Explaining Poverty in Uganda: Evidence from the Uganda National Household Survey

The broad aim of the research was to establish a tool for identifying cost effective poverty alleviation strategies in Uganda. The objectives were to test hypotheses on causes of poverty in Uganda and to develop a poverty simulation model for policy analysis. Data for 9,710 households from the 2002/2003 Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS) was used to estimate a semi-log econometric model. The model included 19 households level characteristics and 8 community level characteristics as explanatory variables. The dependent variable was the natural logarithm of household consumption per adult equivalent. The model was estimated at both national and regional (5 regions) by weighted least squares with robust variance. The results identified 8 particularly promising poverty reducing policies namely: expansion of formal employment, secondary education, reduction in population growth, rural electrification, off-farm activities, collateral free credit, telephone services and reducing distance to community services. The study highlights the policy implications of the results.Food Security and Poverty,

Decentralization and rural service delivery in Uganda:

Decentralization, Development strategies, rural service delivery,

Determinants of Land Use in the Densely Populated Kigezi Highlands of Southwestern Uganda

We use a multinominal logit model to examine the determinants of plot abandonment (unintentional fallows) and long fallows (intentional fallows) in order to propose policy interventions that lead to optimal and sustainable management of land use systems in Kigezi highlands. Household factors such as age, and post primary education positively influenced farmers' decision to abandon plots. Therefore, more fallows and abandoned terraces were common with older farmers compared to younger ones. However, farm size and household type had no significant influence on abandonment of plots. Plot variables such as slope and plot distance had the expected positive signs while soil fertility had a significant negative sign as predicted. Two types of interventions are recommended. Those aimed at highly cultivable, moderate slopes and those aimed at uncultivable and fragile areas. For the former, the probability of adoption and intensity of use of appropriate agrobased interventions is likely to be very high. The latter require specific interventions that are profitable and yet allowing farmers to keep the land under cover for a very long time. Furthermore, we recommend incentives aimed at minimizing distances to plot fields.abandoned terraces, Land use, Kigezi Highlands, multinominal logit, Land Economics/Use,

Determinants of Wellbeing Among Smallholders in Adjumani District, Uganda

An ordered logistic regression model was used to empirically establish the quantitative effects of community identified (local) determinants of wellbeing on the level of household wellbeing. The model was fitted to data for a sample of 200 households collected in the last quarter of 2002. The dependent variable, poverty category, has three levels namely poorest =1, Less poor =2, and Better off =3. Fourteen independent variables are used. Results show that households that own less than 5 acreage of land, that are male headed, have a nonagricultural source of income and are actively involved in agricultural development activities have a higher probability (odds) of enjoying wellbeing above any given level. Land ownership seems to be the most important determinant of wellbeing in Adjumani district. Furthermore, owning livestock and having a household head with an education level of secondary school and above are also important determinants of household wellbeing in Adjumani district. We find household wellbeing to be negatively affected by household size, age of the household head and whether any family member has had any long illness although only the age of the household is significant. We recommend deepening of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and initiation of Universal Secondary Education to increase the education levels of the rural people. We also recommend continued and expansion of community level agricultural development activities, strengthening of the land tenure provisions to enhance access to land and initiation of programs to enhance animal ownership among small holder farmers in Adjumani.Adjumani, poverty analysis, DASS, ordinal logit, Consumer/Household Economics,

Gendered Patterns of Adults’ and Children’s Time and Access to Technology and Infrastructure in Rural Uganda

This study analyses the time use patterns of men, women and children in rural areas of Uganda. The aims are to 1. Map the gendered patterns of time allocation to paid and unpaid work, total work and leisure. 2. Analyze the differences in individuals’ time allocation in various household types and income levels 3. Assess the relationship between time use patterns, diets and productivity and 4. Assess agricultural and domestic technologies and access to infrastructure in their relationship to patterns of time use. The study was conducted in four regions of Uganda. A survey of rural households collected information on the time spent on different activities in the 24 hours by one adult woman, an adult man and the eldest child above age 10

