The dynamics of returns to education in Uganda: National and subnational trends

We assess empirically the changes in returns to education at the subnational level in Uganda using the Uganda National Household Surveys for 2002–3 and 2005–6. Our results indicate that average returns to schooling tended to converge across regions in the last decade. The overall trend in convergence of returns to schooling took place at all levels of educational attainment and this behaviour in returns to education is mostly driven by the dynamics of returns to schooling in urban areas. We analyse subnational convergence in returns to education and unveil deviant dynamics in Northern Uganda. We discuss the potential challenges to inclusive economic growth in Uganda which are implied by our results.     

Power and perceptions in participatory monitoring and evaluation

This paper examines the assumptions that commonly underpin the design of participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) within development programmes through the examination of a case study of a large rural development programme in Uganda. This case study reveals a mismatch between programme assumptions and participant perceptions, which stymied the implementation of PM&E. In this case, PM&E was based on the assumptions that programme and participant goals were compatible, participants were willing to volunteer and engage themselves for the greater good of their communities, and information sharing and communication was fairly free and open. However, farmers within the programme felt that the bureaucratic and accountability requirements of the programme were not their concern, and were acutely aware of power differences between farmers and programme officials, and between farmers of varying status. The key lesson to be drawn from this case is the need for a heightened awareness of power dynamics and political factors in the design of PM&E.     

Overcoming the limits of institutional reform in Uganda

Uganda has been a public sector reform leader in Africa, producing many best practice laws and structures. Many reforms are limited to such gains, however, producing new forms that function poorly (laws are often not implemented and processes poorly executed). This article suggests adjustments to the reform agenda that address these limitations and close gaps between what Uganda's system looks like and how it functions. Adjustments involve adopting problem driven iterative adaptation (PDIA), which requires Ugandans to work together actively on their reforms, coming to terms with limits and engaging iteratively to find and fit ways to overcome these limits.     

Motives and career choices among Ugandan social work students

Despite the fact that social work has quite a long history in countries such as Uganda, there are few studies available about social work students’ motives and career wishes. The intention of this article is to start to fill this gap by using some of the motives explored in studies of European social work students and to compare them with those of Ugandan social work students. The data used draws on 149 students at the department of Social Work and Social Administration, Makerere University. It is based on a mix methods study using a survey and focus group discussions. The majority of social work students come from urban or semi-urban areas. Some students choose a programme where they are certain to get a scholarship. There was generally a positive relationship between interest and perceived status of the social work area. Those areas that scored high on interest were also rated highly in terms of status. Therapy and counselling, education and research, and health social work were ranked high, while social work with the elderly, abused and with poor people and social assistance ranked low. Social work students in Uganda do not expect to get a social work job after their graduation.     

Putting promises into practice: The New Aid Architecture in Uganda

Via the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action the international donor community has delivered a set of promises on ownership, harmonization and co‐ordination. Uganda is an interesting case for assessing progress on Paris Principles and seeing the New Aid Architecture in practice. This article provides a historical overview of the implementation of ‘Paris’ in Uganda from the late 1990s up to 2010, showing that implementation is laggardly and, in more recent years, that earlier progress has been reversed. This is due to donors’ perceptions of Uganda's political structure, and particularly its rampant corruption, and also to different views among donors and their internal adaptability in terms of truly measuring up to the Paris Principles.     

How formerly abducted women in post-conflict situations are reasserting their humanity in a hostile environment: photovoice evidence from northern Uganda

ABSTRACT

Northern Uganda received significant international attention during and immediately after the conflict between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army, in which over 20,000 women and children were abducted and trafficked. However, globally there has been little investigation into the long-term impacts on formerly abducted women in post-conflict reconstruction, or on their own efforts to improve their conditions. This article presents original photovoice evidence from 13 co-researchers; all members of the Women’s Advocacy Network, a grassroots organisation seeking to improve life in northern Uganda for women. All the co-researchers are from the Acholi ethnic group and were formerly abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army. They are all engaged in rebuilding their lives in Gulu, northern Uganda. The article seeks to present the work of the co-researchers and explores the long-term needs they identify for formerly abducted women in conflict zones. It also explores how their own experiences with abduction continues to erode the recognition of their humanity, both in terms of how they are perceived by their communities and how they view themselves, and how they are individually and collectively working to reassert their place in the moral universe.     

