UGANDA STRATEGY SUPPORT PROGRAM (USSP)

1. UGANDA STRATEGY SUPPORT PROGRAM(USSP) Background and Objectives Sam Benin and Willie Odwongo 31st October 2005 Hotel Africana, Kampala

2. Outline • Background – Ugandan context • Recent economic transformation • Development challenges and needs • USSP • Process • Objectives • Focus areas • Timeline, status and next steps Page 2

3. Uganda’s recent transformation • Since the late 1980s, Uganda has been undergoing major transformation towards economic growth and poverty reduction • In 1990s GDP grew by >6% p.a. from 3% in 1980s • Poverty declined from 56% in 1992 to 35% in 2000 • Due to sound policies linked to investments and economic liberalization undertaken by government of Uganda (GOU) with support from development partners • Agriculture identified as key engine for development Page 3

4. Uganda’s development challenge • Since 2000, growth has been highly unequal; Poverty increased from 35% in 2000 to 38% in 2003 (37% to 41% in rural areas) • Why is poverty still so acute in rural areas, and how can a more poverty-reducing growth be achieved? • Since 2000, GOU implementing multisectoral PMA • How can the efficiency of new agricultural and rural development public expenditures be improved? • Agricultural productivity has stagnated or declined; characterized by declining soil fertility problem • How can adoption and use of improved soil and NRM technologies by Ugandan farmers be improved to sustain increased agricultural productivity? Page 4

5. Addressing the challenge  What is needed? • Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) revision process emphasized • Better information for planning within and across sectors • Frameworks to guide decisions about public expenditure • Partnerships to address resource and capacity limitations Page 5

6. Addressing the challenge  USSP • Through a multiple consultative process, PMA Secretariat and IFPRI have developed a policy research program ➨ Uganda Strategy Support Program (USSP) • IFPRI will work closely with the GOU, development partners and other stakeholders in Uganda • to provide information relevant for effective design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of Uganda’s agricultural and rural development strategies • to achieve its development objectives • National Advisory Committee ( NAC) will set the priorities and advise on the strategic direction of the program Page 6

7. Objectives of USSP • Generate policy-relevant evidence to fill knowledge gaps on priority agricultural and rural development issues; • Contribute to implementation of the National Integrated M&E System (NIMES) to track progress of the agricultural sector and rural economy and inform on how the implementation of development strategies can be improved over time; • Strengthen the capacity of national institutions: • to monitor progress and evaluate impacts • to undertake applied agricultural and rural development policy research • to effectively feed the policy research outputs into the policymaking process Page 7

8. Focus areas of USSP • Strategic policy research • Monitoring and evaluation • Capacity strengthening • Communications Page 8

9. Strategic research questions • Pro-poor growth: How can poverty-reducing agricultural and economic growth be achieved? • Public investments: What are the returns on investment of agricultural and rural development strategies and distributional effects of public expenditure patterns? • Commercialization: How can smallholders be better integrated into agribusiness supply chains? • Competitiveness:How can Uganda’s farmers become more competitive in domestic, regional and international markets? Page 9

10. Strategic research questions – cont’d • Markets and services: How can agricultural marketing and agro-processing systems be strengthened? How can supply of, access to and utilization of rural and agricultural finance be improved? • Natural resources: How can agricultural growth and poverty reduction be achieved without compromising the natural resources and the environment? How can the profitability of inorganic fertilizer and other productivity-enhancing inputs be improved? • Decentralization: How can decentralization be made more pro-poor? How can service delivery be made more effective and efficient and how can its access and utilization by the poor be improved? Page 10

11. Monitoring and evaluation • Uganda is implementing a National Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation System (NIMES) • PMA M&E Technical Sub-committee • Each year, Joint Review of PMA and undertakings and performance of its implementing partners • Reviews are mostly qualitative and M&E framework (indicators, targets, etc) is still being developed • USSP can contribute to assessing impact of strategies on poverty reduction, income growth and natural resources Page 11

12. Capacity strengthening • Through direct collaborative links with national institutions in undertaking the special research studies • Capacity support activities will be designed in collaboration with various sub-national, national, regional and international partners • Training expected to be mostly hands-on, supported by workshops, seminars, short courses, internships Page 12

13. Communications • For planning as well as discussing and validating research outputs: • NAC also will be primary channel to feed policy research outputs into the policy-making process • Regular consultations, seminars and workshops bringing together the various stakeholders at all levels (national, district and sub-county) • Targeting other outputs, examples: • Yield impacts of technologies ➨ ARDCs in reshaping technologies • Factors affecting adoption of technologies➨ service providers for promoting profitable technologies. • Institutional and organizational mechanisms ➨ CSOs in designing training programs for improving collective action Page 13

14. Spatial characterization of agricultural sector and rural economy Setting agriculture and rural sectors in an economy-wide context Agricultural and rural development strategies Economy-wide analyses Planning Analyses Thematic-based Commodity-based Research on priority knowledge gaps Review of best practices and lessons Implementation Monitoring trends and assessing impact Monitoring and Evaluation USSP: bridging research and policy + the process Shared data, knowledge, analytical tools, protocols, procedures Page 14

15. Decision (policy) making process National Advisory Committee Stakeholders Central Government Local Government Civil Society Organizations Private Sector Research Institutions Donors International Organizations IFPRI PMA Sec’t Core Team U S S P Monitoring & Evaluation Strategic research Strengthen capacity Communic-ations USSP management and implementation Page 15

17. Timeline, status, next steps • Timeline: 4 years, 2006-2009 • Inception workshop ✔ • Inform stakeholders ✔ • Present and discuss key up-to-date IFPRI research findings • Discuss research issues to be addressed in 2006 and partners for implementation • National Advisory Committee (NAC) to identify priorities • Develop work plan for 2006 • Review and approval of work plan by NAC • Begin implementation Page 17

18. Thank you!!!

19. Why IFPRI? • Supply side • IFPRI’s research on Policies for Sustainable Land Management • Demand side • USAID-Uganda Mission to assist with investment priority setting • SCRIP to inform implementation and M&E of USAID programs • Generated several outputs relevant for addressing Uganda’s agricultural and rural development challenges • At last SCRIP workshop, demand to broaden audience by: • Communicating outputs more widely • Transferring and institutionalizing its datasets and models to Ugandan institutions and training them to use them • Strengthening collaborative policy research arrangements with other partners Page 19