Citizen Engagement and Revenue Generation in Uganda

The Municipal Development Partnership for Eastern and Southern Africa (MDPESA) engages in capacity building to promote civic engagement and ensure effective self-governance in 25 African nations, and the Capstone team was enlisted to study citizen engagement and local government revenue generation in Uganda. The abolition of Uganda's graduated tax coupled with limited implementation of participatory mechanisms has contributed to the inability of local governments to meet citizen demand for services. Because most citizen engagement studies have focused on the technical aspects of participatory expenditure budgeting and not on revenue generation, the team conducted fieldwork in Uganda to explore the links between citizen engagement, revenue generation, and service delivery. The team held interviews with local and central government officials, as well as informal focus groups with local opinion leaders. MDPESA will use the final report to enhance their knowledge of the ties between citizen engagement and local government revenue generation in Uganda and to develop an agenda for further work.