Case Studies-Uganda-Gender Inclusion in Decentralised Governance

8/14/2019 Case Studies-Uganda-Gender Inclusion in Decentralised Governance

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Case Studies/Project Profiles: Uganda

GENDER INCLUSION IN DECENTRALISED GOVERNANCE:THE CASE FOR DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT - UGANDA

Assumpta Tibamwenda Ikiriza,

Community Management Specialist,

Ministry of Local Government

" Gender is the desired but women must be given their due threshold. At times the structure is

too constricted to permit this".

Elizabeth Sithole

Governance and Institutional Analyst, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Since 1996, Uganda's National Resistance Movement government has pursued a vigorousDecentralisation policy involving substantial devolution of powers, functions and responsibilities topopular elected Local Governments. Today, all Local Governments in Uganda have powers to makeand implement development plans based on locally determined priorities. The District Developmentproject (DDP) is one of the early initiatives to test out the decision-making framework in the LocalGovernments while devolving the development budget. As such Planning, Allocation and InvestmentManagement Systems have been enhanced through the DDP.

The design of the District development Project (DDP) and Kotido District Development Project (KDDP)cognisance of the fact that gender equity will be upheld by the project. The project document highlights

the inherent gender disparities between Bantu Societies in the Central and South and the Nilotic and

Sudanic peoples in the Northern and North East. It examines the gender question in Health, Education

and Agriculture and Environment underlying the importance of increased resources and the

commensurate impacts on the lives of the men and women.

Gender inclusion forms a main plank of the project but its implementation has cautiously matched

other design considerations and policy directions in the country. The Constitution of the Republic of

Uganda makes provisions for gender inclusion. Article 32 (1) states that; "Notwithstanding anything in

this Constitution, the State shall take affirmative action in favour of groups marginalised on the basis of

gender, age, disability or any other reason created by history, tradition or custom for the purpose of

redressing imbalances which exist against them".

The Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development regulates gender inclusion in all Government

programmes. The National Gender Policy offers the policy context. Resource constraints, a heavy

reliance on sector wide approaches to planning and rapid policy shifts especially in the decentralised

governance have slowed down the implementation of the Gender Policy . This has in turn led to a lag

mainstreaming of Gender concerns across Line Ministries.


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The District Development Project envisaged important gains in women's participation and increased

gender analysis, planning and budgeting. The demand driven nature of the programme has ensured

the critical involvement of the women in the priority identification and to a large extent, resource

allocation.

However, the DDP uses the mainstream Local Government structure for implementation. As such the

greater Local Government processes regulate innovations in gender planning and targeting and other

gender considerations as mandated in the respective sector investment plans.

Nonetheless the programme has made bold steps towards increased gender inclusion.

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1. Background to Gender and Decentralized Governance

The equitable distribution of decision-making and resources between women and men forms a major

agenda of the Government of Uganda. Early manifestations of gender concerns were largely

channeled through Women in Development (WID) initiatives. In the mid 80s the responses to gender

concerns concentrated on rights and obligations of the women - as a response to the Nairobi ForwardLooking Strategies. This led to the Formation of rights groups such as the Action for Development

(ACFORDE and the National Association of Women's Organisations of Uganda (NAWOU).

Incrementally the women's organisation lobbied Government for specialised treatment of the women

question. This yielded benefit in 1988.

The creation of Department for Women in Development based in

the Office of the President ensured a specific policy agenda for

women development. The department has since been upgraded

to a ministry. The Ministry itself has undergone several structural

and policy shifts.

This was partly to respond to global trends but specifically to

respond to domestic policy demands. With the coming into force

of the Resistance Council Statute 1993, it was very clear that the

some of the central ministry activities had to be devolved to the

Local Governments. The enactment of the Local Governments Act

1997 to coincide with the National Gender Policy further re-

enforced the need for decentralised machinery for addressing

gender inclusion.

