VZCZCXRO9858
RR RUEHGI RUEHRN RUEHROV
DE RUEHKM #1139/01 2750817
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020817Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1822
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KAMPALA 001139 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E 
USAID AF/R/EA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV EAID PHUM ECON UG
SUBJECT: NORTHEN UGANDA'S PEACE, RECOVERY, AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN 
TAKES ONE GIANT STEP FORWARD 
 
¶1.  Summary:  The Government of Uganda (GOU) recently released the 
first tranche of funding for its three-year, USD 600 million Peace, 
Recovery, and Development Plan (PRDP).  GOU commitment to live up to 
its PRDP promises is a recurring concern for the USG, other donors, 
development partners, and most of all, for northern Ugandans 
themselves.  The disbursement of the first GOU funds for the PRDP 
should help allay some of these concerns.  Serious challenges 
remain, however, as it is ultimately up to the GOU to ensure that 
this recovery plan succeeds where other recovery efforts for 
northern Uganda have failed.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------------------- 
PRDP Background, Budget, and Timeline 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  The PRDP is a planning framework intended to strengthen the 
coordination of post-conflict recovery and development efforts in 
northern Uganda.  The plan will ultimately involve 40 districts 
throughout northern and northeastern Uganda, or roughly half of the 
districts in the country.  The GOU is committed to funding 30 
percent of the PRDP's total USD 600 million budget.  Donor partners 
will fund the remaining 70 percent.  USAID provided approximately 
USD 138 million in FY2008 and USD 112 million in FY2009 in support 
of PRDP goals and activities. 
 
¶3.  GOU contributions will focus on health, water, education, and 
roads.  District level governments will manage 80% of central-level 
GOU funds.  The remaining 20% will be centrally managed by the 
Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).  Individual districts submitted 
PRDP work and procurement plans in June 2009.  Although there has 
been some delay in allocating central GOU funds to the PRDP 
districts, Gulu District received its first quarterly tranche of 
PRDP funding in mid-September, making it the first official 
recipient of PRDP funds.  Gulu is slated to receive approximately 
USD 2.3 million in PRDP funds for 2009. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
PRDP Implementation: Show Us the Money 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  GOU delays in disbursing PRDP funds contributed to suspicions 
over GOU commitment and intentions.  Some feared the PRDP was a 
government ploy to get donors to fund reconstruction efforts in 
northern Uganda, or a political ploy to bolster President Yoweri 
Museveni's 2011 presidential re-election bid.  The allocation of 
approximately USD 650,000 in PRDP funds to Gulu District in northern 
Uganda has allayed many of these concerns, as northern Ugandans and 
development partners are now cautiously optimistic about the GOU's 
commitment to make good on PRDP promises to fund reconstruction of 
the north. 
 
------------------------------------- 
PRDP Challenge #1: Funding Transparency 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  While the disbursement of funds to Gulu is good news, serious 
challenges remain. One of these challenges is funding.  Because PRDP 
money comes from a myriad of different donors and budgetary sources, 
the funds themselves are difficult to track. There is also confusion 
over the actual contributions of individual donors.  The USG and 
other donors currently disclose their PRDP funding contributions to 
the Ministry of Finance.  However, this information rarely trickles 
down to relevant district and local level stakeholders responsible 
for drafting local PRDP development plans. 
 
¶6.  To minimize confusion and avoid overlap, donor partners are 
working with the OPM and the Ministry of Finance to consolidate and 
analyze funding data, integrate PRDP activities, and ensure that 
local stakeholders are aware of the amounts and sources of PRDP 
funding affecting their constituencies. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Challenge #2: Donor Coordination and Transition 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶7.  The GOU is also struggling to coordinate a dizzying array of 
intra-governmental stakeholders (i.e. local, district, and national 
level government entities), bilateral and multilateral donors, and 
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).  The GOU is also struggling to 
define the specific roles and responsibilities of NGOs involved in 
PRDP implementation.  After providing emergency relief services for 
nearly two decades, many humanitarian actors have been slow to 
replace these programs with the transitional development services 
suitable for post-conflict zones like northern Uganda. 
 
¶8.  Complicating matters further is the traditional reluctance of 
many of the NGOs on the ground in northern Uganda to share 
 
KAMPALA 00001139  002 OF 003 
 
 
information on their planned activities and budgets with the GOU. 
NGOs are sometimes hesitant to disclose this information for fear 
that doing so could result in political pressure or increased 
corruption. 
 
------------------- 
Challenge #3: Trust 
------------------- 
 
¶9.  Accountability, both real and perceived, poses another major 
hurdle for the PRDP, as many Ugandans believe PRDP money will be 
mismanaged by corrupt government officials.  To address these valid 
concerns, the GOU must monitor, evaluate, and fully report PRDP 
progress to ensure accountability for PRDP funds and demonstrate 
transparency among stakeholders.  The GOU plans to monitor program 
progress and sustainability through a variety of oversight 
committees and working groups.  These groups then report to a 
higher-level PRDP Monitoring Committee (PMC), which serves as the 
ultimate oversight authority for PRDP resources. 
 
