First Advisor

Jeff Unsicker

Abstract

Uganda’s decentralization policy was introduced in 1997 under the Local Government Act to transfer power from central government to local government levels. The main purpose was to promote participation of all citizens in decision making processes to enhance responsibility and accountable monitoring of services delivered to citizens at all levels. The policy “aimed to achieve efficiency and effectiveness” in services delivered and managed at lower levels (Kebba & Ntanda, 2005). But how were citizens at local levels going to participate in accountability processes? How would they monitor the quality of services delivered under this policy framework? In what ways were they to be included in decision making processes?

The core of this capstone is a training manual on health budget tracking that targets young leaders and advocates at the district and sub-county levels. The manual proposes a step by step budget tracking guide to assess the effectiveness of the decentralization policy in achieving its objectives. It specifically focuses on healthcare services delivered to citizens at the local levels while at the same time illustrating how the social accountability method works. Situated in Uganda, this study merges my reflections and learnings through research and practice about budget tracking as a social accountability method used in citizen-led advocacy. The manual is divided into five sections with an introduction to youth engagement in social accountability, an overview to budget tracking, and information about the health sector and power structures at the local to central government levels in Uganda. Ultimately, the paper also suggests some actions users can take at the end of the budget tracking process.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Leadership Studies | Legal Studies | Models and Methods | Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation | Policy History, Theory, and Methods | Political Science | Public Administration | Public Affairs | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Public Policy | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Share

Image Location

 
COinS