Accountability practices and value for money of the school facilities grant in Tororo District Uganda.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between accountability practices and value for money of the School Facilities Grant in Tororo District, Uganda. Specific objectives included examining the relationship between accounting practices and Value for Money of the School Facilities Grant; investigating the relationship between stakeholder participation practices and Value for Money of the School Facilities Grant, and determining the relationship between enrolment register maintenance practices and Value for Money of the School Facilities Grant. Data was collected using 189 questionnaires, 10 interview guides and a documentary review checklist. A response rate of 72.4% was obtained. The study found out a positive relationship between accounting practices (.741**), stakeholder participation practices (.758**) and enrolment register maintenance practices (.601**) and Value for Money of the SFG. From the study, it was concluded that it is important for the public to be well acquainted with UPE accountability practices which are controls to UPE fund misappropriation. However, it was noted that only a few UPE stakeholders engage in UPE expenditure decisions and yet Tororo District registers many UPE enrolments. The study recommendations include the need to review the UPE policy to close on gaps that hinder its successful implementation. There is need for more training workshops; UPE schools should adopt a hybrid decision-making approach (top-bottom, bottom-up); there is need to engage more stakeholders in executing UPE roles, train more school administrators on customized courses and conduct more baseline surveys in order to elicit information that can be used to support decision-making in UPE schools.