Published on: 31/08/2015
IRC Uganda has embarked on an advocacy process to convince government to increase funding of O&M from the current 13% to 15% of the national budget by February 2016. This was revealed by the IRC Uganda Country Director, Jane Nabunnya Mulumba, during a presentation she made to the Stockholm World Water Week 2015. Jane's presentation was during a session on Policy Innovation to Accelerate Change. During the presentation, Jane outlined a series of activities and tactics that have been planned for the advocacy process. These include:
- Action research to collect evidence
- Meetings of the Functionality Thematic Group
- Meetings with Members of Parliament
- National and district policy advocacy dialogues, meetings and consultations
- Production of IEC materials including; posters, policy briefs, flyers, video documentaries and audio recordings
- Capacity building sessions for civil society organizations
- Media and on-line communication;
- Collaboration with Water and Environment Media Network
- Newspaper articles/features, radio and TV programming
- Presentations at key sector events; Joint Sector/Technical Reviews, Sector Working Groups, District/Sub County Budget Conferences
The IRC Uganda Country Director also identified the key challenges which will probably hamper progress in the advocacy process.
- Too many districts to reach and involve within a short period
- Multiplicity of actors with different interests and demands
- Political interference and misinterpretation of facts and issues
- Changes in the political landscape owing to ongoing Presidential and Parliamentary election campaigns
- Policy changes related to budget are long-term processes
- Changes in the composition of the Functionality Working Group
- The District Water and Sanitation Conditional Grant (DWSCG) allocation formula is complicated
- Belief that budget related advocacy is only for the economists
- Capacity to do practical advocacy at the decentralised level is lacking