Local government engagement with climate change adaptation in Uganda

[Aims and Methodology of the CCRI Research Program] This DIIS Report will present selected findings from the results of the CCRI’s research in Uganda. Climate Change and Rural Institutions (CCRI) is a joint collaborative research project (2012-2015) between the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) and the Department of Agribusiness and Natural Resource Economics at Makerere University (Uganda), the IWRM Centre at the University of Zambia (Zambia), the Centre for Climate Change Studies at the Hué University of Agriculture and Forestry (Vietnam) and Forest Action (Nepal) with support from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). The CCRI Uganda research team consists of three senior researchers, a PhD student and four research assistants. Qualitative interview results from key stakeholders and oral presentations during the CCRI district inception workshops and a joint CCRI/NAADS regional climate change adaptation workshop were recorded, transcribed and analysed using Nvivo software. The overall objective of the CCRI research program is to improve adaptation to climate change in rural areas through the development of policies to stimulate innovation among meso-level institutional actors. The research addresses the knowledge gap that currently exists regarding the role of district-level institutions in providing an enabling environment for climate change adaptation by rural citizens. These meso-level (district) institutions play a key role at the interface between national policies and individual/community-level adaptation efforts. The research program therefore explores (i) the nature and extent of their involvement and interactions in climate change adaptation, and (ii) the factors and processes that stimulate, constrain or block innovation in relation to climate change adaptation. The CCRI research program uses a qualitative fieldwork methodology that analyses case studies within their past and present political, economic and environmental contexts at the national and district levels. The foci of the case studies have been governance and institutions, including the historical development of national policies related to different aspects of decentralisation and the role of meso-level institutions, and their impact on the organisational cultures, cooperation and room for manoeuvre within these organisations. [...

Gendered district poverty profiles and poverty monitoring Kabarole, Masaka, Pallisa, Rakai and Tororo districts, Uganda

The overall objective of the Danida supported Agricultural Sector Programme Support (ASPS) in Uganda is to improve the conditions for the poorest part of the population and contribute to reduce gender-based inequalities in Uganda in general and in the pilot focus districts in particular. Late in 2000, Danida asked Department of Agricultural Economics, Makerere University, Kampala, and Centre for Development Research, Copenhagen, to form an external task group with the purpose of monitoring the gender and poverty impact of the ASPS. The present Working Paper presents a slightly revised version of one of the reports that have been the response to this task.1 The Paper presents gendered district poverty profiles for the five ASPS pilot districts, i.e. Kabarole, Masaka, Pallisa, Rakai and Tororo districts, as well as the methodology for developing these profiles. It depicts and compares the situation of the ‘betteroff’, the ‘less poor’ and the ‘poorest’ households in the five districts according to a number of dimensions, which local people themselves have identified as important when describing poverty and well-being in their communities. In addition, the report analyses the aspect of equality and inequality in gender relations within the household. Based on women’s own perceptions of female well-being, three levels of equality in gender relations are distinguished and related to household poverty. These profiles are the district baselines against which the gender and poverty impact of the ASPS can be monitored in the future. Finally, the report makes a very preliminary attempt at analysing the outcomes, including both the households reached and the resulting behavioural changes achieved through the various interventions supported by the ASPS components. This is related both to poverty levels, gender relations and differences between districts. The Paper concludes by outlining how the analysis should be undertaken when the exercise of developing gendered district poverty profiles is repeated three to four years later as part of ASPS impact monitoring

Technologies and infrastructure to reduce the work burden of women : Insights from time-use studies in Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda

