Premier Mbabazi lauds Civil Society

 

Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi said hailed the role played by Civil Society Organisations in extending services nearer to the masses. He said the CSOs were instrumental in advocating for service delivery and raising voices of the voiceless.

 

He made the remarks while launching a report; informing Strategies, improving Results; The role of Civil Society Organizations in managing results in Africa’s Health Sector”. The report was launched at the Lake Victoria Serena Hotel on Monday.

 

The report carried out by a team of Academia and experts from the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) noted that Africa will not reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) unless the foreign aid and other locally derived investments in development are proven effective.

 

The report analyses to what extent civil society organizations may be using strategic plans, performance assessment, and other evaluation tools to achieve desired results.

 

Amama observed that improving health standards in the country requires more strategic partnerships between government and the CSOs.

 

He noted that Uganda should design strategies of surviving without aid.

 

“The current economic situation may not guarantee aid in the near future. The development partners are bound to get frustrated and concentrate more on their domestic issues,” he said.

 

The Uganda National Academy of sciences commissioned two studies to get critical data on the effect of aid to developing nations, Uganda inclusive.

 

The desk study, undertaken by Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), focused on Central Africa, East, South and West Africa. An exploratory field study undertaken by UBOS focused on Uganda.

 

The studies collected data from CSOs government departments and donors that invest in Africa’s health sector. 

 

Officials from several African science academies are meeting over the course of three days with counterparts from the US National Academies, European science academies, and other experts from around the world to discuss aid effectiveness in Africa health sector.

 

The report observes that stronger partnerships between African governments and these organizations could help maximize results, especially at a time when global economic conditions may result in less donor support.

 

The report also notes that given their distinctive position at the interface between science and policy, science academies are well placed to provide expertise and neutral platform to inform evidence-based approach to aid effectiveness.

 

The scientists observed in the report that they are best placed to tackle the difficult questions posed by aid effectiveness.

An international planning committee, which included representatives of several African science academies, oversaw the work that led to the report.        

 

“It is important to host this meeting of African science academies and to have so many renowned researchers, international development experts, and policy makers gathered under one roof focusing on some of the most important challenges facing sub Saharan Africa,” said Prof. Paul Mugambi the president Uganda National Academy of Science (UNAS) Science academies resolved that African governments should use science to determine the effectiveness of investments in those sectors key to development.

 

“Getting better results and improving accountability largely depends on whether investments are documented as effective by impacting the communities that receive them,” the report adds. 

 

Prof. Edward Kirumira a UNAS fellow explained that despite the influx of funding for HIV/AIDS over the past decades, the national rate of new infections has not decreased.

 

“Wide allegations of misuse of donor funds continue to come up. As scientists we are concerned that such allegations are investigated and concluded,” he told New Vision. The report findings indicated that in most cases the funds sent to CSOs to work on HIV/AIDS prevention were being leveraged for other uses.

 

“The other possibility is that much emphasis is being on treatment of AIDS patients, with less successful efforts on prevention,” noted the 20 page report.

 

The Uganda National Academy of Sciences’ expert committee in HIV planning proposed a decrease in political commitment to HIV prevention by the leadership of Uganda.

 

‘Whatever the reason, it appears that donor support for HIV/AIDs is not currently demonstrating the hope for impact on the acceptably high rate of new infections in Uganda,” observed the report.