The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda makes provisions for

gender inclusion albeit in an indirect way. Article 32 (1) states that; "Notwithstanding anything in this

Constitution, the State shall take affirmative action in favour of groups marginalised on the basis ofgender, age, disability or any other reason created by history, tradition or custom for the purpose of

redressing imbalances which exist against them". The Local Governments Act Amendments 2000

have made Article 32 of the Constitution a defacto and standalone objective of Decentralisation!

2. Gender Inclusion in Government Programmes

Policy and institutional Framework

In 1991 the department forWomen in Development isupgraded to the Ministry ofWomen Development,Youth and Culture.

1994 Ministry of Genderand CommunityDevelopment created.

1998 in changed to thepresent Ministry of GenderLabour and SocialDevelopment.


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The Local Governments Act 1997 and the National Gender Policy 1997 began to implement in a much

more practical way the provisions of the Constitution.

The Local Governments Act spells out issues of gender equity through increased women

representation. Local Councils must have a mandatory quota system of 30 percent women

representation. The National Gender Policy on the other hand spells out broad guidelines for ensuring

gender sensitisation across the board and gender inclusion in the line ministries. The Local

Government Planning Guideline highlights the importance for gender inclusion with particular

emphasis on women but in a scanty way.

Gender Inclusion in the District development Project: Design Considerations: methodology and

concept

The design of the District development Project (DDP) and Kotido District Development Project (KDDP)

takes cognisance of the fact that gender equity will be upheld by the project. The project document

highlights the inherent gender disparities between Bantu Societies in the Central and South and the

Nilotic and Sudanic peoples in the Northern and North East. It examines the gender question in Health,

Education and Agriculture and Environment underlying the importance of increased resources and thecommensurate impacts on the lives of the men and women.

Attempts at Gender Inclusive Planning and Budgeting

The District Development Project envisaged important gains in women's participation and increased

gender analysis, planning and budgeting. The demand driven nature of the programme has ensured

the critical involvement of the women in the priority identification and to a large extent, resource

allocation.

DDP is by and large an institutional strengthening project, using capital and capacity building

resources to test out planning, allocation and investment management systems as broadly outlined in

the Local Governments Act 1997.

The minimum access criteria (Minimum Conditions) spell out the basic requirement for accessing the

Local Development Fund (LDF) and the Capacity Building Fund (CBF). The minimum conditions

include gender targeting and compliance to gender planning guidelines.

In conjunction with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, the Ministry of Local

Government has embarked on a comprehensive Gender orientation strategy for the Technical

Planning Committees at the District. The orientation will extend to the sub-county (sub-district) levels.

The sub-counties and districts have well outlined planning guides and systems. The planning

guidelines emphasise a bottom-up approach to the soliciting of planning ideas and their prioritisation.Gender inclusion in the Local Government planning and budgeting systems and processes happens

through ensuring that the needs of women and girls are incorporated into the village, parish, sub-

county and district plans. Emphasizing fair women representation in the expanded planning meetings

is a major area of concern for all members of the project team.

Like most Government programmes, the DDP design relies on the various Sector Wide Plans for

achieving the various concerns. Notable among these is the Education Plan, which among other things


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is supposed to ensure equitable education opportunities for both women and men, correcting

education, and career imbalances through increased education for girls and ensuring a cut in illiteracy

rate currently at an average of 60 percent for women and 38 percent for men. The Health Plan on the

other hand emphasises promotions of health education, provision of maternal health services in order

to curb maternal mortality rates currently at 130/1000

The balance between Women Representation and Gender Inclusion

Most DDP programme reviews have unfairly judged the achievement of the programme towards

gender inclusion. The recent Mid-Term evaluation erroneously states that "there is no evidence of

gender analysis or recognition of gender concerns either at project identification or at design stage". It

notes that there is a limited focus on gender and a remarkable low participation of women in project

activities. The report further castigates the project emphasis on representation.

