Urban Governance and Poverty Reduction in Uganda: Lessons from Foreign Aid Regime of Local Government Development Program — Oak Academic Publishing
Research ArticleOpen AccessGoogle Scholar indexed
Urban Governance and Poverty Reduction in Uganda: Lessons from Foreign Aid Regime of Local Government Development Program
Department of Geography, Geo-Informatics and Climatic Sciences, School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
1 Department of Geography, Geo-Informatics and Climatic Sciences, School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
Government of Uganda implemented the Local Government Development Program (LGDP) between 2000 and 2009 with support from multi-lateral and bi-lateral agencies. Unlike previous policies such as Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP’s) and Liberalization Policies, LGDP was designed to address poverty following a participatory approach. The participatory approach involved improvement of service delivery where local communities identified, prioritized and implemented development projects. This approach ensured demand-driven service delivery with a performance assessment strategy through multi-level budget framework meetings organized to prioritize and evaluate the project outcomes. LGDP aligned with the overarching Poverty Eradication Action Plan policy by improving services delivery within the mandate of Local Governments. The services included health, education, street lighting, water supply, drainage, waste collection among others as provided for by the Local Governments Act. Funding was provided as Conditional and non-conditional grants released in each financial year for two grouped items of Local Development Grants (LDG) and Capacity Building Grants (CBG). This paper examines the fundamentals of participatory local development planning conceived as a people-centered approach in decision-making and how it contributed to development in Uganda. The paper also critiques the implications of LGDP upon aid withdrawal and its implications on locally generated mobilization of resources for sustainability.
KeywordsLocal GovernanceParticipatory Development PlanningUrban PovertyDecision Making
Amis, P. (1995). Making Sense of Urban Poverty. Environment and Urbanization, 7, 145-158. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/095624789500700102
Bevan, P., & Sewaya, A. (1995). Understanding Poverty in Uganda: Adding a Sociological Dimension. Oxford: CSAE.
Brockerhoff, M. P. (2000). An Urbanizing World. Population Bulletin, 55, 48.
Enyedi, G. (2002). The Social Sustainability of Large Cities. Vienna: ICSS.
Friedman, J. (1987). Planning in the Public Domain: From Knowledge to Action. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hall, P. (1975) “The City on the Highway” and “The City of the Permanent Underclass”. Cities of Tomorrow, 273-318, 361- 400.
Hulme, D. (2003). Conceptualizing Chronic Poverty. Washington: World Development Institute. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(02)00222-X
Kamulegeya, S. (2001). Health Provisioning and Social Networks in Kampala City: Implications for the Urban Poor. Unpublished Dissertation for MA, Makerere University.
Kawempe Division Local Government (2003) Budget for Financial Year 2003-2004.
KCC (1997). Action Plan under the Local Government Development Plan. Kawempe Division: Kampala City Council.
KCC (1999). Revenue and Expenditure Budget 1999/2000. Kawempe Division: Kampala City Council.
KCC (2003). The Three-Year Development Plan 2003/04-200/06 (p. 236). Kampala: KCC.
KCC (2008). Kampala District 3 Year Development Plan. Kampala: KCC.
KCC and BTC (2008). Baseline Survey for the Kampala Integrated Environmental Management Project, Bwaise III (p. 81). Kampala: Kampala City Council & Belgian Technical Cooperation.
KCC and World Bank (2000). Institutional Mapping of Services and Service Providers under the City Development Strategy. Kampala: KCC and World Bank.
Lwasa, S., & Kadilo, G. (2010). Confronting the Urban Challenge in Sub Saharan Africa: Participatory Action Research. Institutional Capacity and Governance in Kampala. Commonwealth International Journal for Local Governance. Conference proceedings.
Lwasa, S., & Nyakaana, J. B. (2005). Development Planning and Implementation Processes in Employment, Health Services and Housing Provision in Kawempe Division. Research Manuscript, Kampala: NURRU.
Lwasa, S., Tenywa, M., Majaliwa Mwanjalolo, G. J., Prain, G., & Sengendo, H. (2009). Enhancing Adaptation of Poor Urban Dwellers to the Effects of Climate Variability and Change. 33. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 6, Article ID: 332002.
Mbiba, B. (Ed.) (2000). Review of Urban and Peri-Urban Transformations and Livelihoods in East and Southern Africa. London: Urban and Peri-Uran Research Network (Peri-Net), South Bank University.
Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development (2000). Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Report: Learning from the Poor (p. 150). Kampala: Government of Uganda.
Ministry of Local Government (2003). Donor Programmes in Local Governments. http://www.molg.go.ug/projects.hei
Ministry of Local Government (2004). Second Local Government Development Programme (LGDP II) Operational Manual for Local Governments. Kampala: Ministry of Local Government.
Mitlin, D., & Chitekwe, B. (2001). The Urban Poor under Threat and in Struggle: Options for Urban Development in Zimbabwe, 1995-2000. Environment and Urbanization, 13, 85-101.
MoFPED (2005). Uganda Poverty Status Report, 2005. Kampala: Government of Uganda.
MoFPED (2007). State of Uganda Population Report 2007. “Planned Urbanization for Uganda’s Growing Population” (p. 93). Kampala: Ministry of Finance, Planning & Economic Development (Planning).
Mukwaya, P. I., Lwasa, S. et al. (2007). Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Livelihoods in Uganda (p. 93). State of Uganda’s Population 2007. MoFPED. Kampala: Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
Mukwaya, P., Sengendo, H., & Lwasa, S. (2008). The New Core Periphery Relations in Uganda: Institutional Responses in a Globalizing World. Inequality beyond Globalisation: Economic Changes and the Dynamics of Inequality Midterm Conference of the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee Economy and Society, Neuchatel, 26-28 June 2008, ISA.
Nyakaana, J. B., Sengendo, H., & Lwasa, S. (2004). Population, Urban Development and the Environment in Uganda: The Case of Kampala City and Its Environs. Kampala.
Pedro, M. (2001). Community Based Organization and Participatory Planning in South-East Mexico City. Environment and Urbanization, 13, 117-133.
Samura, S. (2008). The Pitfalls of Africa’s Aid Addiction. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7740652.stm
Sengendo, H. (1997). Urbanization, Urban Governance and the Environment: Critical Conditions for Formulating of an Environmental Strategy for Kampala-Uganda. Mawazo Journal, 7, 18-31.
Seto, K. C., & Reenberg, A. (2014). Rethinking Global Land Use in an Urban Era. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262026901.001.0001
UBOS (2002). Socioeconomic Conditions Based n the 1999/2000 Uganda National Household Survey. Entebbe: Uganda Bureau of Statistics.
UN-Habitat (2005). Responding to the Challenges of an Urbanizing World (p. 38). Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
UN-Habitat and ECA (2008). The State of African Cities: A Framework for Addressing Urban Challenges in Africa (p. 206). Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlement Programme.