Addressing Uganda's transparency and accountability Challenges

Uganda faces numerous T&A challenges, including limited access and re-use of public sector information, opaqueness in government operations, multiple fragmented actors, and lack of technical skills and capacity for demand and supply of data for T&A, among others. 

Uganda faces numerous Transparency and Accountability challenges, including limited access and re-use of public sector information, opaqueness in government operations, multiple fragmented actors, and lack of technical skills and capacity for demand and supply of data for T&A, among others. Whereas various actors, including CSOs, are doing commendable work in improving transparency and accountability, including enabling citizen voice and advocating for duty bearer responsiveness through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and offline engagements, their efforts are undermined by limited reach to actors and geographical regions, as well as inadequate elevation of issues raised in their work to public officials, including decision makers at district and national level.

Ugandan media face several challenges in meaningfully executing the role expected of them as the Fourth Estate. These challenges include inadequate research and sourcing, cumbersome access to public sector information, and weak relations with sources including civil society actors. These challenges hamper the media from playing an

active roleas a watchdog that holds state and non-state parties accountable, as an enabler of debate of issues of community and national concern, as a driver of transparency, and as a promoter of the public good. Addressing these challenges requires a closer working relationship between the media and CSOs engaged in T&A work, and development of new skills by both stakeholder groups.

During June and July 2018, the Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) in partnership with TracFm conducted two opinion polls to engage local communities and gather information on governance issues in order to inform dialogue with duty bearers and other stakeholders. The polls were part of CIPESA’s Media for Transparency and Accountability project that seeks to increase media engagement in ongoing activities, effective media coverage of issues of public service delivery especially for the rural poor and women, and joint efforts in public awareness and engagement on governance issues to further the outreach and impact of partners’ work in social accountability and civic participation.

View Full Report of this Campaign here: http://bit.ly/CIPESA-TRACFM-REPORT 
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