United Nations Capital Development Fund Programme of the Government of Uganda Project Proposal
Financing:
Programme Number: UGA/02/C01
Japan Women In Development Fund: US$ 300,000
Programme Title:
Parallel Funding: UNCDF: US$ 3,000,000 (Gender mainstreaming component: $300,000) UNDP: US$ 282,000
District Development Programme 2 Gender Mainstreaming Component
Programme Duration 3 Years Implementing Agencies: Executing Agency:
Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development
Ministry of Local Government/ Programme Management Unit
Estimated starting date: Ending date:
1 January 2003 31 December 2005
Classification information Sector: Local Governance Primary area of focus: Poverty reduction Secondary areas of focus: Participatory development Planning, develop local capacity to deliver public services, Strategic area of support: Advocacy for national policies supporting decentralisation Target beneficiaries: Local Councils, Officers of the Gender directorate
Brief description: The District Development Programme 2 (DDP2): Gender Mainstreaming Component represents a continuation and enhancement of the previous UNDP/UNCDF District Development Project/DDP (UNCDF: UGA/95/C01, UNDP: UGA/97/008). The design takes into account the lessons learned from the previous project and the up -scaling and replication of the DDP to a National Local Government Development Programme (LGDP) with IDA Funding of $89.9 million. The DDP2 will enhance links in the local governance process through implementation of four related areas of concentration: (i) Coordinated Participatory Planning and Budgeting, (ii) Enhancement of Local Revenue, (iii) Gender Mainstreaming and (iv) Strengthening the Administration of Local Courts. This component, the Gender Mainstreaming Component, will be co-funded by the Japan WID Fund, UNCDF, UNDP and the Government of Uganda. The Project’s intended outcome is to achieve equitable participation of women and men promoted in shaping policies, decision-making and resource allocations at local government levels as provided for in the Constitution 1995 and the Local Government Act 1997. Focus will be placed on: strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to provide a enabling policy environment to support gender mainstreaming at local government levels; improving institutional mechanisms for gender mainstreaming at local government; and training on gender budgeting and women’s leadership at the local governments.
Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
A. 1. Project Background The District Development Project (DDP), which began in 1997, piloted the devolution of the development budget in 7 districts in Uganda with UNDP and UNCDF support. The project was designed and implemented in line with the Constitution 1995, the Local Government Act 1997 and the Local Government Financial and Accounting Regulations 1998. The primary development objective was to: “ Provide financial and technical resources to enable the definition, testing and refinement of the participatory planning, allocation of resources and the delivery and management of infrastructure and service provision at various levels of government.” Evaluations (1998/1999) of the project have been generally positive and the DDP process was replicated with World Bank support to 51 additional Higher Local Governments (Districts and Municipalities) and other donor supported district projects (such as Irish Aid, DANIDA and the Dutch). In May 2002, UNCDF approved the project, UGA/01/C01: District Development Programme 2 (with a UNCDF contribution of $ 3 million) to build on, and consolidate on the achievements of the DDP and address the emerging challenges. The Overall Goal of the District Development Project 2 (DDP2) is poverty eradication based on an underlying assumption that the causes and effects of poverty are influenced by participation of women and men in decision-making and control and equitable distribution of resources. To achieve this goal, the District Development Project 2 will have as its overall development objective: Equitable and sustainable access to socio-economic infrastructure and public services improved through high quality of local governance practiced by local governments. Strong local governance frameworks, institutions and operations are essential contributing factors to the development process and the GoU and UNCDF have agreed to address the following themes in support of poverty eradication through good local governance: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Participatory Planning and Budgeting Enhanced Local Revenue Generation Gender Mainstreaming Strengthened Local Council Administration of Justice
During the formulation, clear and evolving linkages emerged between the areas of participatory planning and budgeting, local revenue generation, gender mainstreaming and strengthening of the local council justice system. Focusing on these areas would build on the achievements so far, and promote enhanced opportunities to inform policy development and replicate best practices within and outside of the country. In order to build on the achievements of the DDP1, DDP2 will continue to work with the 6 pilot districts: Arua, Kabale, Mukono, Jinja, Yumbe and Kayunga.
