Multidimensional child poverty and the SDGs: from measurement to action

The Sustainable Development Goals require countries to report on progress in reducing poverty in all its dimensions, for adults and children, according to national definitions; this requires changes to how poverty data are collected and analysed. This chapter examines how, following the integration of the Consensual Approach (CA) in the Uganda National Household Survey (UBOS, 2017), democratic definitions and measures of child poverty can be developed on the basis of national consensus about what constitutes an acceptable standard of living. This chapter also provides unique insight on the application of the CA in refugee and host communities. Indicators are based on age-appropriate criteria and reflect children’s economic and social rights and national frameworks, such as the Constitution of Uganda. In this chapter we focus specifically on developing democratic measures of socially perceived educational necessities, use them to derive Uganda’s multidimensional child poverty profile, and show inequalities across households

Creating Youth Employment through Entrepreneurship Financing: The Uganda Youth Venture Capital Fund

Youth unemployment continues to be a developmental challenge not only in Uganda but in several sub Saharan countries. At least 64 percent of the total unemployed persons are youth aged 18-30 years. As the government struggles to look for solutions to the unemployment challenge, one approach has been the promotion of self-employment through the establishment of National Youth Funds. Specifically, the Youth Venture Capital Fund (UYVCF) worth UGX 25bn (about US$10 million) was introduced in 2011 and more recently, in September 2013, government significantly boosted youth schemes by allocating UGX 265 billion (about US$ 100 million) to the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) over a five-year period. The major pillars of these initiatives are: enterprise development, job creation and business skills training and development. Using the UYVCF as a case study, this study examines the level and determinants of youth participation in the fund and evaluates the operations of the fund against the initial guidelines and design as stipulated in the Aide memoire1 between the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development (MFPED) and the participating banks. The study majorly relied on secondary data provided by Centenary Bank, the largest commercial bank participating in the fund and was complemented by a survey of beneficiaries as well as potential beneficiaries. The data sourced from the commercial bank provides an overview of the fund beneficiaries by basic socio economic characteristics while the field survey data was used to compare the activities of beneficiaries vis a vis non-beneficiaries. Results indicate that participation in the youth fund program is positively and significantly influenced by the age cohort of the youth entrepreneur (the older youth aged 26-35 years are more likely to access the fund compared to the younger youth (18-25 years), location of the business (urban based businesses have a higher chance of accessing the fund), type of business enterprise (those in services are more likely to access the fund loan) and business maturity. Although there has been some positive effect of the fund on business expansion, we do not find significant evidence of the youth fund effect on jobs creation. It was also discovered that the major role players are not entirely fulfilling their mandates and some have sidetracked from the initial objectives. On the policy front, we propose that for the youth fund to have a lasting impact on its intended objectives, the promotion of youth entrepreneurship should be approached comprehensively (not only the credit component) and it should target productive sectors with high employment creation potential. A strong institutional framework and elimination of obstacles to self-employment are other recommendations arising out of the study

Overcoming the reproductive health challenges to young women’s employment prospects in Uganda

Despite the existence of a fairly strong legal framework, young women in Uganda continue to face a number of challenges as they make the crucial transition into adulthood. In particular, girls are pushed into early marriages and pregnancies and are often deprived of full education attainment. Such experiences have lasting impacts on their future economic opportunities. Research findings show that discriminatory social norms and practices still exist –particularly in rural areas - and they affect the ability of girls and young women to realize their educational and economic capabilities. Young people with more education are likely to transit to better jobs as and when employment opportunities arise. Moreover, early fertility and marriage experiences often result in increased caring responsibilities and restricted mobility in search of employment opportunities

Financing Indoor Residual Spraying for Malaria Prevention in Uganda: Options for Cost Minimization

Uganda is the second largest contributor of total malaria cases in East and Southern Africa. Domestically, the burden of malaria is enormous and persistent (high morbidity, mortality, and economic loss). Among other strategies, the government has proposed large-scale Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) intervention as a major component of current malaria control efforts, and recently, the political leadership voiced solidarity towards fighting malaria through the “Mass Action Against Malaria” campaign. This paper was motivated by the paucity of evidence on requisite financial resources to fund country-wide and phased IRS implementation. Additionally, given that the economy is highly resource constrained and is faced with innumerable competing development priorities and needs, it is imperative to explore low-cost options for IRS implementation. Therefore, this paper was aimed at analysing the costs of the country-wide roll out of IRS under different IRS delivery models, the cost implications of implementing IRS in a phased manner, and identifying cost-minimization strategies. We used the latest Uganda National Household Survey, market price data, and data from IRS pilot districts

Education, marriage, fertility and labour market experiences of young women in Uganda: Evidence from a qualitative assessment

Despite the existence of a fairly strong, enabling legal and policy framework, young women in Uganda continue to face a number of challenges as they make crucial transitions into adulthood. In particular, girls are pushed into early marriages and pregnancies and are often deprived of full education attainment. These experiences are likely to have lasting impacts on their future opportunities, particularly, their engagement in productive and decent work. Using qualitative methodologies, this paper explores the inter linkages between the transitions from school to work or motherhood and/or marriage and the ensuing effects on future labour market outcomes and choices. Overall, the study finds that some discriminatory social norms and practices still exist –particularly in rural areas - and they affect the ability of girls and young women to realise their educational and economic capabilities. The majority of young people continue to be engaged in vulnerable employment with limited prospects for growth because of limited access to capital and inadequate skills to productively engage in other activities; the youth who lack skills and capital tend to get stuck in dead-end jobs. In contrast, young people with more education are likely to transit to better jobs as and when employment opportunities arise. Moreover, early fertility and marriage experiences often result in increased caring responsibilities and restricted mobility in search of employment opportunities

Early labour market transitions of young women in Uganda

Poor educational attainment, early marriages, low age at first birth and poor labour market outcomes continue to be of concern for young women in Uganda. Using the School to Work Transition Surveys (SWTS 2013 and 2015) and the Demographic and Health Surveys (2006 and 2011) for Uganda, this paper descriptively explores links between educational attainment, age of marriage and child-birth and labour market outcomes for young people (15-24 years of age). Overall, we find that young women leave school early (one in every two girls drops out before completion of the education cycle), give birth and/or get married before the legal age of 18 years (median age at marriage and first birth is 16.7 and 17.4 respectively), and a good number -18 percent are inactive (neither participating in the labour market nor attending school). Specifically, the results provided evidence on the critical role of education in transiting to stable/satisfactory employment; compared with those who leave school prematurely; young people who enter the labour market with more education are more likely transition to stable employment. Additional evidence shows that women (25-49 years) whose first birth/marriage was before the age of 20 are less likely to be in professional /technical and managerial occupations and more likely to be engaged in agriculture with less (if any) income accruing to them. This partly confirms the hypothesis that early labour market entry limits young people from accumulating the human capital necessary to get good jobs; and often confines them to less productive and vulnerable jobs