Donor fund management and performance of the rural electrification programme in Uganda: a case study of west Nile and Kisiizi projects

Abstract

The study focused on the effect of donor fund management on the performance of Rural Electrification programme in Uganda using Kisiizi and West Nile projects as case studies. With the liberalization of the energy sector, came privatization of projects. The interaction of Donors, Government and the Private Sector changed the dynamics in electrification. There was slow progress on delivery of electricity to rural areas and objectives of the projects were not realized, making projects ineffective in transforming rural life. The study adopted a cross sectional case study design and used both qualitative and quantitative approaches. From a population of 271 a sample of 159 elements was selected. Systematic and purposive sampling techniques were then used to select elements from the sample. The data collection methods used included questionnaire, interviewing, documentary review and observation. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS to generate frequencies and percentages of responses and qualitative data were manually analysed. Using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, the findings indicate that resource planning has a moderate significant positive relationship at 0.261, implementation had, moderate significant positive relationship at 0.255, cost control had moderate significant positive relationship at 0.400, and political will had moderate significant positive relationship at 0.111. Lessons learnt from the study are:: all indicators of resource planning especially time should be adhered to, for the effectiveness of a project. Project implementation is a crucial phase in project management; therefore Government should play its part in Monitoring and evaluating periodically to mitigate any unforeseen circumstances. The cost control process was unique with Government and World Bank having different procedures and guidelines which the private developer was not familiar with as a new player. Political will was influential in negotiating and acquiring funds from donors but interference hindered the effectiveness of projects.