¶10.  The PMC is chaired by the Prime Minister.  Members include 
relevant Chiefs of Foreign Missions, UN agency heads, host 
government Ministers, NGO representatives, Members of Parliament and 
Local Chairpersons from districts receiving PRDP funds.  The PMC is 
charged with enforcing accountability for PRDP resources by 
monitoring progress and service delivery to local communities.  The 
PMC convened for the first time on June 29 in Kampala to discuss 
current progress, ongoing challenges to PRDP implementation, and 
ways forward. 
 
¶11.  During the PMC meeting, the UN's Resident and Humanitarian 
Coordinator Theophane Nikyema commended the GOU for its success 
building peace and security in northern Uganda.  Nikyema highlighted 
the GOU's successful resettlement of internally displaced persons, 
noting that 77% of these are no longer in IDP camps.  He emphasized 
the need to coordinate among stakeholders and be transparent; engage 
NGOs, civil society, and private sector partners in PRDP 
implementation; and recognize the special needs of Karamoja in 
north-eastern Uganda. 
 
¶12.  The Prime Minister's Office then outlined next steps for the 
PMC, which include analyzing development partner contributions, 
finalizing an operational plan, and hashing out a monitoring and 
evaluation mechanism for district resource management.  The PMC's 
next meeting is scheduled for December 2009. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
In Northern Uganda, Skepticism Remains 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶13.  Several Parliamentarians from northern Uganda expressed 
skepticism during a July 2009 PRDP stakeholder's workshop hosted by 
the Greater North Parliamentary Forum (GNPF) and USAID's LINKAGES 
project.  The GNPF and USAID organized the workshop to exchange 
information and present different stakeholder perspectives on PRDP 
implementation.  Many speakers praised the PRDP's progress since its 
2007 inception and expressed optimism for the PRDP's future 
potential.  However, they also acknowledged the challenges to PRDP 
implementation and recognized that the PRDP still has a long way to 
go.  Discussions focused generally on the need for vertical and 
horizontal coordination, donor transparency, local and district 
leadership, community ownership of PRDP projects, oversight and 
accountability, and gender mainstreaming. 
 
¶14.  Concern over the direction and transparency of the PRDP is also 
evident within civil society.   The USAID supported "A Stake in Our 
Future" (ASIOF) project - which aims to strengthen both GOU capacity 
to deliver peacebuilding projects in northern communities and local 
community capacity to hold the government accountable for these 
projects - presented a report on the status of PRDP implementation 
at a June 26 PRDP National Sharing Event to engage civil society 
members in the PRDP discussion.  The most commonly reported 
challenges to PRDP implementation included lack of sufficient 
knowledge of the PRDP in local communities; fear of corruption among 
government officials; generally negative attitudes toward the 
government; fear of future war if and when rebels return to northern 
Uganda; inadequate staffing at the district and sub-district level 
to implement PRDP; poor leadership of district officials; ongoing 
land disputes among returning IDPs; and difficulties in coordination 
between governmental and non-governmental actors. 
 
¶15.  The ASIOF report concluded that PRDP implementation is being 
hampered by insufficient funding and widespread confusion across 
sectors.  The report recommended greater information sharing, 
increased legislative oversight, improved local government and 
central government accountability, greater strategic planning among 
civil society organizations, and more local participation in 
 
KAMPALA 00001139  003 OF 003 
 
 
governance efforts and PRDP implementation.  The report warned that 
unless commitment to and attitudes toward PRDP implementation 
improve, the PRDP risks following in the footsteps of other failed 
northern Uganda recovery efforts. 
 
---------------------------------- 
IDPs and the PRDP: More Challenges 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶16.  In July, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General 
(SRSG) for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Walter Kalin noted 
significant progress in recovery efforts and the resettlement of IDP 
populations in northern Uganda.   He commended PRDP efforts to date, 
but cautioned the GOU against placing too much emphasis on 
"hardware" (buildings and infrastructure) and too little emphasis on 
"software" (staff, accommodations, supplies, and maintenance of 
these facilities).  He highlighted food security and donor 
coordination as ongoing challenges to recovery efforts in the north. 
 
 
¶17.  Moving forward, Kalin suggested improving coordination between 
district and national governments, providing greater UN and NGO 
support for District Development Plans (DDPs), and focusing on 
extremely vulnerable individuals and long-term impact in the 
recovery process.  Most participants agreed that the PRDP is making 
slow but steady progress, and that the PRDP has a long way to go to 
achieve long-term development and recovery in northern Uganda. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Comment: Glimmers of Hope for the PRDP 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶18.  GOU commitment to the reconstruction of northern Uganda remains 
a serious concern for the USG and other donors.  GOU recognition of 
the need to take increased measures to improve PRDP accountability, 
management, and coordination at all levels through the PRDP 
Monitoring Committee is a good sign.  More needs to be done, 
however, to ensure that the PRDP does not go the way of other, 
failed attempts to rehabilitate northern Uganda. Perhaps the most 
important step toward increasing chances for success is GOU 
ownership and responsibility for the PRDP, which is ultimately a 
Ugandan government plan.  A demonstration of ownership for the PRDP 
would ease lingering doubts within partner nations.  More 
importantly, it would allay continued skepticism among the local 
government officials and citizen beneficiaries on the ground in 
northern Uganda.  The recent disbursement of Ugandan government PRDP 
funds to Gulu District marks an important first step in this 
process. 
 
HOOVER