Where as the participation of women is quite low in some areas, it is not true that all activities lack a

gender focus. By adopting the LDF approach to Local Government Development, we must inextricably

limit the detailed nature of programming that would be possible under say, Civil Society Organisations

or sector specific programmes. As such the DDP can only address gender targeting and planningwithin the greater framework of providing budget support to the sub-national Local Governments. The

question therefore is one of balancing how much of the Central Government agenda must such design

advocate and push for?

The Local Governments define their capacity Building needs and the activities. To the extent possible

the Ministry of Local Government advises on the content and mode of capacity building delivery. The

Ministry cannot unduly influence the areas addressed by the CBF. Capacity Building Plans that have

no gender component can only reflect lack of sufficient "conviction" by the Local Governments on the

gender question. The DDP recognises the fact that development benefit has to accrue to both men

and women . However the shift from representation to actual inclusion especially for women, takes

more than a pilot programme to achieve.

Attempts at Main streaming but not enough

Despite a limited scope of operation and the lack of sufficient mandate to offset the gender

imbalances, DDP has tried to work towards a more gender responsive programme over the two and a

half years of implementation.

The Local Governments Assessment Manual now spells out gender considerations to be reflected in

the District and Sub-county Plans before accessing the Local development and Capacity Building

Funds. This is not an alien requirement. It builds on the guidelines for gender planning albeit scant as

contained in the Local Government Planning Guide.

The inclusion of gender as an examinable parameter for assessment has not gone without its own

challenges. The planning guide is not sufficiently detailed to outline critical gender considerations.

3. Major Achievements

The programme has made remarkable steps in the inclusion of gender concerns .


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The inclusion of both women and men on the planning and investment committees at sub-county and parish levels.

The programme has introduced expanded planning meetings which as much as possibleincorporates the planning views of women and men.

DDP has opened out the participation of women in none traditional areas such as constructionof health units and other facilities. This has increased ownership.

For the first time, there is a system for tracking gender inclusion in the development plans. A gender task force was constituted with representatives from the Ministry of Gender,

UNDP/UNCDF, UNICEF and Ministry of Local Government. The Task Force will oversee theincorporation of gender concerns in the DDP and other Local Government DevelopmentProgrammes.

A study to engender all training materials and develop a mainstreaming strategy for LocalGovernments is underway,

4. Challenges

Policy Impact and Institutional omissions

As already noted, the implementation of the Gender Policy has moved slower than anticipated and the

policy is due for review to make it gain the much- needed synch with the Decentralisation Policy.

The design of DDP as a budget support and response led programme makes it restrictive for full-blown

gender planning programmes. These would not only deviate from the original design principles but

would seriously impact on the budget. Much more important is that some of the versatile gender

programmes are the mandate of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development.

There is a horizontal relationship between Local Governments Act 1997 and the National Gender

Policy 1997. This is aggravated by the challenges of coordinating a national policy by the Ministry of

Gender .

Emphasis on Programme Priority Areas of Government

The ultimate allocation ratios across district departments for the LDF and to a large extent, the CBF

are influenced by national policy on PPAs. This has adversely affected the resource envelope for

gender mentoring activities in Local Governments. District Gender Officers and Community Services

Coordinators find themselves with a negligible share of the LDF/CBF.

Policy Coordination

The assumptions made that Sector Wide Plans will address gender concerns continue to be elusive.

The lack of horizontal "seepage" between Line Ministries and the Ministry responsible for Gender has

perpetuated gender blind programming. The Ministry of Education may put up school structures

through the School Construction Grant but it may not render itself to the softer issues of enrolment and

retention. Whereas the issues of enrolment could be accommodated in the same Ministry, it would

take the combined efforts of Local Councils to ensure child enrolment and retention.

On the other hand the Ministry of Health may put up the maternity centres and equip them. It may

however, not influence the land question where all land available is turned into cash crop leaving out

the need for food crops .


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Platform for Advocacy

Linked to Policy coordination is the whole advocacy question within Government and the donors.