Staff characteristics and the exclusion of persons with disabilities: evidence from the microfinance industry in Uganda

This study uses survey data from the microfinance industry in Uganda to investigate whether there are differences among industry staff members in beliefs and views regarding persons with disabilities. For several of the questions, various staff sub-groups respond significantly differently. A recurring result is that staff members who have a relative with disabilities often express views that differ from the views of other staff members. Moreover, we find significant differences related to the age of the staff members. For instance, younger staff members are more positive and optimistic regarding the potential to reach more clients with disabilities. The employment position of the individual staff member also appears to be relevant: credit officers are relatively more likely (than other staff types) to indicate that discrimination could be a problem in the microfinance industry. Interestingly, we do not observe any differences in views and beliefs that are related to staff member gender.     

Making Civil Society Sustainable: The Legacy of USAID in Croatia

What makes civil society sustainable? This paper examines USAID “Legacy Mechanisms”—programs designed to support a stable civil society after USAID withdraws aid—in the context of post-war Croatia to reconceptualize civil society sustainability in terms of resilience. Rather than examine whether specific legacy mechanisms remained intact, this paper looks at how Croatian civil society organizations adopted, adapted, and dropped these legacy programs to respond to novel crises and a changing political and social environment once USAID exited Croatia. Drawing on archival data from USAID’s time in Croatia and interviews conducted between 2008 (the year after USAID withdrew) and 2016, this paper shows that the long-term impact USAID had on civil society lay not within the formal institutions and organizations it supported, but in the resilience, creativity, and cooperation it fostered in the civil society sector.     

Resilient and Self‐reliant Life: South Sudanese Refugees Imagining Futures in the Adjumani Refugee Setting,Uganda

Resilience and self‐reliance have become central in humanitarian responses to refugee situations. Based on a two‐year longitudinal qualitative study, this article explores how South Sudanese refugee youngsters in Uganda imagine and act towards their futures, and questions what resilience and self‐reliance can mean in the temporary space of the refugee camp. Youngsters need to become accustomed to a future without substantial progress, or be ready to play the game of chance. As such, a resilience and self‐reliance policy not only reveals the powerlessness of refugee youth, but also the limits of a humanitarian project to seek actual solutions to refugee situations.     

Technical and vocational education and training in Uganda: A critical analysis

This article undertakes a diagnostic study of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sub‐sector in Uganda, with a view to characterizing the sub‐sector and identifying its potential strengths and weakness. We undertook a cross‐sectional pre‐survey of purposively selected key stakeholders in the TVET sub‐sector. We selected performance indicators following their importance in influencing the TVET reform process. Both qualitative and quantitative data was solicited from the stakeholders. Quantitative data was collected through stakeholder‐specific structured questionnaires, whilst qualitative data was collected through desk review and field visits, individual focused interviews and focus group discussions. Our findings indicate that financing and planning constraints have resulted in poor quality equipment, under‐ and ill‐trained staff, limited adoption of a competence‐based education and training (CBET) curriculum, not to mention the supervision inadequacies of TVET institutions. Besides, the limited TVET sub‐sector interaction with the private sector has incapacitated TVET curriculum development to nurture skills demanded by the private sector. Furthermore, backward technology use in the private sector has equally inhibited the success of student attachment programmes. Finally, legal ambiguities have perpetuated a qualification jungle and overlapping curricula.     