2
Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
Assistance is sought from the UNDP Japan WID Fund to co-finance with UNCDF one of the 4 components, namely component 3: Gender Mainstreaming in relation to the Gender Policy and institutional support. UNCDF will provide $300,000 to the gender mainstreaming component while $ 300,000 is requested from the Japan WID Fund. A.2 Local Governments in Uganda Uganda has one of the most ambitious and radical decentralization policies in sub-Saharan Africa. The Presidential Policy Statement of 1992 formalised and articulated the Government’s political commitment to decentralization. This commitment was strengthened and maintained through the provisions of the 1995 Constitution, which clearly spell out that the State “.. is to be guided by the principle of decentralisation and devolution of governmental functions and powers..” (Section II (iii)). The 1997 Local Governments Act (LGA) provides the more detailed legislative framework for decentralization in Uganda. The LGA both defines the structure of local governments and specifies their respective responsibilities and powers, as well as those of central government. In terms of structure, local government in Uganda is made up of Districts (LC5 – Local Council 5), Counties (LC4), Sub-counties (LC3), parishes (LC2) and villages (LC1). Uganda currently has 56 Districts, more than 150 Counties, nearly 1,000 sub-counties, some 4,000 parishes and over 43,000 villages. The Districts and Sub-counties are by far the most prominent local government units in Uganda as they are the only corporate bodies within the local government system. Uganda has a population of 24.6 million according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics’ Uganda Population and Housing census preliminary results of October 2002. A.3.Gender Issues and Institutional Frameworks for Local Governments in Uganda: The Constitution of Uganda (1995) stipulates that “the state shall take all necessary steps to involve the people in the formulation and implementation of development plans, which affect them”. In addition, two of the objectives of the Local Government Act (1997) aim at ensuring democratic participation in, and control of decision making by the people concerned; and establishing a democratic, political and gender sensitive administrative set-up in local governments. The Local Government Act also provides for the obligation that at least 1/3 of councils, statutory commissions and committees have to be women. However, although the 1/3 of female representation at local government level is secured, participation is not necessary attained. Furthermore, although the National Gender policy imposes a duty on the local governments to practice gender mainstreaming, it is not complemented by an enabling law, nor is it adequately supported by the Local Government Act 1997 which is the primary law that relates to the management and operations of local governments. What can make the Gender policy instructive is a law which further ensures the provisions for gender equity in local governments are realized, for example, the Local Government Act reserves 1/3 of Local council seats for women and commits local governments to take affirmative action measures, it is not clear what sanction may be held against a local government that ignores this provision. In addition, there are other aspects of legislation that are supposed to influence gender mainstreaming but instead have created uncoordinated processes. The Women's Council Statute of 1993 is the basis for the formation of the women councils, while the Local Government Act 1997 is the basis for establishing the Local councils. Although the two structures are supposed to
3
Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
be complementary, they often function in a parallel and uncoordinated manner due to the following reasons: x There is ambiguity in the roles of the Women councillors and representatives of the Women councils; x Representatives of the women councils have no mandate to take decisions, (e.g. in the District Budget or Plan) unless they have participated in the contribution of ideas such as through community meetings; and x Women councils’ budget is not reflected in the local government budget and the women councils receive their budget allocation through' the MGLSD. There are clearly a number of ways in which women have limited access to the local development process. The Gender Audit of the District Development Project (DDP) in 2001 concluded that the main obstacles that inhibit effective women’s participation in local government development process include: x planning, budgeting and resource allocation process is still male-dominated and not adequately gender sensitive; x general reluctance by the communities to participate in meetings that have no direct or immediate benefit to them; x inappropriate timing of meetings which do not take into account women’s schedule of activities; x cultural factors such as the low status accorded to women, especially in rural areas, which inhibits women’s contribution to any discussions; x weak and ineffective women’s representative institutions (Ministry of Gender, Women’s Councils, Department of Community Services, and women councillors) that find it difficult to ensure that women’s concerns/issues are incorporated into local planning and budgeting process as well as resource allocation mechanisms; x high rate of illiteracy among women (especially rural women). In 1990, nearly 60% of women in Uganda were illiterate; the rate for some Districts is higher than the national rate. The above obstacles undermine pro-poor public expenditure that benefits women equally with men. Gender concerns/issues are not effectively incorporated into local council development plans and activities. The weakness of women’s representative institutions has resulted in a low degree of influence by women over the allocation of public resources in their favour. Thus women have limited access to the control of means of production and capital, particularly women farmers in the rural areas. Control of the means of production and capital (especially business credit) has predominantly remained in the hands of men, creating an almost perpetual women poverty syndrome. Women are particularly disadvantaged in that the majority are uneducated, do not own property to act as collateral to secure business credit and cannot save due to lack of control over household income. Indeed, illiteracy among rural women has largely contributed to limiting their participation in the local government development process. It has further contributed to the existing wide gap between men and women regarding access to and control over productive resources, education and employment opportunities, and inadequate access to judicial remedy.
