Thorough planning, assessment is key

The imposition of new Covid-19 prevention measures that took effect on June 18 has sparked a lot of debate about the preparedness of government to respond to and address the needs of people living in poverty and the vulnerable. 

The restrictions such as closure of workplaces and ban on movement have once again placed the lives of more than 80 per cent Ugandans who work in the informal sector and survive on meagre incomes in a precarious situation. Overnight, many Ugandans have no jobs and will go hungry for the next couple of weeks if social protection measures are not accelerated. Moreover, many are yet to cope with the effects of the 2020 three months lockdown.

 Government reports indicate that poverty numbers could increase to 2.6 million people due to the effects of the 2020 lockdown. Yet the recently passed Financial Year 2021/22 budget does not adequately address these new challenges.  

In his address on June 18, the President directed the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to assess the needs of the vulnerable people in urban areas and plan appropriate responses. However, given the nature of the restrictions, it’s highly unlikely that the responsible authorities will do a good job of effectively assessing and addressing the needs of the vulnerable. 

The previous response was marred with a lot of irregularities including haphazard planning, non-involvement of critical sectors and citizen organisations, gross abuse and misuse of Covid-19 response funds and biased distribution of food relief. The 2020 food relief intervention only targeted 1.5 million people in the Kampala and Wakiso area leaving out the vulnerable in other parts of the country.

The one-off food package included 6kgs of maize flour per person, 3kgs of beans per person, and salt which were inadequate given the prolonged lockdown period. 

Worse still, local governments that are well-placed to address the needs of the vulnerable are poorly resourced and heavily dependent on the central government. Their capacities have not been built to support the socio-economic interventions during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, non-governmental organisations and faith Based Organisations that have been very instrumental in supporting the needy and vulnerable in times of crisis have not been sufficiently recognised and effectively engaged in the new response plans. 

Despite having a whole year to develop comprehensive response measures that cater for both the public health and social economic dimensions, government departments took a back sit when the infection curve went down. Poverty and vulnerability analysis has not been a critical part of the Covid-19 response and the short-term measures such as the 2020 stimulus package that was designed to help small and medium enterprises to stabilize their business have ended up benefiting the large scale businesses and technocrats.  

The initial vulnerability assessment that was conducted in the Kampala and Wakiso region prior to the distribution of food items was but a ‘one-off’ and ignored many realities of the people living in poverty.

A comprehensive vulnerability analysis should go beyond identifying the number of people who have lost jobs, but also consider the environment within which people live, gender issues, power and cultural dynamics in households, number of children/dependents and access to social services, etc. This should also be based on principles of power sharing and popular participation to secure ownership and good will of citizens for sustainable management of the pandemic. 

As observed from countries worst hit by Covid-19, the pandemic situation is rapidly changing and requires dynamic interventions. The responsible authorities need to constantly assess the situation of the poor, update data bases to ensure timely support.  

Effective response in such crisis requires timely planning, technical expertise and resources. There is need to build the capacity of all government structures – from village, subcounties through to national level and work with the wide network development agencies in the country to ensure a well-resourced and comprehensive response measures. 

Citizens must not be left behind. They are key to the success of any emergency intervention during this period and there are many ways to involve citizens in the design, implementation and monitoring of the Covid 19 response plan. 

Ms  Miriam Cherukut is a programme officer, 
Civic Space and Governance Monitoring,
Uganda National NGO Forum