DRT's Beatrice Mugambe on financing Social Protection

                                                
SPEECH BY BEATRICE MUGAMBE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH AND TRAINING (DRT) AT THE

OPENING OF THE REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON “FINANCING SOCIAL PROTECTION IN EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA: LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE”

VENUE: Lake Victoria Serena Resort, Entebbe Uganda

Date 22nd/10/2013

It is a great pleasure and honour to welcome you all at Lake Victoria Serena Resort in Entebbe, Uganda. In a special way, I welcome guests from Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Mauritius, South Africa and Malawi.

This is the regional conference on “Financing Social Protection in East and Central Africa: Learning from Experience”.

Purpose of the conference

We are gathered here to stimulate discussion and learning about various options of financing of social protection programmes, particularly in low income countries, especially in Eastern and Central Africa.

We are keen to hear about innovative ways of mobilising resources and effective ways of using them to achieve social protection objectives in our countries. I know that these objectives rotate around eradication of extreme and chronic poverty, vulnerability, income inequality and social exclusion.

The work of EPRC and DRT is meant to support decision-making processes, give evidence-based analysis, information and data to guide decision makers and donor agencies, government, private sector and civil society among other stakeholders.

Financing of social protection programmes has featured in various formal and informal meetings, low income countries including Uganda and others that are represented in this meeting.

In many of these countries, Governments have not reached a consensus on committing to finance social protection programs due to various reasons. Yet others have already designed and implemented innovative interventions. More positively also, the debate is increasingly involving policy makers, development partners, civil society, media and ordinary citizens.

The debate has also generated consensus that social protection interventions are among key strategies that will contribute to significant changes in the lives of majority of people that are currently unable to find employment, feed and send children to school, find quality public health care and deal with weather-related risks that affect their main source of livelihood. On the other hand, many of our countries are aspiring to become middle income and First World in the next 3-4 decades.

I am hopeful that the discussions that will happen today will set us in motion to answer some of the questions that remain unanswered in policy debates.

The conference has over 10 interactive sessions, appropriately chosen to help focus our discussion to those policy issues that resonate to our country needs at this point in time. Please use every opportunity to share your country’ experiences, lessons, challenges and plans. I am delighted that in this meeting, we will also be able to launch our 2nd chronic poverty report.

I am hopeful that all of us find the meeting worth our attendance. Please also find time to see that Uganda beautiful places within and outside Entebbe.

Thank you.
     
       
   


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gambling with our Future? The Benefits and Costs of Legalised Gambling in Uganda

Gemma Ahaibwe  is a Research Analyst and  A nita Ntale is a Research Associate  at EPRC The overwhelming proliferation of lottery, casinos and sports betting in Uganda has seen the gambling industry develop in terms of penetration and revenue generation. Gambling related tax revenue has increased by about thirty-fold over the past decade, from UGX 0.24 billion in 2002/3 to UGX 7.4 billion in 2012/13. These revenues are set to increase even more with the introduction of a new 15% tax levied on winnings as per the 2014/2015 budget. As the government continues to search for more financing options for the national budget, the gaming industry is fast being recognised as one of the more underutilised potential tax bases. In contrast to the welcome revenue and taxes, gambling is also associated with undesirable socio-economic problems, which makes it particularly problematic for policy makers. Excessive gambling can result in financial family distress, and can be a trigger for other
Read more

The Urgent Need For Uganda To Pass and Implement The Fertilizer Policy

On 13 th of March, a number of stakeholders came together for a validation workshop. The workshop was regulatory impact assessment for the National Fertilizer policy for Uganda. As she opened the workshop, Dr. Sarah Ssewanyana, the executive director of EPRC revealed that there was need to increase fertilizer usage by small holder farmers in Uganda. Her comments were further enhanced by a Ministry official who said that “70% of the fertilizer imported into Uganda is used by large scale farms especially tea and sugarcane plantations.” It was Drake Rukundo’s presentation that called for an urgent need to pass and implement the fertilizer policy. In his submission, it was noted that out of the required 50kg/Ha/Annum, Uganda was adding only 1kg/Ha?Annum making the country one of the least in fertilizer use in the whole world. Rwanda farmers use 29kg/Ha/annum, Kenya 35kg/Ha/annum while South Africans were at 60kg/Ha/annum. To Rukundo, if government does nothing, there was a risk o
Read more

Mosquito nets do not eliminate malaria but save lives

By Ibrahim Kasirye Malaria as a leading killer disease in Uganda ahead of HIV/ AIDS. Uganda face over 10 million malaria cases annually and about 100,000 Ugandans lose their lives due to contracting malaria most of whom are children. It is responsible for 40% of all outpatients and 25% of all hospital admissions in health facilities. During the World Malaria Day celebration last week, the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda Hon Rebecca Kadaga was quoted saying “ Mosquito nets are a waste of money ”. Although one may share the Speaker’s frustration that malaria remains a menace in Uganda whereas other tropical countries e.g. Cuba have managed to eliminate the malaria parasite, it is also worth appreciating the dilemma faced by public health officials and the environment within which they operate. At an estimated expenditure of US$ 150 million for 21 million   long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) every 3 years (or about US$ 50 million per year), Uganda’s expenditures on
Read more