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Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
A.4. Uganda’s Gender Policy and Institutional Framework at National Level There is a strong national policy framework and high-level political commitment to the mainstreaming of gender issues and consensus into the development agenda in Uganda. This is most clearly articulated in the National Gender Policy (1997). The National Action Plan for Women emphasises the need for equal opportunities for men and women, equal rights and affirmative action to close gender gaps. The National Action Plan on Women 1999-2004 was formulated as a follow up to the Fourth World Conference held in Beijing in 1995. Its objective is to achieve equal opportunities for women by empowering them to participate in, and benefit from the social, economic and political development. The action plan was a result of an extensive consultation at various levels involving many stakeholders. These included key ministries and sectors, institutions, district authorities, NGOs, CBOs and the private sector. The National Action Plan on Women focuses on four selected areas namely: i. ii. iii. iv.
Poverty, income generation and economic empowerment Legal framework and decision making Reproductive health rights The Girl child and education
The operationalisation of these strategies has been faced with limitations. To some extent, the National Gender Policy and Action Plan have been operationalised at the centre, but little is known of them at the local council levels. The National Gender policy 1997 mandates the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) to spearhead and coordinate gender responsive development. MGLSD has made efforts to promote gender responsiveness through establishing focal points with sector ministries. However, the Directorate of Gender has only 15 staff members making it difficult to cover the whole country. This also means that contacts for gender mainstreaming at the LG levels are the gender officers (if assigned to districts), community development workers and community development assistants. In most instances, the latter have not been trained adequately to articulate and spearhead the process of mainstreaming gender at the LG level; worst still, the community service department to which they belong is one of the most poorly funded departments at the LG level. B. Project Justification B.1. Gender Problems to be Addressed This project, UGA/02/C01: District Development Programme 2 (DDP2) Gender Mainstreaming Component with support from the Japan Women in Development Fund will address the following problems in gender mainstreaming in relation to the Gender Policy and institutional support. 1.
Weaknesses associated to the Gender policy: x Lack of policy coherency between the Gender Policy and other policy development frameworks such as the Local Government Act, 1997;
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Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
x Lack of effective dissemination and awareness of the Gender Policy at the local government and community levels. x Lack of awareness, implementation, and M&E of the National Action Plan for Women, particularly at the local government levels. x Lack of guidelines to implement and monitor the National Action Plan on women. 2.
Weaknesses in the institutions (MLGSD and at the district level: Community Services department; Local Councils; and women's councils) that are mandated to support, advocate for, and mainstream gender issues into the development processes: x Follow-up and monitoring by the MGLSD on gender mainstreaming initiatives are inadequate due to limited staff in the directorate of gender and resources. x Limited capacity of staff in the directorate of gender to follow-up, monitor and profile gender issues. x Lack of adequate skills and resources to support gender budgeting at national and local levels. x Insufficient interaction between Women Councils, women councillors and Local Councils in planning, decision making in service delivery; x Lack of clear job descriptions and clear job schedules for the officers in charge of gender within the line ministries and at the District level. x Inadequate logistical support for key institutions that are mandated to mainstream gender.
