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The government has warned leaders in Karamoja against demanding money from households seeking to benefit from the Shs1 trillion Fourth Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF IV), saying registration and access to grants will be free.
Dr Robert Limlim, the Head of NUSAF IV, said beneficiary selection would be conducted through the National Social Register to eliminate favouritism and ensure that support reaches households living below the poverty line. Limlim said all district local governments were required to integrate the programme into their development plans and budgets to support effective implementation.
He also revealed that the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) would begin fresh household data collection next month in districts covered by the programme to update the National Social Register. He urged district leaders to cooperate with the UBOS teams to ensure that accurate information is collected and entered into the register.
Limlim said the updated information would help government track the support received by each household, determine when beneficiaries should exit the programme and identify new households eligible for assistance. He added that accountability systems had been strengthened to detect ghost beneficiaries and ensure value for money.
Esther Anyakun, the State Minister for Karamoja Affairs, said the programme would help households establish income-generating enterprises, improve their livelihoods and strengthen their ability to withstand food shortages during the dry season.
Anyakun said the intervention would also provide nutritional support to mothers and young children by boosting household food production. She described NUSAF IV as an economic recovery programme that the region had long been waiting for and urged communities to embrace it and use the opportunity to improve their economic circumstances.
The World Bank-funded programme will run until December 2031 and targets 937,500 people living below the poverty line in 104 districts across nine sub-regions. Each beneficiary is expected to receive one million Shillings to support livelihood projects and entrepreneurship.
However, Beatrice Akello Akori, the State Minister for Northern Uganda, questioned whether the proposed grants were sufficient to lift households out of poverty, arguing that beneficiaries needed at least 10 million Shillings to establish viable businesses. Akori said the country had expected to transition into middle-income status following the implementation of the second National Development Plan, but subsequent assessments showed that 29 per cent of Ugandans remained in the subsistence economy.
She said the Parish Development Model was subsequently introduced to help households transition into the money economy, adding that the proportion of people still dependent on subsistence livelihoods in Karamoja could be higher than the national average.
Akori challenged NUSAF IV implementers to ensure that the programme targets households genuinely living below the poverty line and provides sufficient support to enable them to establish sustainable enterprises.
James Ebitu, a World Bank social protection consultant, said NUSAF IV was the first World Bank project approved for Uganda following a pause in funding, making Karamoja a leading region in the programme’s implementation. Ebitu confirmed that 44.2 million US dollars had already been disbursed to kick-start the programme. Karamoja is expected to receive the largest share of the Shs1 trillion programme, whose implementation is scheduled to begin early next year.
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