Official calls for PDM planning to prioritise sustainability, loan recovery
GULU, September 24, 2026 — Violet Akurut Adome, the Director of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Parish Development Model [PDM] Secretariat, has asked technical heads of local governments, particularly Chief Administrative Officers [CAOs] and town clerks, to focus on enterprise sustainability and loan recovery in the next planning phase of the Government programme aimed at moving poor households into the money economy.
Adome said local government leaders should focus on enterprises that are business-oriented and capable of helping targeted households move away from subsistence farming.
“Four years down the road of the PDM, the next phase is sustainability. We are graduating over 3.5 million households that are subsisting. So, we are saying we need to focus on enterprises that are sustainable in our respective local governments or districts; what enterprises our people are undertaking that we think are business-oriented and will bring money into their pockets,” she said.
Adome made the remarks during a regional Local Government Budget Consultative Meeting for the 2027/2028 financial year held on Monday at Acholi Inn in Gulu City.
She advised local government leaders to plan for monitoring funds to facilitate Community Development Officers [CDOs] in changing the mindset of communities.
It was noted during the recently concluded Acholi Parliamentary Group [APG] meeting held at Acholi Inn over the weekend that a poor attitude towards repayment of loans disbursed to PDM beneficiaries remains a major challenge in districts across the Acholi sub-region.
Adome said local governments should mobilise beneficiaries who received loans between 2021 and 2023, as the loans are now due for repayment.
“It is our emphasis now to plan that we shall mobilise the communities to recover these loans so that it revolves. We know that PDM is revolving,” she said.
Community Mobilisation and Mindset Change, which is the fifth pillar of the PDM, encourages active community participation, financial literacy and a shift in attitudes towards wealth creation.
Adome said the Secretariat had realised through its monitoring activities that community development departments had placed less emphasis on mindset change.
“Most of the people who have received this money think this is a presidential handshake. So, unless we go back to the departments to be able to mobilise the communities, sensitise them to change their mindset and embrace these wealth-creation programmes, we may not achieve our targets,” she said.
Wilson Otto, the Agago District LCV Chairperson, speaking at the recently concluded APG consultative meeting, noted that the PDM had focused more on disbursing funds without adequately training beneficiaries.
He suggested that government introduce incentives to encourage beneficiaries to repay the loans.
“Government should put a motivation trick that will allow anyone who pays back the money to get double of what they received. This will motivate our people to pay back the money,” he said.
Charles Otto, the Finance Secretary of Pader district, said poor attitudes towards repayment of PDM loans were posing a risk to government resources.
“Poor mindset towards repayment of the PDM loans is posing a risk to government resources,” he said.
A total of Shs 4.317 trillion has been disbursed to 3,571,108 beneficiaries through 10,589 PDM SACCOs. Each parish received Shs 400 million during the first four years of the programme’s implementation across Uganda.
Launched in February 2022, the Parish Development Model is a wealth-creation and service-delivery strategy introduced by government to move 3.5 million subsistence households into the money economy.
Under the programme’s pillar of financial inclusion, each beneficiary receives a soft loan of Shs 1 million for investment in enterprises such as piggery, poultry keeping, beekeeping, dairy and fish farming, among others.
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