UNCDF has taken an initiative through UGA/01/C01: District Development Programme 2 to address the inter-related problems areas of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation at the local government levels. UNCDF will support gender mainstreaming as an integral aspect of participatory planning and budgeting component. At the same time, the thematic areas of local revenue enhancement and local justice components are key in providing the mechanism through which gender imbalances can be addressed. UNCDF, through the DDP2 will address the following problems: 1.
Local council planning, implementation monitoring and evaluation does not adequately incorporate women’s concerns and address of gender issues due to: x Lack of effective involvement of stakeholders especially the marginalized groups (women, youth, farmers groups) in decision making for planning and budgeting in local governments; x Lack of data and analysis on who benefits from local government service delivery and who is burdened by local government tax collection; x Lack of skills in gender analysis; x Lack of awareness on how gender can be mainstreamed in the development process; x Lack of gender monitoring indicators/proxies; x Skewed power relationships; x Lack of appreciation of the benefits of gender mainstreaming due to lack of empirical evidence and analysis of the benefits; x No ‘proof’ that there is a problem because of lack of statistics; x Women Councils are not aware about local government operations;
2.
Local Council court decisions are often reported to be biased against women.
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Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
3.
Local Council courts are handling cases that are outside their jurisdiction, e.g. rape and domestic violence.
B.2 Justification for UNDP Assistance through the Japan WIDF Given UNCDF’s experience in piloting the devolution of development planning and budgeting in 7 districts in Uganda, it has a comparative advantage to continue consolidating on the achievements of the District Development Project and strive to make further improvements at the local government levels. As noted above, it has already allocated funds for certain gender mainstreaming activities. The areas proposed for Japan WIDF support therefore pertain to improving the Gender Policy and institutional mechanisms for gender mainstreaming particularly at the local government levels. The following reasons provide justification for assistance through the Japan WIDF: x The project addresses one of the four priority areas of the Japan WIDF, namely the Political empowerment and participation of women through improving the policy environment, institutional mechanisms for women’s participation in local governments and enhanced gender analysis at local government levels through gender budgeting. x The project addresses one of the four major service lines of the Thematic Trust Fund on Gender, namely en-gendering institutions, through reviewing the systems, institutions and structures at local government levels and through capacity building support for advocacy and leadership by local elected officials to promote gender sensitive policies and resources allocation and greater participation of women in decision making. x The project addresses one of the areas of focus of the Platform for Action of Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) on governance and decentralization. In addition, the project supports documentation and dissemination of lessons learnt on gender mainstreaming at local government levels to other countries, particularly in the Least Development Countries (LDCs) thereby promoting South-South Cooperation. C. Results Framework In order to address the above-mentioned problems, the project with support from the JWIDF would support the following activities in order to obtain the outputs and outcome below. (Activities funded by UNCDF are attached as annex to the document.) The pilot activities at the local government level would be implemented in 6 pilot districts1 of DDP2: Arua, Kabale, Mukono, Jinja, Yumbe and Kayunga. Intended Outcome: Equitable participation of women and men promoted in shaping policies, decision-making and resource allocations at local government levels as provided for in the Constitution 1995 and the Local Government Act 1997. Intended Outputs:
1
Kotido district was excluded from DDP2 given that other donors would be providing support to the district. 7
Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
