GOVERNMENT | STUDENTS | PDM

The Government has indicated plans to integrate Makerere University students into the Parish Development Model (PDM) and the forthcoming population census program to aid research.

The Government rolled out PDM this year as the main tool to alleviate poverty.

Justine Kasule Lumumba, the general duties minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, said the integration will cause evidence-based findings, which will support the people in need.

She noted that Makerere University students will contribute greatly to research, especially about people’s living status, health, poverty levels, household population, and feeding, while the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) concentrates on numbers.

On PDM, the minister said students will provide statistical information, which will inform policy making.

The minister made the remarks yesterday, during the launch of the fifth Evidence to Action Conference and Exhibition at Makerere University.

The five-day event kicked off on Monday and will end tomorrow. It is running under the theme Adapting Innovative Evaluation Practices for Evidence-based Decision Making During and Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

The minister said the implementation strategy of PDM is a vehicle through which household incomes and the quality of life of Ugandans will be improved.

“Parishes will play a key role in coordinating, monitoring, supervising, and reporting the oversight role. We are adding them as researchers for clear evidence for action,” she said.

Makerere University vice chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe said the institution has over 30,000 students who will partner with the Government in implementing PDM and the national census.

Nawangwe said PDM should focus on addressing major areas of poverty, health, and climate change to fix the country’s economy.

“Compounding climate change and food security will help the country to curb the increasing deaths,” Nawangwe said.

He said the population in the country is growing steadily, but noted that it should not be seen as a disadvantage, but, rather, an opportunity to broaden the scope of research and innovation.

Prof. Nelson Sewankambo from Makerere’s college of health sciences said PDM came at the right time to heal the economy after the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

He said the pandemic exposed Africa to many opportunities to widen the research scope. “We now need research centers that supply evidence which policy-makers will depend on while forming and implementing development policies,” Sewankambo said.

Research

The report by the UK Department for International Development indicated that in recent years, the number of universities in Uganda has grown rapidly, but most of them have scarce research capacity.

Adjusted by population, the number of researchers in Uganda is 75%, lower than the African average and the gross expenditure on research and development is among the lowest on the continent, at just 0.17% of the Gross Domestic Product as of 2014. Conversely, the country has examples of high-quality research being undertaken by reputable institutions.

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