The Social Imaginaries of Women's Peace Activism in Northern Uganda

The metanarrative of global feminism is often constructed as a progressive and emancipatory movement emanating from the West and fostering radical politics elsewhere in the world. Such a view is not only ethnocentric but, critically, it fails to engage with the complex ways in which feminist politics travel and are evinced in specific localities. In this article, I seek to understand how marginalized women in the “Global South” – particularly in Africa – interpret, experience and negotiate feminist ideas to wield political power within the context of their social and moral worlds. I focus on women's organized resistance to violence and armed conflict, known as “women's peace activism.” Using a case study of a women's peace movement in Uganda mediated by an international feminist organization called Isis Women's International Cross-Cultural Exchange, I conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with a wide range of activists in the organization and in its network in postconflict areas in Northern Uganda. I argue that the feminist peace discourse is most meaningful when its universal values of equity and securing the dignity of women are appropriated and re-signified through the cultural institutions and the collective memory of activists in their local settings.     

Intensified inequities: Young people's experiences of Covid-19 and school closures in Uganda

Uganda had the longest period of school closures worldwide as a response measure during the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on longitudinal qualitative data from the Contexts of Violence in Adolescence Cohort Study (CoVAC) (2018–2023), we examine how this has affected the lives of adolescents in Uganda. Our analysis showcases how intersecting inequities based on socioeconomic circumstances, gender and location have intensified, with detrimental effects on young people's educational paths and life circumstances. Strategies that take the intersections of these inequities into account are urgently needed to help the most disadvantaged and marginalized young people return to school.     

HIV/AIDS Orphans' Education in Uganda

Abstract

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in most sub-Saharan African countries has created a crisis in the African family structure. In Uganda, older people's roles have been reversed from being provided for to providers. Older people, who are already poor, face the loss of economic support from their adult children and unexpected social, psychological and economic burden due to the care-giving role they assume. In this study, we used cross-sectional data from Kayunga district in Central Uganda to examine the impact of HIV/AIDS on the role of older persons. We found that there were HIV/AIDS related deaths in 82.3% of the surveyed households. In almost 34% of the households, the care-givers of HIV/AIDS orphans were older people over 50 years old. Almost all households headed by older people (97.8%) had on average three school-going orphaned children living in the household.     

Do shocks affect men's and women's assets differently? Evidence from Bangladesh and Uganda

Using panel data, this article tests whether shocks affect men's and women's assets differently in Bangladesh and Uganda. Across countries, covariate and idiosyncratic shocks have different effects on men's, women's and jointly owned assets. Jointly held land and assets were better insured against food price increases in Bangladesh, unlike jointly held assets and wives’ assets in Uganda. Weather shocks affect husbands’ and wives’ assets differently in both countries. Reflecting contextual differences, illness shocks negatively affected wives’ land in Bangladesh, while death reduced husbands’ non‐land assets. In Uganda, fuel price increases eroded husbands’ landholdings, while drought shocks reduced wives’ assets. Ugandan husbands’ assets were better protected against covariate shocks than wives’ assets.     

Strengthening the Capacity of Grandparents in Providing Care to Young Children Affected by HIV/AIDS

Abstract

Action for Children (AFC) is a non-governmental organization founded and registered with the government of Uganda in 1998 to rescue children from immediate danger and to advocate for their rights. AFC is working on a three-year pilot project entitled the Grandparents Action Support Project (GAS), designed and implemented to strengthen the capacity of grandparents providing care to HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children under the age of eight, and to improve the overall welfare of the families taking care of these children. After only seven months, an interim program evaluation revealed that several effective innovative and pragmatic community-based strategies have been developed and implemented by participants. The Project has had a multiplier effect in participating communities in that ‘non-Project’ families are copying and learning from GAS Project homes. Challenges and future expansion of the Project are described.     

