Harmonising can be a long process

In 2003, a group of development partners in Uganda took the first step to establish a basket fund in support of the democratization process. Ever since, much energy and plenty of expectations have gone into developing a programme; but so far, it has not taken off. Simon Osborne, Programme Manager of the Deepening Democracy Programme, spoke to Susan Bakesha about the approach towards the programme, and why it has faced so many delays.

The Deepening Democracy Programme (DDP) was conceived in 2006 as an expression of a collective commitment of Partners of Democracy and Governance (PDG) to support the democratization processes in Uganda. The PDG, mainly including the European Union (EU) member states₁ had already been funding a harmonised support to the democratization process since 2003. Its activities took place in the run up to the 2006 elections and included a National Civic Education Programme, The Election Support Programme, a Democracy Monitoring Project and the Abolition of the Death Penalty Project.

The four projects leading up to the 2006 elections were the first steps towards the development of the Deepening Democracy Programme.₂ The next steps were to finalise a comprehensive strategic plan. A new basket fund was established, amounting to US$ 22 million for an initial period of three years, within a proposed programme period of five years past the elections in 2011. The aim was still to support activities which could improve on the democratic process in Uganda. But building consensus among the development partners on which areas to focus and on how the programme should be managed proved to be a task in itself, and it was not until April 2008 that the programme was finally ready to be launched.

“There are many differences in approaches and management styles among the PDG partners. It has taken longer than anticipated to put up structures that are acceptable to all partners involved to ensure transparency, ownership and effective implementation”, explains Osborne, who has programme managed the DDP since December 2007.

All-inclusive process
The Deepening Democracy Programme includes six objectives and areas of focus: Support to the Electoral Commission, Organizational Development of Political Parties, Support to the Parliamentary Processes, Civic Education Program, Civil Society and Media in Democracy. Extensive consultations with the PDG partners under each component, have been part of the process of developing them and are still on going. The consultations take time but are meant to build consensus on the programme outputs under each component and to ensure ownership by stakeholders. Osborne explains:

“The development partners do not want to rush the program without building a firm foundation in terms of structures and clear set objectives and outputs”.

He emphasizes that the management and ownership principles also include stakeholders on the side of Government and its institutions related to the democratization process.

“We have adopted an all inclusive process to ensure that every stakeholder is brought on board,” he adds. “Although the process seems to be long and complicated, I believe that if we get everything right at the onset, the results will be worth waiting for.”

Civil society for better services
Under the support to the civil society component, the programme intends to enhance the capacity of civil society organizations to engage effectively in the democratisation process in Uganda and also strengthen civic empowerment to hold government accountable. Although the criteria of selection is not yet finalized, the main focus will be on those organisations undertaking initiatives in the area of monitoring government programmes, empowerment and grassroots participation, as well as lobbying and advocacy for better services and standards of living.

“We do not intend to create new structures,” Osborne observe. “A lot has been done already. Instead, efforts will be made to create linkages between organisations that engage in participatory issues, with those focusing on advocacy issues at local and national levels.”

Indeed, together with his colleagues at the DDP Management Unit, Osborne is working on developing the criteria through which relevant CSOs will be selected to engage in the DDP Programme.

More than pre-election activities
Under the Civic Education component, the DDP aims at ensuring that Ugandans increasingly participate in the governance of their country. The program intends to go beyond pre-election activities and make civic education a continuous process where everybody is engaged. In the short term (before 2011), however, the focus will be on providing support to organisations and institutions engaged in civic education activities. Efforts will be made to minimise cases of information variation through the use of uniform but localized information content. The content will be designed to ensure that citizens are provided with information to address the current deficit in political and civil rights.

Slow start
The DDP is in line with the agreements of the Paris Declaration. It represents the initiative of harmonisation being advocated for among development partners and the Government of Uganda. Although the process began in 2006, the actual implementation of the program activities for the six components is yet to begin.

Simon Osborne explains that US$ 320,000 of the US$ 22 million has been spent so far on preparation for the implementation of the program. Of the funds spent, 20% has been spent on management and administration, 50% on the media project and 30% on preparatory activities including baseline data collection, assessment of parties, and consultations with Parliament and the Electoral Commission, among others. He says that the implementation of the six components will begin in 2009.

Susan Bakesha, Programme Manager DELTA, Email: sbakehsa@yahoo.com