The intended outputs from implementing this project are: 1. MGLSD capacity enhanced to achieve more coherent policy environment for gender mainstreaming and support to local governments. 2. Increased awareness, implementation and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the National Action Plan on Women at the local government levels. 3. Increased capacity in gender budgeting at local levels. 4. Improved institutional mechanism and functional capacity for institutions with mandate to promote gender mainstreaming at the national and local levels. 5. Improved capacity of women local councillors to advocate for gender sensitive policies and resource allocations. Activities: In order to achieve the intended outputs, the following activities would be undertaken: 1.1 Support the review and dissemination of the National Gender Policy and legal frameworks vis-à-vis other development and legal frameworks and policies, such as the Local Government Act at the local government levels. 1.2 Documentation, publication and dissemination of lessons learnt from project activities on gender mainstreaming within and outside of Uganda. 2.1 Support district level meetings to develop strategies for the implementation of the National Action Plan for Women. 2.2 Develop monitoring guidelines for the monitoring and evaluation of the National Action Plan on Women. 3.1 Conduct training on gender budgeting for staff in gender directorate at the MLGSD. 3.2 Conduct training on gender budgeting for district staff such as District Planners and District Budget Directors. 4.1 Review and revive positions, and roles and responsibilities of gender focal points and institutions responsible for gender in Ministry of Local Governments, line ministries, Community Services department, Women’s Councils and Local Councils. 4.2 Organize exchange programmes between local councils to share experiences and best practices. 5.1 Train women local councillors on leadership and advocacy for promotion of gender sensitive policies and resource allocation. D. Partnership with UNDP and UNIFEM Gender Activities; D.1 Complementarity with UNDP: In the 2nd UNDP Country Co-operation Framework, Programme on Good Governance for Poverty Eradication, UNDP aims to strengthen the capacity of Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to promote equitable, broad-based development (with gender budget of US$ 282,000). Activities to be undertaken include: x x x x x
Provision of a senior UNV gender advisor; Engage a consultant to review the national gender policy; Establish the gender & equity forum; Conduct a study on gender & equity; and Strengthen the capacity of selected CSOs to improve equity for their constituencies.
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Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
UNCDF, through the JWIDF will complement UNDP’s activities by supporting the consultative processes of the Policy and dissemination of the updated National Gender policy at the local government levels. This takes into account the comparative advantage of each agency where UNDP supports upstream activities and UNCDF support downstream activities. In addition, UNDP, through the Bureau of Development Policy, has supported women leaders from four districts in gender advocacy skills as well as gender analysis research and gender budgeting workshops in four districts. D.2 Complementarity with UNIFEM: UNDP and UNIFEM have supported the activities of the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) who has been working on gender budgeting at the national and district levels. UNIFEM has selected Uganda as one of the 4 countries on their project, “Local Government Budget initiatives at the local levels". FOWODE has produced a pamphlet, “Budgeting for Women and Men – for use at the district level” and developed a training package on gender mainstreaming. UNCDF will work with FOWODE and MGLSD to train the local governments in gender budgeting and gender mainstreaming in the 6 districts. UNCDF will further support the review of the Ministry of Local Government’s Harmonized Participatory Planning Guidelines to incorporate gender budgeting so that FOWODE’s work is mainstreamed into the government planning system. E. Replication Strategy: E. 1 Replication in Uganda: Given that the DDP1 was replicated by the World Bank, DANIDA, Irish Aid and the Dutch, there is already an established channel to use the lessons learnt from the 6 districts to other districts. Institutionalization of lessons learnt from the project activities will take place through the executing agency, i.e. the Ministry of Local Government/ Programme Management Unit with support from the MGLSD. An example of this kind is UNCDF’s support to the review of the Ministry of Local Government’s Harmonized Participatory Planning Guidelines to incorporate gender budgeting so that FOWODE’s work is mainstreamed into the government planning system for replication nation-wide. In addition, as the chair of the Gender Mainstreaming Task Force, the MGLSD will guide the policy direction and enhance interaction with other actors and donors for a comprehensive gender approach. E. 2 Replication to Other Countries and South-South Cooperation: UNCDF supports similar projects on decentralized planning and financing in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Lessons learnt from this project on gender mainstreaming would be documented and disseminated to other UNCDF and UNDP projects, especially in the sub-region (such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania) and West Africa. Of particular areas of interest for replication to these countries would be the training methodologies for gender focal points and the subject of local government gender budgeting.
