UMI Staff Publications

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Browsing UMI Staff Publications by Author "Karyeija Kagambirwe, Gerald"

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    Participation of Workers’ and Employers’ Organizations in Poverty Reduction Strategies in Uganda
    (Asian Social Science, 2012-03) Karyeija Kagambirwe, Gerald; Basheka, Benon C.
    It is now over a decade since poverty reduction strategies were embraced by Uganda as a one of the preconditions to reach the debt relief completion point associated with Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Between 1997 and 2008, the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) was the overarching planning framework for the country. The PEAP has been Uganda’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), guiding policy formulation and program implementation. In 2007, a review of the PEAP was done culminating into the National Development Plan (NDP), 2010/11 - 2014/15. It has been observed that while the PEAP was being formulated and implemented, the participation of the civil society (including workers and employers organisations) was limited to very few organizations, with no full-time engagement. This was founded on the premise that policy formulation was a preserve of government and the social partners had no business in the process of national planning. The engagement and participation of workers and employers began in 2002, when PEAP was being reviewed. However, the engagement was weak because it had no clear institutional framework. There was commendable participation during the recently concluded National Development Plan. In this article, we used a qualitative case study mainly involving key in-depth interviews and documentary analysis. The participation of workers and employers’ organisations’ (Note 1) involvement in the poverty reduction strategies since 1999 is presented in four parts. First, an overview of the socio-economic development trends in Uganda is outlined. Second, the concept of social dialogue is outlined. Third, the state of social dialogue in the country is highlighted. Fourth, we analyse the social partners’ participation in the country’s national development planning process.
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    Public Sector Reforms in Africa: What Lessons have we Learnt?
    (Forum for Development Studies, 2012-03) Karyeija Kagambirwe, Gerald
    Several public sector reforms (PSR) have taken place in Africa over the last few decades with varying degrees of success; these range from very excellent performance to limited success and then failure. However, regardless of the evaluation results, they have without a doubt had an impact on the way we understand and shape public management on the African continent. Inevitably, a number of insights and lessons have been gained on the subject matter. In this article, I suggest that a number of lessons have been learnt which should guide reformers to improve on public sector reforms and scholars to seek further explanations for failure and success. There is also the need for students of public sector reforms to question further the prevailing assumptions and theories underpinning these reforms. The 10 lessons highlighted are: (1) there is a need to acknowledge the importance of culture and context, because at times local values contradict the content of reform efforts; (2) PSR need both political support and support from the civil society; (3) PSR take time to bear fruit; (4) incremental implementation may be better; (5) not all support for PSR is altruistic; (6) corruption still hinders reform in Africa; (7) there is a need to revisit the role of donors; (8) first things first – let us create a credible public sector before we reform it; (9) ownership of reform programmes by African governments and other stakeholders is necessary; and (10) despite these reforms, Africa still remains poor.