Gender and social norms in African countries result in a greater share of overall work on women than men. Notably, women and girls across the globe undertake a greater share of unpaid domestic and care work than men. This disparity has several implications. First, despite consuming women’s time and effort this work remains unremunerated. Second, by constraining women’s time, it limits their capacity to participate fully in paid work which has implications for women’s income, wealth, resource access and voice and bargaining power within households and the society at large. Moreover, when women and girls undertake both paid and unpaid work, they sacrifice rest and leisure. For young girls and girl children, work impacts their schooling and skills development. The distribution of unpaid work between men and women, however, can change over time with changes in gender norms. Moreover, unpaid work can be reduced through technologies, access to markets and infrastructure. Drawing on PARI research on time use, this policy brief first presents the distribution of men’s and women’s time use between paid work, unpaid work and leisure and highlights the gendered patterns of its distribution in the rural households of Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda. It further presents these patterns for children and their time in schooling and learning activities. Moreover, we show agricultural and domestic technologies along with access to infrastructure that can reduce unpaid work

Towards 'good enough' climate and disaster risk governance: Emerging lessons from Zambia, Nepal, Viet Nam and Uganda

This report compares and contrasts how disaster risk management is being conceptualised in relation to emerging climate change adaptation efforts and how these two agendas are influenced by different governance systems, accountabilities and social contracts in Zambia, Uganda, Viet Nam and Nepal. Particular attention is paid to how this relates to different forms of state legitimacy and the changing role of local government in connection with a range of decentralisation processes, increasing political attention and the lure of new but little understood climate change funding. Findings highlight how concerns about disaster risk are influencing how new and uncertain forms of combined disaster/climate governance are perceived and implemented. Increasing attention from the media is also noted as a key factor determining which aspects of disaster risk management gain prominence, and which are ignored in public demands and in responses by politicians and local government

Predictors of low birth weight and preterm birth in rural Uganda: findings from a birth cohort study

BACKGROUND: Approximately 20.5 million infants were born weighing <2500 g (defined as low birthweight or LBW) in 2015, primarily in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Infants born LBW, including those born preterm (<37 weeks gestation), are at increased risk for numerous consequences, including neonatal mortality and morbidity as well as suboptimal health and nutritional status later in life. The objective of this study was to identify predictors of LBW and preterm birth among infants in rural Uganda. METHODS: Data were derived from a prospective birth cohort study conducted from 2014–2016 in 12 districts across northern and southwestern Uganda. Birth weights were measured in triplicate to the nearest 0.1 kg by trained enumerators within 72 hours of delivery. Gestational age was calculated from the first day of last menstrual period (LMP). Associations between household, maternal, and infant characteristics and birth outcomes (LBW and preterm birth) were assessed using bivariate and multivariable logistic regression with stepwise, backward selection analyses. RESULTS: Among infants in the study, 4.3% were born LBW (143/3,337), and 19.4% were born preterm (744/3,841). In multivariable analysis, mothers who were taller (>150 cm) (adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) = 0.42 (95% CI = 0.24, 0.72)), multigravida (aOR = 0.62 (95% CI = 0.39, 0.97)), or with adequate birth spacing (>24 months) (aOR = 0.60 (95% CI = 0.39, 0.92)) had lower odds of delivering a LBW infant Mothers with severe household food insecurity (aOR = 1.84 (95% CI = 1.22, 2.79)) or who tested positive for malaria during pregnancy (aOR = 2.06 (95% CI = 1.10, 3.85)) had higher odds of delivering a LBW infant. In addition, in multivariable analysis, mothers who resided in the Southwest (aOR = 0.64 (95% CI = 0.54, 0.76)), were ≥20 years old (aOR = 0.76 (95% CI = 0.61, 0.94)), with adequate birth spacing (aOR = 0.76 (95% CI = 0.63, 0.93)), or attended ≥4 antenatal care (ANC) visits (aOR = 0.56 (95% CI = 0.47, 0.67)) had lower odds of delivering a preterm infant; mothers who were neither married nor cohabitating (aOR = 1.42 (95% CI = 1.00, 2.00)) or delivered at home (aOR = 1.25 (95% CI = 1.04, 1.51)) had higher odds. CONCLUSIONS: In rural Uganda, severe household food insecurity, adolescent pregnancy, inadequate birth spacing, malaria infection, suboptimal ANC attendance, and home delivery represent modifiable risk factors associated with higher rates of LBW and/or preterm birth. Future studies on interventions to address these risk factors may be warranted.Published versio