looming Crisis? An analysis of the health sector budget performance for the financial year 2012/13 and allocations for 2013/14
(Initiative for Social and Economic Rights, 2013) Initiative for Social and Economic Rights
Over the years, the government of Uganda has committed to improving the health sector service delivery through a number of interventions and policies. The health sector has been identified as one of the key priorities in the National Development Plan (NDP) and it contributes to all NDP objectives, although it is particularly focused on objective 4 - “Increasing access to quality social services". This is through provision and utilization of promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services, and involves Strengthening Health Systems and ensuring universal access to the Uganda National Minimum Health Care Package (UNMHCP). The UNMHCP as provided for under the Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP) consists of the most costeffective priority healthcare interventions and services addressing the high disease burden that are acceptable and affordable within the total resource envelope of the sector. Universal access is one of the key underlying principles for delivery of the UNMHCP.
A market scoping study for porcine cysticercosis vaccine calls for a one-health approach to sustain the control of the disease in Uganda
(International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 2019) Dione, Michel; Adeniyi Samuel, Adediran; Colston, Angie; Ouma, Emily; Lule, Peter; Grace, Delia
Pig health is a critical issue in modern Uganda. Not only does the country have the largest pig population in East Africa, it also has the most rapidly growing pig population in sub-Saharan Africa and the highest per capita pork consumption in Eastern Africa (FAOSTAT, 2010). Porcine cysticercosis (PC) is a disease of pigs caused by larval cysts of the human T. solium tapeworm. Pigs are infected when they eat tapeworm eggs shed in the faeces of a human tapeworm carrier. Humans are infected when they eat tissues from pigs that contain larvae (cysticerci). These larvae establish as tapeworms in the human gut and shed eggs in human faeces. However, if humans ingest tapeworm eggs in contaminated food or water, these can establish as cysts in the brain, eye or other tissues and these can have serious consequences such as epilepsy.
A Policy Brief on Democratic Leadership: Partisan Versus Non Partisan Politics
(Uganda Women’s Network, 2019) Aciro-Lakor, Rita H.
This document is developed after discussion held over time as to whether individuals who work with NGO and be partisan and how this would affect their work or how they are perceived. The document is also intended to create understanding amongst pollution on the matters here discussed. To digest these issues, UWONET organized a think tank of members from Women’s rights organization to discuss and draw and understanding. This document therefore, focuses on drawing the thin line and understanding and the balance between Partisan versus and Non–Partisan Politics, a notion that has led to many to disengage with serious socio–economic and political matters of livelihood and development in the matters of national governance.
A policy brief on the marriage and divorce bill: Whys, hows, and whats of the marriage and divorce bill, 2009.
(UWONET, 2009) UWONET
This is an information pack about the Marriage and Divorce Bill, 2009 for policy makers. The information pack provides a brief historical background about the Marriage and Divorce Bill, its content, and the linkage of the Bill towards national, regional and international obligations. It also provides justification for the Parliament to enact the Marriage Bill 2017 into law in the 10th Parliament. The information pack will be disseminated among policy makers, Members of Parliament, Media, relevant ministries, departments and agencies, the members of the Marriage and Divorce Bill coalition and the public to increase their understanding on the Bill. It will also provide comprehensive information to increase their support for the Bill.
A Review of Health Infrastructure and Workforce Critical for Delivering Universal health Coverage in Uganda
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2017) Mwesigye, Francis; Odokonyero, Tonny
Universal health coverage (UHC) - defined as the availability of quality and affordable health services for all when needed without financial hardships- can be a vehicle for improving equity in healthcare. However, access to basic healthcare is still limited, and the quality remains low in Uganda. This is mainly caused by poor health infrastructure, sub-optimal operation of health facilities, and staff absenteeism, among others. This brief summarizes the findings of a study on infrastructure and human resource gaps that impede Uganda from realizing UHC1. The study results show fundamental challenges with the health infrastructure needed to deliver UHC. Spatial inequality exists in health facility population coverage and private sector health infrastructure investments. Low health workforce density is widespread; and even if the staffing level is raised to 100% as per the set staffing norms for critical cadres, the health workforce density will still fall short of the recommended standards. The low health workforce density implies that the existing health workforce is deficient and unable to expand population-based healthcare services. Accelerating progress towards UHC requires; increased investments in health infrastructure and strengthening Public Private Partnership arrangements to establish health infrastructure in disadvantaged regions; and improvement in health workforce density by reviewing current staffing norms for critical cadres as well as increased deliberate investments in human resources for health.
