___________________
Uganda’s 2022 scorecard on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is promising, according to the latest Uganda-United Nations Country Results Report.
The country ranking showed marginal progress from 2021, having moved up four places from 140 to 136 with an average score of 54.9 in 2022.
However, the report indicates that Uganda is still struggling in many areas, including manufacturing and education.
On the flip side, agricultural output increased by more than half from the previous year and industry activities were boosted by strong expansion in mining and construction.
Susan Namondo-Ngongi, the UN Resident Coordinator, said that whereas the COVID-19 pandemic subsided in 2022, Uganda still faced intense challenges such as a high level of food insecurity in the Karamoja sub-region.
She said floods in Mbale and neighbouring districts in Eastern Uganda, and the Ebola disease outbreak have contributed to the social economic shocks.
“Uganda experienced the impact of the war in Ukraine – with increased commodity prices and inflation, which further constrained the already tight fiscal space and the high refugee influx from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said the UN diplomat.
Amidst all these challenges, she said the UN system in Uganda remained true to its promise of supporting the Government to address development challenges to deliver on the Vision 2040 and the 2030 Agenda as articulated in the UN Co-operation Framework for Uganda.
General duties minister Justine Lumumba Kasule said many areas need improvement.
“Like in the agriculture sector, we are still underutilizing land, which is contributing to low production of food,” she said.
Utilisation of fertilizers is still very low at 12 percent, she added.
The minister also decried the challenges around the environment, saying Uganda is doing very badly in this area as deforestation remains very high at 12 percent.
Conservation of the environment is a responsibility for everyone.
‘Act fast’
On education, the minister said there is need to sensitise the population about the technical skills that are offered by technical institutions.
“We have many technical institutions that are well built and well equipped but enrollment into them is still very low,” she said.
“Skills attained from these institutions would play a very big role in creating employment opportunities for people and would get out of poverty.”
Lumumba spoke of the need to fasttrack implementation of initiatives aimed at boosting productivity.
“We passed a loan last year in Parliament that is supposed to roll out irrigation in various districts but implementation is still very poor.
“We still have malnutrition issues. People in West Nile and Namutumba in the eastern region are still suffering from hunger and poverty. Government needs to act fast on these issues.”
Recovery
Meanwhile, UN’s Namondo-Ngongi said for Uganda to regain momentum on its progress to become a middle-income economy there is need for urgent acceleration of efforts of all partners to be able to meet the goals and aspiration of the National Development Plan.
“We need improved coordination to enhance cost effectiveness and delivery efficiencies on all national development programmes. We need effective preparedness and emergency plans to build resilient institutions and communities to withstand shocks.”
“Finally, we need strong partnerships to ensure sustainable solutions to development in the long run and a deeper and more strategic engagement and dialogue on resource mobilization,” she said.
Agnes Kirabo, the executive director of Food Rights Alliance, said the food crisis is a systemic issue that needs to be tackled from the leadership aspect.
“The problem is rooted in the country’s food governance system,” said Kirabo.
“Uganda does not know how much food is needed to feed its people in a year. There are no sufficient food reserves in the country. How then do we expect to combat this challenge?
“If we only spend about 9% of our budget on productive programmes, how do we expect to increase food production?
“Let the government be intentional on this issue, know how much food is needed in the country, work on food reserves and drive investments in areas that spur productivity in the agriculture sector,” said Kirabo.
Credit:Source link