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Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
Further, UNCDF regularly supports regional exchange visits of officials from central and local governments between countries in Africa to share experiences and lessons learnt. Given the wealth of experience of Uganda, there are regular visits by African officials to Uganda and therefore the gender mainstreaming component at local government levels in Uganda would be useful for other countries. In addition, UNCDF intends to work with the UNIFEM Regional Advisor (based in Nairobi) and UNIFEM HQ who provide support to FOWODE and UNDP SURF Gender Policy Advisors to share lessons learnt and seek their input for dissemination to other countries. F.
Management Arrangements:
Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development will be the implementing agency for this component under the direction of the Ministry of Local Government/Programme Management Unit execution team. As the chair of the Gender Mainstreaming Equity Forum, the MGLSD will guide the policy direction and enhance interaction with other line ministries, NGOs and donors for a comprehensive gender approach. At the district level (in the 6 districts), the focus will be on community-based services departments and district technical planning committees who will work with the women councillors, sub county technical planning committee and the Community Development Assistants. G. Monitoring and Evaluation: G. 1 Project Internal M&E and Reporting System: The Project internal M&E system will establish regular and consistent tracking of project performance through the Annual Work Plans (AWPs). Annual Reports at the end of the year would report on the execution of activities and production of results according to annual targets, schedule and responsibilities set out in the AWPs. The Annual Reports would be submitted to the Government of Japan through the UNDP Bureau of Development Policy. G. 2 Evaluation Framework: There will be an annual review of the DDP2 for self-assessment and monitoring. There will also be an external mid-term evaluation and a final evaluation. H. Project Budget: See attached project budget in annex.
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Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
ANNEX: UNCDF Funded Activities: The activities below are funded by UNCDF through the project, UGA/01/C01: District Development Programme. Intended Outputs: 1. Increased awareness and recognition of the contribution of women and men in the development process: Number of Local Governments meeting minimum standards of gender mainstreaming and number of District, Lower LCs & sector ministries utilizing gender mainstreaming guidelines and monitoring indicators. 2. Improved skills, guidelines and indicators in gender analysis and gender mainstreaming at local government levels. Activities: 1. Develop an inventory on existing gender mainstreaming guidelines, gender monitoring indicators and proxies. 2. Integrate existing guideline and indicators and proxies into a simplified product for use at the respective levels National, District, and through all the LC levels. 3. Disseminate integrated guidelines, indicators and proxies. 4. Undertake a skills audit for gender focal persons i.e. at National and the District level. 5. Support the refresher training course and workshop on gender analysis and gender mainstreaming issues for staff.
11
Uganda District Development Project 2: Gender Mainstreaming Component
UGA/02/C01 - District Development Programme 2 (Gender Mainstreaming Component) Sbln 11
Description
Implementing
11.01 Evaluation 017
Total
2003
UNCDF
30,000
National Consultants UNCDF
10,714
10,714
17.02 National Consultants (Documentation)
UNCDF
20,000
10,000
17.03 National Consultant (Institutional Analysis)
UNCDF
20,000
20,000
10,000
TRAINING
30.01 Training Workshop Gender Budgeting
UNCDF
60,000
20,000
20,000
30.02 Training Women Councillors
UNCDF
20,000
10,000
10,000
30.03 Local Government Exchange Programme
UNCDF
30,000
10000
10,000
034
2005 30,000
17.01 National Consultants (NPAW)
030
2004
International Consultants
20,000 10000
Conferences & Meetings
34.01 Local government meetings on Policy and NPAW
UNCDF
40,000
40,000
34.02 Local Government Meetings on Institutional Mechanism
UNCDF
30,000
20,000
10,000
UNCDF
25,000
5,000
10,000
10,000
285,714 145714
60000
80,000
7,286
3,000
4,000
300,000 153,000
63,000
84,000
052
Printing
52.01 Production and Printing of lessons learnt Sub-total 93
Programme Support Cost
93.01 Agency Support Cost (5%) 99
UNCDF
BUDGET TOTAL
12
14,286