1 Robert Bylon Twesigye Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) 'Country-led Governance Assessments: Sharing Experiences and Increasing Political Accountability’ – Windhoek, Namibia, November 4, 2009 Governance Statistics: Working with stakeholders through NSOs

2 Outline of Presentation  Introduction – key role of NSOs (UBOS)  Major Sources of Governance Statistics  Stakeholder Involvement - Example  Other efforts to develop governance statistics  Figures on Governance Statistics in Uganda  Conclusion

3 Introduction  Government has the obligation to provide services to its citizens and to steer economic growth and development through the provision of public services.  Governance is considered a very important factor in achieving good performance of government policies  The actors responsible for governance often find it difficult to measure.  Failure to measure governance means that we cannot estimate its effect on an economy’s performance  Governance Statistics in Uganda has been a challenge

4 Role of NSOs - UBOS  Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) was established by an Act of Parliament in  Core mission is to collect, analyze and disseminate official Government Statistics  UBOS provides information to inform Policy decisions of Gov’t but is not responsible for implementing those decisions  UBOS coordinates stakeholders in the National Statistical System (NSS)

5 Sources of Governance Statistics  In Uganda, the first attempt to scientifically measure governance was through the National Service Delivery Surveys (2001, 2004, 2008)  The 2004 and 2008 Surveys were conducted by UBOS in collaboration with key stakeholders  Institutions covered included Local councils, Central and Administrative Police, Prisons, Courts, Land Tribunals, Public Prosecution offices, etc  Other key sectors of the economy covered included Agriculture, Health, Education, Energy, Road Infrastructure, Water and Sanitation

6 Sources of Governance Statistics  Each of these sectors has governance issues embedded - service delivery, bribery in order to get a service, delayed services, quality of services delivered, etc.  The NSDS mainly collected information from a sample of around 10,000 households but also had a module for service providers  Other surveys – National Integrity Surveys (NIS) 1998, 2003, 2008 conducted by Office of the Inspectorate of Government (IG)

7 Stakeholder Involvement in the National Service Delivery Surveys  The National Statistics Office (UBOS) worked as an implementer of the survey and a coordinator for the key stakeholders  A multi-sector technical committee chaired by UBOS was set up to develop the survey instruments Conduct stakeholder consultations Supervise data collection Participate in report writing Provide feedback from their respective institutions o Technical Committee – Ministries of Internal Affairs, Justice, Water, Education, Health, Agriculture, Energy, Inspectorate of Government, UBOS, among others.

8 Other attempts to develop governance statistics - specific example  Under the Plan for National Statistical Development that covers 16 MDAs, the Uganda Police Force has developed its Sector Strategic Plan for Statistics (SSPS)  Development of the SSPS involved consultations with all departments of Police including Traffic, Criminal Investigation, Operations, etc and also their stakeholders  UBOS is working closely with the Police Force to develop its statistics which form part of governance statistics

9 Governance Issues covered under the National Service Delivery Surveys - Examples  Delivery of government services by service providers – percentage of households ever visited by an agricultural extension worker 12 months prior to the survey  Corruption and Bribery – Percentage of households that have ever paid a bribe in order to receive a service in any of the covered sectors  Management of government services – Attitude of staff in education, health etc towards clients  Accessibility of services – % of Sub-counties that access road equipment located at the district

10 Statistics from the National Service Delivery Surveys  33% of the households paid a bribe to the Central gov’t police in order to get a service.  26% of the households paid a bribe to the local administration police in order to get a service  Less than 3% of households reported having paid a bribe to customary courts for a service.  Only 13% of households engaged in agriculture had been visited by an agricultural extension worker in the 12 months preceding the survey.

11 Statistics from the National Service Delivery Survey s  27% of the respondents knew how to report extortions and embezzlement of public funds  Only 1% of those who knew how to report had ever reported  51% of households are never involved in decision-making processes concerning dev’t projects in their villages. Of those involved less than 30% participate in identifying projects, 21% in prioritizing while a mere 11% are involved in monitoring the projects

12 Statistics from the National Integrity Survey  Bribery identified as the most prevalent form of corruption – mainly attributed to greed and desire to accumulate wealth in the quickest possible time  Middle-age crisis has shifted from yrs to yrs due to peer pressure/comparison (has resulted into people “living beyond their means”), hence fuelling corruption  Corruption has evolved as an acceptable way of life. Those who quickly amass wealth are glorified while those who uphold principles of integrity are ridiculed!  New form of “syndicate corruption” characterized by “Management by Crisis”

13 Statistics from the National Integrity Survey  Police reported as most corrupt public institution by 88% of respondents. (Others: Judiciary (79%, Uganda Revenue Authority 77%, District Service Commissions 73%).  Among the highly rated institutions were NGOs (84%), Local Council 1 (81%) and National Water &Sewerage Co. (69%)  Strong recommendation for Gov’t to evolve “radical strategies” against corruption e.g. forceful recovery of stolen funds by selling the assets of the corrupt

14 Conclusion  Service Delivery is a Governance issue  National Statistical Offices though not policy implementers, play a major role in providing information that guide key policies of Service Delivery  UBOS has developed a strategy for making statistics understood and appreciated – popular versions of key publications

15 THANK YOU