Home Institution
Rollins College
Publication Date
Fall 2021
Abstract
To examine the implementation of Local Government development planning in periphery and hard to reach communities in Uganda, the fishing villages of the Buikwe District were used as a case study. The objective of the study was to explore how Local Government development planning is implemented in the fishing villages to identify gaps. Implementation was broken down into three areas: consultations, needs and services, and service delivery.
The study mimicked the bottom-up approach to decentralized development planning in Uganda, beginning with seven focus group discussions in five fishing villages of Buikwe. Eleven key informant interviews were then conducted with Local Government officials in the political and technical wing at the LC1, LC3, and LC5 level. General observations were also made throughout the qualitative data collection.
From the results, gaps between the responses of government officials and that of community members were apparent in each area of implementation. While clear consultation procedures were described by key informants, community members felt that consultations were insufficient. In addition, despite the implementation of several government projects in the fishing villages, many of the services did not meet community expectations and several unmet needs remained. Finally, key informants most commonly attributed issues to service delivery as a lack of funds, community mindsets, and issues with follow ups. Conversely, community members viewed corruption and poor community engagement as the major issues. From observations, a lack of information sharing and communication between upper-level Local Government and the community was a major hindrance to adequate consultations, services that meet the needs of the people, and effective service delivery. Increased community engagements (i.e. follow ups, sensitizations, and consultations) were recommended to improve implementation, and suggestions were also made to community members on how to support implementation at the community level.
Disciplines
African Languages and Societies | African Studies | Aquaculture and Fisheries | Civic and Community Engagement | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social and Cultural Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Gutiérrez, Capri, "The Gap Between Policy and the People: A Case Study of the Buikwe Fishing Communities" (2021). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 3405.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/3405
Included in
African Languages and Societies Commons, African Studies Commons, Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons
Program Name
Uganda: Global Development Studies