Local Government Councils Scorecard Initiative

Updated on: 2023-09-13 12:32:39

The overall goal is to promote political accountability and effective service delivery in Uganda.

The Local Government Councils Scorecard Initiative (LGCSCI) is a social accountability initiative that seeks to deepen local governance by strengthening political accountability of elected local leaders and citizens' demand for excellence in the provision of service delivery by their local governments. LGCSCI was first launched in 2009 in 10 districts and cnow being implemented in 35 districts across Uganda. Through our partnership with Uganda Local Governments Association (ULGA), ACODE is able to reach out and disseminate research findings and policy recommendations to all local governments.

The conceptualization of the initiative was premised on the realization that while the decentralization policy in Uganda had registered significant social, economic and political progress especially in terms of provision of service delivery and political participation, there were significant gaps that required urgent action. For example, while progress was recorded in the areas of universal primary education (UPE) construction of several health centres and increased financing for roads sector there were a number of deficiencies, which if not addressed in time, could potentially reverse the gains. The introduction of UPE resulted into increased school enrolment of children but completion rates for UPE pupils have not been impressive especially for the girl child. The health sector has also continued to experience drug stock-outs, absenteeism of health workers and poor work ethics. While government increased funding for the roads sector, the quality of roads remained very poor across the country.

Local Governments' performance in executing their mandates especially in service delivery across was declining. Important to note also is that there was general lack of political accountability among elected local leaders to the electorate. Over the years, the political discourse in the country led to a situation where citizens were disengaged and became mere receivers of services from government without the courage and facts to hold their leaders accountable. Through the scorecard initiative, it was envisaged that local governance can be improved by complementing the current supply-side of democracy interventions from the government with demand-side solutions.

The scorecard focuses on three major outcomes: effectiveness of citizens to demand political accountability and effective service delivery; enhanced capacity of civil society organizations (CSO) partners to act as mediators between citizens and Local Government councils to improve service delivery; enhanced capacity of government to respond to citizens demands at local and central government levels.