Anecdotal experiences and initiative on gender advocacy exist but they are not sufficiently rooted

within key institutions to cause the desired changes. There is still a sectoral "echo effect" in planning

and service delivery.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The Ministry of Local Government-Uganda takes note of the needs for more gender inclusion is the

ultimate benefit of the District Development Project is to accrue to both women and men equitably. The

DDP further acknowledges the policy and programming constraints that impede a full-blown gender

programme within the project. Nonetheless the need outweighs the constraints and some steps have

been taken.

The DDP through programme reviews has institutes a study to undertake the formulation of gender

mainstreaming strategy in Local Governments. The study is underway and will help inform

Government programmes but most immediately the Local Government Development Programme(LGDP) - the scaled up version of DDP.

Alongside the mainstreaming strategy a gender audit for all major manuals and training material is

planned. This will help refocus the gender question during training and mentoring.

With a strong legal and institutional framework for Decentralisation, there is needs for a redefinition of

gender planning and mainstreaming strategies. The guides should be unpacked to specifically detail

out the gender considerations to be ref lected in the development plan.

Above the programme specific considerations, there is the policy context to be looked. Ministry of

Gender is now part of the programme Technical Committee for LGDP. Since the two programmes

cross-fertilize each other the membership will go a long way in spelling out policy direction.

Existing efforts to engender the planning guidelines and the Local Governments assessment Manual

will be enhanced.

Programmes using the LDF mode need to reconsider the balance between an engendered programme

and other forms of institutional strengthening.

With out losing sight of key development issues such as the targeting of marginalised groups the

totality of contributions made by other players must be analysed and weighed. The comparative

advantage must be established. Very often the there is a tendency to overload the system. This

continues to be a major challenge to Local Governance.

References

1. The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda

2. Republic of Uganda, 2000, Ministry of Local Government, The Local GovernmentsAssessment Manual 2000.


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3. Republic of Uganda, Ministry of Gender, Labour and social Development, The NationalGender Policy 1997.

4. UNCDF/UNDP/Ministry of Local Government - Uganda, The District Development ProjectDocument.

5. UNCDF/UNDP/Ministry of Local Government - Uganda, The Kotido District DevelopmentProject Document.

6. Republic of Uganda, Ministry of Local Government, The Local Governments Act 1997.

7. Carolyne Rusten Rugumayo, 1999 A Local Government Country Profile Study forUganda.

8. Adalbert Engel, 1997, Decentralisation, Local Capacity and Regional Development:Experiences from GTZ-supported initiatives in Africa.

9. UNDP Thailand, 2000, A Practical approach to Local Community Empowerment.

10. Martin Onyach-Olaa 7 Doug Porter 1999, Inclusive Planning and Allocation for RuralServices

11. Assumpta Ikiriza Tibamwenda, 2000, Gender and Decentralisation in Uganda: Key Issuesfor the District Technical Planning Committees.

12. Republic of Uganda, Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development 1999, UgandaParticipatory Poverty Assessment Report.

13. Assumpta Ikiriza Tibamwenda and Emmanuel Sewankambo, The Community ParticipationReview.

14. Decentralization Secretariat, Ministry of Local Government, Decentralsaition QuarterlyProgress Report.

15. The Republic of Uganda, Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development, FiscalDecentralization in Uganda: The Way Forward.

16. Republic of Uganda, Ministry of Local Government/UNCDF/UNDP, District DevelopmentProject Pilot and Kotido District Development Project, Mid Term Evaluation (draftreport).

17. USAID-IPC Uganda 2001, Priority District Assessment: Gender and Civil SocietyParticipation.

18. Republic of Uganda, Ministry of Local Government, Guide to Development Planning forLocal Governments.

19. The Republic of Uganda: Northern Uganda Reconstruction Programme 2000: TheCommunity Needs Assessment Report.

Documents

Case Studies-Uganda-Gender Inclusion in Decentralised Governance