Absenteeism: Key Driver of Poor Performance in Primary Education
(UNICEF, 2016) UNICEF
With the introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1997, Government committed to provide free education to all children of primary school going age. Through the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Uganda further committed to ensure delivery of a full course of primary education to all children by 2015. According to the MDG 2015 report, notable gains attributed to UPE include increased enrollment, a general upsurge in primary school completion, and the elimination of gender disparities between girls’ and boys’ completion rates. Achievements notwithstanding, the efficiency of Uganda’s primary education is low - survival rate to P7 stands at 32.1%, repetition at 10.2% (EMIS, 2014), and teacher absenteeism is estimated at 20-30% (NPA, 2015).
Absorption and Implementation Constraint to Uganda’s National Development Plan (NDP)
(Economic Plicy Research Centre, 2017) Lakuma, Corti Paul; Lwanga, Musa Mayanja
Budget execution remains a challenge in Uganda. Weak budget disbursements, back-loaded spending procurement delay, inflexibility in budget execution and fiscal incapacity at local government level highlight ongoing challenges and raise a particular concern over the absorptive capacity and quality of budget implementation. To accelerate budget execution in Uganda, this policy brief suggest policy options that will lead to minimization of budget volatility, improvement in budget institutions, delegation and control, transparency and improving the capacity of local government
Accelerating Progress towards Achieving Productive Youth Employment and Decent Work
(Institute of Development Studies, 2017) Corbett, Hannah; Kilimani, Nicholas
Realising full, productive employment and decent work for all features prominently among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In many developing countries, especially in Africa and South Asia, youth constitute nearly a third of the population. Current projections suggest that a billion more young people will enter the job market over the next decade. Hence, issues of youth employment have risen up the political agenda at both international and national levels. Avenues for youth employment creation on a substantial scale must be sought as a matter of urgency. This will involve a re-evaluation of the different issues around labour demand and supply, in addition to rethinking how young people’s entrepreneurial spirit can be harnessed.
Access and Use of Credit in Uganda: Unlocking the Dilemma of Financing Small Holder Farmers
(Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC), 2012) Munyambonera, Ezra; Nampewo, Dorothy; Adong, Annet; Mayanja, Musa
This policy brief is about access and use of credit in Uganda by small holder farmers. The brief uses the secondary data to shed light on the extent of the problem and further uses successful case studies in agricultural financing to demonstrate how improvements can be achieved. The major problem established from available information is that despite several agricultural financing initiatives and other reforms in the financial sector in the last 20 years, access to credit by small holder farmers in Uganda has remained very low in the region of about 10 percent. Examining the several agricultural financing initiatives since 1990s tends to suggest that the problem could largely be attributed to weak institutional framework and policy inconsistency on agricultural financing over the years, notwithstanding household demand factors. The key policy recommendation drawn from this assessment is that if agricultural financing is to improve, there is need to have strong institutional framework that focuses on financing frameworks, monitoring and implementation. A better option is for government to support the establishment of a rural or agricultural development bank that prioritises agricultural financing.
Access to education by children with special needs: What are the issues?
(Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit, 2019) Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 calls for “inclusive and quality education for all”. This is in line with Article 30 and 34 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (1995) which states that education for all children is a right. Uganda has enacted several disability-friendly laws, which include the: National Council on Disability Act 2003 (with additional amendments 2013); 2006 Disability Act; 2006 Equal Opportunities Commission Act 2006; 1997 Local Government Act, and the 1996 Children’s Statute 1996 (with amendments in 2016). A number of policies and policy guidelines such as the National Policy on Disability in Uganda (2006) also support interventions for persons with disabilities. An Information Paper from UNESCO (2018) however reveals that persons with disability are among the population groups most likely to suffer from exclusion from education. The policy brief explores the challenges constraining access to education by children with Special Needs (SN), and highlights good practices. The brief uses primary data collected by the Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit, secondary data, and proposes policy recommendations for improvement.
Access to Health Care Services. Experiences of Persons Living with Disabilities in Eastern and Northern Uganda
(Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit, 2019) Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit
Over the last two decades, the Government of Uganda (GoU) has increased access to health services through various programmes and projects including investment in health infrastructure, medicines and other health supplies; and human resource development. Despite the investments, the desired universal health coverage is far from attainment as some sections of the population (persons with disabilities and or clients with special conditions) fail to have easy access to basic health care services. Article 25 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities (CRPD) states that Parties recognize that persons with disabilities have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability. It also states Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure access for persons with disabilities to health services that are gender-sensitive, including health-related rehabilitation. This briefing paper presents the experiences of persons living with disabilities while seeking health care from selected Health Center IVs (Mungula,Yumbe, Aboke, Kiyunga, Budondo, Busesa, Midigo) in Eastern and Northern Uganda. The issues identified in this paper are a proxy of the status of service delivery at all levels of care thus the proposed recommendations are aimed at addressing overall sector service delivery challenges.
