Highlights of Day 1 Presentations and Discussions

Impact of Gender-based Inequalities on Growth and Development Started by reminding us that Ugandans want to experience robust, resilient and inclusive economic growth. Gender equality is central to achieving transformational development. It is also legally binding through a variety of national, regional and international legal instruments. Highlighted with evidence various inequalities between the sexes in Uganda such as primary school completion, access to formal employment, participation in monetised vs non-monetised agriculture, access to commercial credit, access to agricultural resources, etc. Emphasized that economic growth that is achieved in the midst of gender-based inequalities is not sustainable and cannot reach its full potential. Provided evidence on what we stand to loose due to gender inequality (e.g., the negative impact on the resilience of economies; and income inequality by class, region and community, thereby increasing the risk of violence and crime); and the gains that gender equality offers us (e.g., increase Uganda’s GDP growth by 2 percentage points per year).

Discussion on Gender Inequalities 1.True women representation in parliament is good but at the lower levels, local councils, women did not avail themselves for positions/roles; we need to find out why and address the issues. This is about empowerment, even presence on committees does not guarantee effective participation. 2.Let’s talk less about allocating budgets and more about ensuring we get the funding to the correct beneficiaries in our programming. Resources reaching beneficiaries is about governance, there is need for improved governance. Most of the things that lead to gender inequality happen in a development planning setting so we need to keep gender inequalities and mainstreaming at the forefront. 3.When looking at examples of other countries, it is important that we look more at Uganda’s social-cultural context in deciding what to replicate/or not replicate. Agreed 4.Need to hear what are the most critical gender-oriented interventions that will transform our economy into a middle income country. Task for UNDAF Participatory Planning Session 1.

Harnessing the Population Dividend Historically, Uganda has been associated with unfavourable demographic characteristics: – High fertility rates and an age structure that due to high dependency ratios is not conducive to appropriate levels of production, savings, investment and hence development Population generally treated as an exogenous factor to development. It was argued that with appropriately targeted investment that lead to the following would effectively harness the demographic dividend: – a change in the age structure: addressing barriers to contraceptive in a way that reduces unmet need and fertility substantially – addressing the various human capital development needs at the various stages of the life cyclecap Pilot Start proposed covering 4 districts from each region + Kampala

Discussion on Population Dividend High fertility rate and the four “toos.” Too early, too closely spaced, too late, too many. – We need a too pronged approach that caters for the many children already born and one that reduces the high fertility rate. – Incentive framework required to discourage women from the four “toos”. – We need to address cultural and religious believes Social development VS overall macro economic framework: how are we prioritizing social development in our development framework? The envisaged population dividend of a large working-age population could easily turn into a demographic disaster if there are no employment opportunities. At present, education does not provide the skills required by the labour market. Skilling has to be an essential part of harnessing the population dividend. How are the priorities of MoH and MoE addressing the approach proposed to harnessing the demographic dividend?

Uganda’s Structural Development Challenges: Summary Dimensions to focus on in NDP II – Changes in the structure of national output – Factor productivity (labour and business Ensuring that rural urban migration is driven by prospective for higher productivity work and not for better social services Timely delivery of economic services on budget and on time – execution of big project Addressing vulnerability in a context of a modernizing economy – (there are winners and losers) – Openness of Economy Key message from NDP I MTR – we need to priorities better Government institutional have to strengthen capacity of post holders/staff

Discussion on Structural Development Challenges Evidence from the NDP I MTR is critical to inform NDP II: Is NDP I on track? What are the catalytic aspects on which NDP II will focus? – The NDP should avoid operational issues What are the human capital fundamentals that we need to target to harness the opportunity Improving accountability, efficiency and value for money in government is key Capacity to deliver the NDP – (holistic approach from individual, organizational, institutional aspects and the systemic aspects) Financing development (NDP II) should guard against the risk of unsustainable indebtness Government can bridge the capacity gap by working with Specialised institutions such as IFC, ADB, etc How you deal with decentralization and subnational level – we need planning at subnational level – Teso, Northern Uganda etc

NDPII Strategic Direction and Results Framework: Summary Strategic direction is informed by: – Vision 2040 – MTR of NDP1 – Regional and international Dev context (the frameworks within which we work) major lesson from MTR of NDP 1: It was thinly spread, satisfied everyone, and accomplished little impact. Therefore agreed we need to prioritise: agriculture, minerals, tourism, infrastructure, human capital development

Discussion Capacity to deliver was one of the main issues from NDPI. For NDPII, MTR said if we have to deliver we have to look at the organization, institutional and the individual and the _____. How are all these issues going to be taken care of under NDPII which seems to be addressing only the individual aspect? The issue of sector prioritization: – Focus planning on 2 areas, joint programming, helping sectors plan for execution, still under NDPII we are repeating the mistake of prioritization within an NDP which should be a high level planning document, e.g., catalytic interventions that can stimulate productivity. – MDG 2013 report evidence shows that investing in infrastructure has higher health return than investing in health facilities. – What to do about efficiency, effectiveness and _____. IFIs are helping the 4 EAC countries to ensure the EA railways is a bankable project