Deconstructing borders: Mobility strategies of South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda

Taking the current presence of South Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda as a case-study, this paper explores how different forms of mobility enable them to better cope with the harsh conditions caused by their displacement. Based on extensive field research, the results of this article show how for South Sudanese refugees, crossing borders can be empowering, although these complex strategies do not fit within the mutually exclusive ‘durable solutions’ proposed by the international refugee regime. Looking through a transnational lens, it is illustrated how different forms of movement enable the refugees to hold on to certain aspects of ‘normal life’, such as being employed, enacting customs and visiting loved ones, blurring the distinction between voluntary and forced migration. This results in a deepening of transnational networks as the generally large South Sudanese families find their members dispersed across Ugandan and South Sudanese town centres, villages, refugee settlements and third countries in Africa and elsewhere.     

State Fragility and Governance: Conflict Mitigation and Subnational Perspectives

Many drivers of intrastate conflict concern the relationship between the state and society, and thus are influenced by the quality of governance. Efforts to restore or create good governance, however, have adopted a relatively standardised democratising template. This article argues that conflict mitigation is a useful mechanism for adapting this template to conditions in fragile states. Furthermore, subnational reforms have important potential to mitigate the drivers identified in quantitative studies of conflict, as illustrated by selected experiences with decentralisation, citizen participation and local service delivery. The analysis confirms the important contributions both of quantitative research that has identified causal factors driving conflict and of qualitative study that has explored governance reforms that can address those factors.     

The state,refugees and migration in sub-Saharan Africa

Migration and refugee movements could significantly decline in sub-Saharan African countries. However, countries must redistribute meager resources equitably and engage in environmental protection. Refugee and migrant populations have increased in sub-Saharan Africa during 1969-95, from 700,000 to 6.8 million. This study examined the causes of migration and the implications for host countries. Doornbos (1990) identifies the root problem as the partisan nature of African politics and the incapacity to manage ecological degradation. The African state is wholly or partially responsible for the creation of conflicts. Examples abound in Zaire, South Africa, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia, Liberia, Congo, and Chad. State partisanship is also evident in Angola, Mozambique, Uganda, and Sierra Leone. An estimated 10 million Africans, in 1985, left their homes due to wars, government repression, or the inability of land to support them. In 1994, USAID estimated that 11.6 million Africans in 10 countries were threatened by famine from drought. Environmental degradation has generated conflicts. Africa's marginalized economy results in recession, unemployment, inflation, and distributional conflicts. Democratization has brought conflicts between the state, civil society, and exiles. Refugees face homelessness, poverty, emotional distress, inadequate food, and disease. Host countries face security threats, pressure on limited resources, rebellions from refugees and their involvement with foreign mercenaries, local conflicts between native and refugee populations, and environmental degradation from refugees.     

How to promote institutional reforms in the agricultural sector? A case study of Uganda's National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS)

This study provides alternative explanations to the limited success of the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme in Uganda, which was considered a role model for a demand‐driven, decentralized and market‐oriented agricultural extension reform in Africa. The analysis shows that the reform process was shaped by the interaction of two coalitions of actors: a donor‐dominated coalition that pushed for radical reform and advocated the total overhaul of the existing structures and the creation of new ones, with the aim of changing the mindset of the extension workers and managers towards the adoption of a more efficient, farmer‐oriented and performance‐based system. The other was a domestic coalition that believed in a “gradual” or “incremental” approach to promote changes and adjustments in the existing system to make it more efficient and accountable. This group was opposed to the complete overhaul of the existing extension system—taking an apparently more conservative stance. The study shows that the exclusion of the gradual reform coalition in the design and early implementation of NAADS increased the vulnerability of the programme to political capture and governance problems.     

Linking Local Government Discretion and Accountability in Decentralisation

Decentralisation offers significant opportunities to improve government accountability by exerting stronger pressures both from below (demand) and above (supply). The literature contains many examples, however, where the potential has not been realised, partly because decentralisation reforms have often been introduced without thinking through their accountability implications. Even when accountability is taken into account, the efforts tend to emphasise either the supply or the demand side of the equation, but not both. Drawing on the sets of literature on fiscal, administrative and political decentralisation, this article presents a methodology for studying this.