UBOS, ICT Ministry undertake PDM baseline data collection

KAMPALA– Uganda Bureau of Statistics [UBOS] in partnership with the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance has announced the ongoing process of baseline data collection to inform the government’s implementation of the Parish Development Model [PDM].

The government in the new financial year 2022/23 has provided Over Shs 1 billion for PDM SACCOs that are being formed to disburse the funds to registered groups in the 10, 594 parishes to bolster their income-generating activities as government embarks on the journey of transforming 3.5 million households still in subsistence to the money economy.

A media insert published by UBOS, shows that the Parish Chiefs, who are the major supervisors of PDM activities in their localities, are to collect the data, supported by the local staff appointed by respective local governments.  Uganda has 135 district local governments and 10 cities.

Already, districts have embarked on training of supervisors of the interviewers expected to collect data fron households and communities.

During the data collection process, households members will respond to questions related to the name of the household head, marital status, nationality, religion, NIN, telephone number, household member relationships, residential status of household members, age, date of birth, education, disability, work, economic activity.

Households will also respond to a question related to government benefiting from programmes like; Operation Wealth Creation, Youth Livelihood Programme, Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme, NAADS, and Emyooga.

Under the data collection process, government also wants to know whether household heads are registered with any SACCO or credit institution or owns a mobile phone, TV set, radio sets, solar panel, motorcycle, or vehicle. Government in 2020 pledged to deliver radios to households.

Other questions to the household will focus on internet usage, insurance policy, household agriculture business, home-based shop, bar or restaurant, source of water for drinking, a common source of energy for lighting, toilet facility, shoes, and crop growing.

Meanwhile, village leaders [LCIs] will respond to questions related to availability of services like; Money lenders, mobile money agents, banking agents, commercial banks, SACCOs, cooperatives, Village Savings and Loan Associations.

The LCIs will respond to questions on agricultural produce, livestock, general merchandise, tourism, type of roads.

They will also tell if their localities have hospitals, health centres II, III and IV, clinics, pharmacy, and drug shops.

Questions on education will see LCIs say whether their areas have; government primary school, government secondary school, Business Technical Institution, Education training, and university.

For agriculture the lower council leaders should be able to say whether they have activities such as; agro-processing, grain milling, leather tanning, milk coolers, threshing/shelling/ rice hauling, fruit processing, animal feeds mixtures, tourist/ culture site and post office.

The leaders will also tell interviewers the source of water for agricultural production exists in their communities, as well as any disasters that have happened in their areas in the last 12 months and the form of violence that has happened in their areas in the last 12 months.

According to the Uganda National Household Survey Report 2019/20, of the 3.5 million households in the subsistence economy, 62 percent were engaged mainly in subsistence agriculture, 24 percent were in income-generating activities, 12 percent were earning a wage/salary and two percent were not working at all.

Acholi sub-region had the largest share of households under the subsistence economy (78 percent). The largest share of households contributing to the subsistence economy were those engaged in subsistence farming [45 percent].

Under the PDM, each parish is expected to receive Shs100 million per year for five years for groups to borrow and invest. Government in the financial year 2021/22 provided Shs 200 bln, targeting every parish to receive Shs 17mln as a revolving fund for members of the village SACCO.

President Yoweri Museveni launched the PDM in February 2022, in Kibuku district where he said: “During the recently concluded elections, we promised you that the 2021-2066 term is going to be a ‘Kisanja’ [term] for creating wealth, jobs and incomes for all Ugandans.”

Museveni said then that he wanted everyone to be engaged in economic activities in order to eliminate poverty and enable the country to achieve middle-income status.

https://thecooperator.news/ubos-trains-pdm-data-collection-supervisors/

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