Districts benefiting from elderly fund register decline in poverty – Ubos survey
Under the SAGE programme, government with support from development partners provides monthly grants of Shs25,000 to older persons in 47 districts. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- The Ubos findings tally with the recent studies on the impacts of cash transfer programmes on growth and economic development.
- They include the 2016 UNICEF-sponsored evaluation of SAGE, a study by United Nations University and studies led by Prof. Franziska Gassman of Maastricht; all show that SAGE makes impacts on processes that enhance households’ ability to engage in productive activities.
KAMPALA. Districts benefiting from the elderly fund under the government Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) have demonstrated resilience and a decrease in poverty rates, a Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) analysis has revealed.
Under the SAGE programme, government with support from development partners provides monthly grants of Shs25,000 to older persons in 47 districts.
According to the 2016/17 Ubos household survey released last week, poverty rates countrywide increased from 19.7 percent in 2013 to 21.4 percent in 2016 but in the SAGE benefiting districts, it dropped from 31.1 percent to 30.8.
A Gender ministry statement indicates that a comparison between 15 SAGE benefiting districts and 15 non-SAGE benefiting districts with similar socio-economic characteristics showed that while SAGE districts recorded a decrease, the poverty rates in non-SAGE benefiting districts increased from 21.7 percent to 23.5 percent.
The survey also shows that SAGE contributed to a six percent increase in employment and an 80 percent growth in median wages in SAGE against non-SAGE districts.
“…SAGE households are shifting from subsistence agriculture to surplus agriculture. This means that SAGE beneficiaries are now farming for income rather than just for subsistence consumption,” reads part of the survey report.
The survey also found that SAGE benefiting communities demonstrate more credit access options compared to non-SAGE benefiting communities as a result of savings.
Mr Stephen Kasaija, the head of Expanding Social Protection programme management unit in the gender ministry, described the survey as a true finding of their work that is translating into economic growth and development.
“All anecdotal evidence we have always pointed to the fact that SAGE is making an impact on the lives of beneficiaries and the wider communities through improving incomes, agricultural productivity, access to credit, health services,” said Mr Kasaija in a statement.
The Ubos findings tally with the recent studies on the impacts of cash transfer programmes on growth and economic development.
They include the 2016 UNICEF-sponsored evaluation of SAGE, a study by United Nations University and studies led by Prof. Franziska Gassman of Maastricht; all show that SAGE makes impacts on processes that enhance households’ ability to engage in productive activities.
Researches indicate that SAGE impacts activities that directly increase household incomes such as access to improved agricultural inputs that yield better harvests.
Other benefits include SAGE households engage in off-farm trading that has higher returns such retail shops which yield better profits than agricultural produce.
