UBOS to conduct survey on service delivery

By Ernest Tumwesige

Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) is set to carry out the Uganda National Panel Survey (UNPS) and National Service Delivery Survey (NSDS) in all the 112 districts.

The two surveys which are going to be carried out co-currently are geared towards providing information on the performance of selected public service areas for policy formulation, implementation and monitoring at all levels of governance.

Kato Vitus Mulindwa, the deputy Executive Director in charge of Corporate Services, says NSDS, which is being carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Service will target 1,020 enumeration areas resulting in a sample of 10,200 households in the entire country.

Mulindwa identified sectors to be covered during the survey as education, health, agriculture, works and transport, water and sanitation, justice and order and Governance

Among key issues to be collected are, leadership, facility and assets management, policy management, support supervision, pensions, records management and among others.

Mulindwa, who was addressing members of the media and district information officers in Gulu on Wednesday said the UNPS which is an annual activity, will target to reach a sample of 2,300 households.

“The 2015/16 round of UNPS which begins in May, is aimed at collecting quality data of key outcome indicators such as poverty, service delivery and employment among others; in order to monitor development programs,” he explained.

Vincent Fred Ssenono the UBOS principal statistician says the study which was carried out from 2009 to 2014 shows that northern Uganda was the most poverty affected region in the entire country.

Ssenono noted that close to ten households out of a hundred in Northern Uganda were living in chronic poverty where access to basic needs like health, education, and food was extremely hard to get.

He notes that there’s need to closely understand and access why such households remain in abject poverty and yet government had initiated several programs to salvage the lives of people.

“We want to find out why certain people or families can remain in abject poverty for over five years despite government introducing programs meant to improve house hold income. The results will help the government in devising other means on how best the problems can be addressed,” he noted.

He added that, whereas majority of the people were depending on agriculture, there was less effort to embrace the planting of improved seeds variety and application of modern farming technology like fertilizer which affects the yields and earnings.

He however attributed the high poverty levels to the illiteracy in the family heads, poor access to market where
produce is bought by middle men at a low cost and among others.

David Opwonya, the deputy Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) said there’s need to design proper monitoring methods of all government programs so that incase of lope holes the challenges are expressly addressed.