Accountability In Public Private Partnerships (PPPs)
(Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), 2017) Namusobya, Salima; Nabwowe, Angella; Nakulima, Saphina; Mugoya, Musa
In the discussions about Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for provision of key social services, the justification, in both support for and opposition to the concept revolves mainly around accountability and risk management to ensure value for money. The essential question is whether the presumed efficiencies of the private sector are strong enough to override the concerns about social, democratic and financial accountability from private sector players. Consequently, most guidelines for best practices in framing and implementing PPPs place the need for strong institutional responsibilities and public participation in the governance high up on the priority list. The emphasis is that PPP arrangements should only be pursued when they represent the best value for money in delivering a service and not as ways to circumvent fiscal constraints.1 This also implies that accountability for any PPP project begins with the design, which should capture the various forms of safeguards to guarantee social justice and financial risk management.
Achieving “No Net Loss” for people and biodiversity in Uganda
(NatureUganda, 2019) Uganda Poverty and Conservation Learning Group
Governments, businesses and financial institutions worldwide are increasingly adopting a ‘no net loss’ (NNL) approach to address impacts on biodiversity of development projects such as infrastructure development. This means ensuring that such impacts are measured and quantified, and that any biodiversity losses incurred are balanced by gains elsewhere so that there is no net loss of biodiversity overall (even if there may be a loss at the specific site of the project) and, ideally, a net gain. Uganda is taking great strides to address the biodiversity impacts of development projects. This includes updates to key policies to make provisions for NNL, including through use of biodiversity offsets. But now is the time to ensure that people, especially rural communities who depend on natural resources for subsistence, do not suffer as a result of NNL provisions. This policy brief reports on research conducted in Uganda to explore the biodiversity and social impacts of the Bujagali and Isimba hydropower projects and the associated Kalagala Offset, and suggests key steps that the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) c an take to improve outcomes for both biodiversity and local people from the offset, especially through the Kalagala Offset Sustainable Management Plan.
Achieving Middle Income Status: What needs to be done
(National Planning Authority, 2018) National Planning Authority
Uganda aspires to attain a per capita income of USD 1,039 by 2020 as spelt out in the Second National Development Plan (NDPII). To achieve the middle-income target Uganda should sustain an average growth of above 10 percent in the remaining two and a half year period of NDPII. The reality is that this growth target cannot be achieved without a comprehensive economic transformation. As such, based on current trends the middle-income target cannot be achieved by 2020. Nevertheless, there are low hanging fruits that are within our national reach which if implemented efficiently, will fast track Uganda’s progress towards middle income status. This brief provides key highlights on technical guidance and policy direction on the attainment of middle income status as elaborated in NDPII. However, instead of providing the broad strategic direction already in NDPII, this brief unpacks the NDPII to provide micro/firm level low hanging implementable interventions for fast tracking progress to middle income target.
Addressing Gender Gaps in the Ugandan Labor Market
(Economic Policy Research Centre, 2011) Kasirye, Ibrahim
Four out of every five women in Uganda are employed in agriculture, according to the 2008 Gender and Productivity Survey (GPS) in Uganda (EPRC, 2009); and 42 percent of women in the labour force are unpaid family workers—receiving no income despite contributing the largest proportion of the agricultural labour. Gender discrimination in the labour market is a pervasive economic problem in developing countries.1 Discrimination based on sex can take many forms in the labour market—from restricted access to certain sectors of employment—to differential pay by gender. As earlier noted, whereas 42 percent of women in Uganda are unpaid family workers, the corresponding rate for men is only 16 percent according to the 2008 GPS. Furthermore, the 2008 GPS shows that in the private sector, women in Uganda receive on average lower pay than men. Gender gaps in the labour market do not only lead to reduced incomes for women but also affects the status of women within society. Nevertheless, gender norms continue to dictate what a woman can and cannot do in Uganda and whether she can work outside her marital home. This environment has ensured that female exploitation in the labour market persists. As such, there is a need to address gender equity in labour market in Uganda—especially as the country attempts to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Addressing Inequity and Discrimination in the Delivery of Health Services in Uganda
(Economic and Social Rights Advocacy (ESRA), 2014) Kwemoi, Charles
Health reports in Uganda are often characterized by aggregated statistical data showing progress on particular indicators such as maternal mortality, infant mortality, life expectancy, HIV/AIDS prevalence and so on. However, what the statistics fail to reveal are the individuals and groups of people excluded from the system, who are denied life saving services because of who they are or where they live. In applying a human rights perspective, it is imperative for policy makers to persistently peer behind the veil of lump-sum statistics and to test the universality and equitability of healthcare access and services. This is the second issue of the Economic and Social Rights Advocacy (ESRA) Brief published by the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER). The ESRA Brief is dedicated to Economic and Social Rights (ESRs) advocacy in Uganda but draws on key lessons from the broader East African Community. The Brief is intended for policy makers, civil society actors, development partners and the donor community as it provides insight into the debates and steps currently being undertaken by Ugandan organizations individually and collaboratively to achieve the full realization of ESRs.

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