DGF/GIZ PROJECT: PROGRAM SUPPORT TO CONSOLIDATE AND ROLL OUT ITS MANDATE
The outstanding achievements.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECTS.
PROJECT TARGET GROUPS.
- Youth:The Plight of the Ugandan Youth is marred by poverty, inadequate education and skills, inadequate work/employment opportunities, exploitation, diseases, civil unrest and gender discrimination. Environment theylive in brings both new possibilities and new risks that undermine the traditional social support that helps the Youth prepare for, negotiate and explore the opportunities and demands of their passage to adulthood.Given this situation, investment in Youth is not only a social obligation but also rewarding in economic sense. The EOC will use its mandate given by various legal and policy frameworks to ensure equalization of the opportunities for youth in access to government services and other amenities.
- Older Persons:Older persons suffer old age discrimination and exclusion from participating and benefiting from social economic activities in their Communities. Although the Government has provided favorable policy and legal regime to address the concerns and needs of all marginalized groups including older persons under the National Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy and chapter four of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, Local Governments Act (Cap 243) section 10(1) provides for older persons participation in decision making at all levels. This has not been fully realized in various service delivery points within government establishment. The EOC under this project will ensure improved socio-economic well- being of older persons by ensuring equal opportunities are observed through mainstreaming it in all government interventions within MDAs and LGs.
- Persons With Disabilities (PWDs).The Government is mandated to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities and the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda stipulates the need to empower and provide equal opportunities to PWDs. The policy on disability is in place to improve the quality of life of People with Disabilities (PWDs) through expanding the scope of interventions. The interventions will necessitate PWDs themselves to participate in designing, managing, monitoring and evaluating initiatives that are meant to improve their well-being. The EOC will use its mandate to ensure that the state and other none-state actors are compliant with equal opportunities and affirmative action in favor of PWDs and do involve the PWDs in the design of interventions that are addressed to them as a special interest group.
- Women and the Gender Dynamics:The 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda recognizes equality between women and men. Specifically, it provides for gender balance and fair representation of marginalised groups; recognizes the role of women in society; accords equal citizenship rights, freedom from discrimination, affirmative action in favour of women; and articulates specific rights of women including outlawing customs, traditions and practices that undermine the welfare, dignity and interests of women.Gender is treated as cross-cutting issue as such a requirement to be mainstreamed in all the development processes, the government has made it legal requirement for MDAs and LGs to ensure gender and equity are catered for in the BFPs and MPSs under the PFMA,2015 . The EOC is mandated to ensure compliance under the PFMA 2015. The EOC will therefore do due diligence on gender and equity to all BFPs and MPS submitted to it for assessment on annual basis.
- Ethnic and other Minority Groups:The Ethnic Minorities like other marginalised groups mentioned above will be accorded similar attention of ensuring that they equally benefit, access and participate in all government programmes.
- Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children (OVC)OVCs suffer marginalization and discrimination which is accentuated by their vulnerability, Powerlessness, isolation and poverty. The EOC like other marginalised groups will use its mandate to ensure that various needs of the OVCs are addressed in the BFPs and MPS of the LGs and MDAs.
- InnovationsInnovations of the project will among others include: positioning the EOC as learning organisation. As a learning the EOC will in the course of project implementation keep track throughout the project cycle and document processes, lessons learnt and other emerging issues to discern learning. This will be underpinned by special consideration to appreciate what works and what does not work in the entire programing cycle. This will help in interrogating the present as well as the future circumstances. By so doing the EOC will be generating its own body of knowledge in respect to its mandate; practices, norms, theories and models that will be replicated in the future interventions of this kind. In short the EOC will treat the project both as an intervention and learning experience. It will embrace both positive and negative outcomes that emerge as result of this intervention.
- Links to other ongoing projects.This project is building upon the previous project in that in addition to new activities, special consideration is taken to complete activities that spilled over in the previous projects. Again, implementation of this project will be located and mainstreamed within the Government of Uganda implementation cycle to which the EOC as government institution is bound to follow.Activities of the project are broadly informed by the current overarching planning framework that guides all government interventions, that is Vision 2040 and the NDP two which have as well informed the EOC five year Strategic Plan which in-turn is guided by the Policy and Legal framework that provide the mandate to the EOC. As such the outcomes of this project will contribute to the national aspirations articulated in Vision 2040, NDP11, the National Objectives and Directive principles of State policy as provided in the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda.