Policies on Poverty and the Fisheries Sector in Uganda: The Current Policy Trends

It was reported that on the basis of the 1999/2000 household survey, the poverty levels in Uganda reduced to 35% from 44% in 1997. It was mentioned that the indices used to measure poverty include: standards of living, Household income and expenditure on food. He also added that one is poor if his/her average expenditure falls below the poverty lin

Policies on poverty and the fisheries sector in Uganda: the current policy trends

There are concerns, at least among the proponents of development, on how to link policy development processes in Uganda and the associated transformation of the poor to high standards of living. In fact some questions have been posed as to whether it's the absence of poverty-targeted policies that a good proportion of individuals or communities are still poor. In the fisheries sector where most of the fish dependent communities live, poverty indications are still prevalent although arguments have been put that current reforms in the sector have transformed the lives of the fish dependent communities. The 1999/2000 household survey report indicates that the poverty levels reduced to 35% of Uganda's total population from 44% in 1997. The question that arose, which still arises anyway, was to define who is actually poor. When measuring poverty one is ultimately interested in the 'standards of living' of individuals especially those, whose standards of living are inadequate. The basic element of measuring this inadequacy/adequacy, at least in Uganda, is to use the household income or consumption per adult equivalent. Studies have demonstrated that household consumption expenditure is a good approximation of household income1. Therefore, for purpose of this report, we define poor households to mean based on that that one adopted by the Ministry of Finance to mean "households whose expenditure per adult equivalent falls below the poverty line 3 ". Many government documents report that the poverty line is one dollar a day. Therefore someone is below the poverty line if he or she lives on less than one dollar a day. In this paper, we analyse the evolution of poverty-driven policies that have been put in place by government and how these policies are shifting or are likely to shift the lives of fish dependent communities. We argue that combinations of poverty-policies are being translated into increased incomes and welfare of most individuals in the fisheries sector. The reasons for this shift, we argue, is as a result of a combination of factors all supported by non other that poverty-led government policies

Policy research - implications of liberalisation of fish trade for developing countries. A case study for Uganda

Liberalisation of fish trade started as a result of policies introduced when Uganda embraced the World Bank and IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) that created an enabling environment for business and enhanced domestic goods to access the international market as well as for international goods to access the domestic market

Final technical report : strengthening evidence-based policy research and advocacy for an African green revolution

The programme has provided opportunity for policy specialists to be trained in Africa who can better address policy problems in a contextual and more sustainable manner. The project aimed to strengthen policy analysis and advocacy capacity in Francophone West Africa through: building human capacity for evidence-based policy analysis, and; advocacy and translation of policies into action to ensure agricultural growth and food security for smallholder farmers. Training all students in French and English language will enable the West African sub-region to network better. This report provides a summary of activities, outputs and outcomes of the graduate programmes.Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF