Browsing by Author "Esuruku, Robert Senath"

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    Gender roles in household poverty reduction: a case of Pamulu and Julukwe villages in Moyo district in North Western Uganda.
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2003) Esuruku, Robert Senath
    The focus of this study was to examine gender roles in household poverty reduction. The study was limited to Pamulu and Julukwe villages in Moyo district in North-western Uganda. The findings of this study were drawn from 50 men and 50 women respondents. Four techniques of data collection were used; these included interview, observation, questionnaire and focus group discussions. Data collected was analysed using STATA programme and the results are presented in descriptive form, percentage distribution and cross tabulations. In Pamulu and Julukwe villages, there were gender variations in definition of poverty. Women often described poverty in terms of lack of land, water, inability to raise income, lacking financial and material assistance from children, household food insecurity and poor children's welfare. For men poverty was related to inability to engage in meaningful employment and lack of productive assets, being born to a lazy father, being a casual worker and being widowed. Other indicators of poverty described by communities from Pamulu and Julukwe villages included inaccessibility to social services and poor leadership. These indicators demonstrate that poverty has many facets, which vary according to gender and location. Therefore interventions to reduce poverty must address these variations, but focusing on the root causes of poverty. When monitoring poverty, indicators should address not only the material possessions and income of local people but also social capital such as the ability to work together to achieve common goals. The major causes of household poverty in Pamulu and Julukwe villages in Moyo district included constraints to agriculture, natural calamities like drought, floods and hail storms; poor governance in terms of poor leadership, corruption and bad policies, insecurity; inadequate and costly services especially health care resulting in some people selling their household items to meet medical care. Isolation of Pamulu and Julukwe villages and the Moyo district by the government in terms of unfair distribution of services and inputs also featured and these were related to remoteness and cost barriers. The major effects of household poverty were listed as inability to meet basic needs like food and drugs resulting in death, anti-social behaviour like theft, poor health, alcoholism, domestic violence, failure to access services tax defaulting, increased school dropouts. The top community priority concerns in order to reduce household poverty were provision of quality education, health services and sanitation, information mobilisation, provision of credit services, agricultural extension services, access to rural feeder roads, access to markets, ensuring peace and security and good governance. Involvement of the poor in planning and managing their own resources would be ideal.
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    The role of government decentralisation in Rural poverty reduction in post 1992 Uganda: a case study of Moyo district
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2006) Esuruku, Robert Senath
    Since 1990s, government decentralisation has assumed a significant role in social service delivery and poverty reduction in Uganda. it is believed to offer an opportunity to bring public services closer to local demands and preferences, and build more responsive and accountable government from the bottom-up. in Uganda, there is commitment from the central and the local governments and a framework is in place to achieve valuable progress towards poverty reduction through improved service delivery. this study endeavored to critically examine the role of government decentralisation in rural poverty reduction in post 1992 Uganda taking Moyo district as a case study. a variety of data collection methodologies were used to gather the secondary and primary data needed for the study. these included interviews, structured and non-structured questionnaires, direct observation, and focus group discussions. the findings from the study suggest that government decentralisation is a silver lining in the clouds as far as poverty reduction in Moyo district is concerned. this is because the link between government decentralisation and poverty reduction is not direct. although power and responsibilities have been devolved to the local government, they continue to suffer from a variety of constraints. the problem of resource mobilisation and severe human capacity limitation is a challenge to poverty reduction efforts under the contemporary decentralisation program in Uganda and Moyo district in particular. although government decentralisation in Uganda is driven primarily by a political motive of power and popular participation, one of its main goals is to increase efficiency and effectiveness in social service delivery with the aim of reducing poverty. in Moyo district, significant progress still needs to be made in the area of primary education, primary health care, water and sanitation, feeder/community roads, and agricultural extension services. the top community priority concerns about the role of government decentralisation in poverty reduction in Moyo district were good governance, political commitment to pro-poor growth; improvement in the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery; establishment of a clear proper policy guidelines about the roles of the central and the local governments; collaboration with NGOs, the private sector, and the local community. gender and governance have been considered as crosscutting issues in the study.