Government to review youth, women empowerment fund guidelines

NAKASEKE. The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development has announced reforms aimed at addressing gaps within the Youth Livelihood Project and the Women Entrepreneurial Fund.
According to the Gender minister, Ms Janat Mukwaya, the new reforms include redesigning of the application forms for accessing the funds which has been an area of concern for beneficiary groups and the ministry who have critised the ambiguities involved in the processes.
In addition, the technical staff will also attend a refresher course to equip themselves with entrepreneurship and monitoring skills.
The minister made the revelation after a performance assessment tour of government projects in Nakasongola and Nakaseke districts, where she questioned some of the strategies deployed by the community development officers in identifying beneficiary groups.
“My assessment clearly faults many of the community development officers for failing to interpret some of the guidelines. At the same time, we have a bad trend where the technical staff at the district lack entrepreneurial skills and continue to frustrate efforts of some groups,” Ms Mukwaya told stakeholders during a meeting in Nakasongola District last week.
Ms Mukwaya decried the lack of monitoring skills among the officials which she said has led to loss of tax payers’ money. “We need a refresher programme for these officials,” she said.

Substandard inputs
In Nakasongola District, the minister noted that several technical staff contracted suppliers who provided substandard inputs. At Migyeera Town Council, Ms Mukwaya ordered the technical team to refund Shs7m extended to Suubi Kyakoba Youth Piggery Group.
Instead of 50 piglets the group received only 28 piglets and the veterinary officer, Mr Simon Nsamba, reportedly supplied the substandard piglets which later died. “The technical staff at Migyeera Town Council including the town clerk should pay back this money because they failed in their role,” Ms Mukwaya ordered.
She also revealed that many women groups that applied for the project funds under the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme in Nakasongola received less than half of the funds.
Kalina Nabagereka Women Development Group in Kakooge Sub-county which applied for Shs4m was given Shs1.5m to purchase a tent and plastic chairs for their events project. The group used the money to purchase a 50-seater tent and 12 plastic chairs.
The minister criticised the officials for disbursing less funds arguing that giving Shs1.5m to the group against their set budget of Shs4m is useless as 12 chairs cannot serve the purpose.
“It is also useless for the district technical staff to pressurise the women to pay back the money while knowing that the group cannot compete in the market since they almost have no chairs to hire out,” she said.