The Parish Development Model: Why, what and How

On February 26, 2022, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni launched the Parish Development Model, a program designed to eradicate poverty through the execution of development activities at the parishes. The 490 billion Shillings Parish Development Model is an extension of the approach to development as envisaged under the National Development Plan III, with the parish being the lowest administrative and operational hub for delivering services closer to the people and thereby fostering local economic development. There are over 10,500 parishes in the country. Under the initiative, each parish is supposed to get 17 million Shillings in the current financial year to start the implementation of the program and according to the plan, the parishes will each receive 100 million Shillings with effect from the next financial year.

Senior Economist and Makerere University Don Dr Fred Muhumuza explains the model;

Introduction – Why the PDM?

The decision to enhance service delivery at the parish level is not a new initiative nor a project. The Parish Development Model (PDM) is an initiative aimed at realising several objectives of the Government. They include deepening the decentralization process that begun in 1992; fulfilling the provisions in the 1995 Constitution and the Local Government Act, 1997; and operationalising the, Planning Guidelines issued by the National Planning Authority in 2014.

First, the Constitutional tenets of decentralization require: 

(i) The state to be guided by the principle of decentralization and devolution of governmental functions and powers to the people at appropriate levels where they can best manage and direct their own affairs. 

(ii) the decentralization principle be applied to all levels of LGs to ensure people’s participation and democratic control in decision making. 

(iii) take appropriate measures to enable LG units to plan, initiate and execute policies in respect of all matters affecting the people within their jurisdiction. 

(vi) The LGs to oversee the performance of persons employed by government in their areas.

Second, the delivery of all the seven pillars of the PDM (described later) is part of operationalising the Programme approach adopted in the National Development Plan III. Therefore, it is part of the process of restructuring government agencies and operations to eliminate silo-based approaches that create duplication and wastage of funds. The current structure does not deliver a comprehensive package of services required to transform households from subsistence into the monetary economy.

Finally, the PDM is part of the NRM Manifesto, and hence will be used to evaluate progress at the end of five years. The Manifesto indicates that the NRM Government will adopt a science-led parish model to reach the homesteads that are still in the moneyless economy. The parish will be the vehicle for data gathering, area-based enterprise selection and development, promotion of co- operatives, delivery of financial services, and community mobilisation. The parish will be the centre for multi-stakeholder/sectoral co-ordination and providing feedback on government services.

A response to Covid-19 and policy challenges

The entry of Covid-19 brought fresh revelations on vulnerability of households in urban and rural areas that emphasized the need to expedite new approaches to service delivery. The adoption of guerrilla tactics of the early 1980s that partly informed SOPs against Covid-19 by prioritising human survival ahead of everything, enhanced the Government’s resolve to provide essential basic services to meet the fundamental human needs. 

These include food, security, clothing, medicines, physical infrastructure, spirituality etc. The need to distribute food in urban and peri-urban areas shed more light on the vulnerabilities faced by urban households – confirming the view that subsistence living of hand-to-mouth (Kidda kyonka), was not only confined to farmers in agriculture.

Furthermore, policy and development reviews by the Operation Wealth

Creation (OWC) and partners revealed mixed results with more positives on inputs and certain outputs but less progress on impacts and outcomes. The downward trend of poverty reduction has flattened with a high risk of reversal, growth rates have reduced despite the increases in the government budgets, the Covid-19 response has increased debt and reduced domestic revenues.

To tackle the emerging and persistent challenges, Government had to come up with new approaches to enhance sustainability and inclusivity of growth.

The inequality, youth unemployment, low productivity, and weaknesses in the delivery of public services cannot be addressed without strengthening public institutions at the grassroots. The failure to enhance local economic development through strong and effective LGs and regional development planning could potentially cause social discontent and security threats.

Management of the Model

The PDM is anchored on the Parish chief as the co-ordinator of all government efforts at the parish. S/he will report to the Sub- County chief, who remains accountable to the Chief Administrative Officer. A similar system will be followed in the urban areas. The CAOs will continue to report through the regular structures that will include a PDM Secretariat within the MoLG. The Secretariat will specifically support the Technical Committee made up of the heads of the various MDAs, who will report to the Policy Committee that will be equivalent to a Cabinet Sub-Committee of the respective Ministers.

The parish chief will mobilise the leadership of all local stakeholders to form a Parish Co-operative Association (PCA), where s/he will be ex officio member and a signatory to its accounts for accountability of public funds. The Parish Development Committee (PDC) will be formed, comprising both state and non-state actors. It will include: the LCII chairperson, all LCI chairpersons, representatives of the PCAs, Elders, Religious and Cultural Leaders.

Structure of the Model

The structure of the PDM has seven pillars:

i) Production, processing and marketing across all relevant value chains in agriculture and non-agriculture sectors.

ii) Production infrastructure (Roads, Energy, Water ICT, etc.)

iii) Social services (Health, Education, Water and Social Development)

iv) Financial inclusion through integrated systems that include SACCO,

Cooperatives and use of the revolving funds approaches.

v) Mindset change, Business Development Service, extension services and other crosscutting issues such as Gender and climate change.

vi) Community Management Information System with the associates data.

vii) Governance and Administration.

The PDM will enable Government to consolidate the scattered services, plans and budgets to increase production and productivity in all sectors. Unlike project approaches, the PDM targets all aspects of development including universal access to financial services with affirmative actions for women and youth; extension and business development services; and strengthening the LG administrative systems through recruitment and facilitation of staff. It will promote regional centres for multiplication and distribution of agricultural inputs through partnerships between NARO, private sector, and the LGs.

The Manifesto commits Government to engage stakeholders to revive the co-operatives and fully support them to conduct operations that enable members to produce, store, process and market their output. Through the parish based SACCOs Government will give grants for the very poor and revolving loans for the rest. The revolving fund will be linked to regulated government and financial sector systems for effective risk-mitigation and accountability. 

Government will recruit agricultural extension service officers for crop, livestock and fisheries (where it applies) at every sub-county. The PDM will also enforce the policy of a primary school in every parish; village health teams and Health Centre III in every sub-county. The development of infrastructure services such as roads, energy ICT, water, etc. will support local economic development including agro-based cottage industries and increase the much-needed local tax revenues.

Finally, the OWC, which has transited into the second and third phases will play a strategic supportive role to all MDAs including generation of reports to the Apex platform provided for in the structure for the implementation of the NDP III. It will support the coordination of processes leading to effective restructuring of said processes for effective delivery of services up to the parishes and villages. It will promote regionalization of development plans and programmes for effective localization of the agenda for transformation of households from subsistence to the monetary economy.