The Local Government Score Card (LGCSC) is an independent assessment tool to assess the performance of local government councils in Uganda. It was initiated in 2009 under the Local Government Councils Score Card (LGCSC) Initiative of the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE). The Local Government Councils Score Card (LGCSC) is a set of parameters and associated indicators designed to do two interrelated things: first, it empirically assesses the extent to which local government council organs and councilors are performing their responsibilities as stipulated in the Local Act. Secondly, it examines whether there is a direct correlation between the good or bad score card performance of a local government council and the quality of servicedelivery in the district.

The parameters in the score card are based on the core statutory roles and responsibilities of the local government councils. The theory of change underlying the LGCSC is that by providing local government councils’ performance related information to the public, citizens will be able to demand for better quality services through increased accountability from local political leaders hence triggering a vertical spiral of demand for accountability from the local to the national levels. The score card seeks to address the number one policy problem confronting policy makers and development practitioners in Uganda: why has the quality of public service delivery in Uganda not improved tremendously in spite of a sustained record of economic growth and major investments by government and development partners?

After almost two decades of the decentralization policy in Uganda, the results are mixed combining both success and widespread failures. The local government system was entrenched in the 1995 constitution and a series of reforms epitomized in the enactment of the Local Government Act in 1997. The series of policy and institutional reforms have yielded tangible results in creating a system of local governance where citizens elect their leaders from the local to the district leaders. The underlying rationale as articulated in the 1995 constitution is that effective governance is achieved when functions and powers are devolved to the people at appropriate levels. However, there have also been apparent widespread failures evidenced through the malfunctioning of the public service delivery infrastructure, persistent levels of rural poverty and absence of effective accountability between citizens and their leaders both at the local and national level. This malfunctioning is often blamed on the problem of “weakness of and corruption in” local governments. Consequently, the standard policy response to this problem is to implement a series of supply-side interventions including supply-side monitoring of service delivery by local governments.

It is argued that the diagnosis that blames the failure in the public service delivery system on the “weaknesses” of the local government is a wrong diagnosis of the policy problem. On the contrary, the problem of poor quality of public service delivery is a function of systemic policy failures that undermine accountability systems upon which local governance is premised. The continuous affront in the powers of local governments, a distorted budget architecture that creates a substantial imbalance of power between the central government and local governments, and a rural development policy that has alienated citizens from government are the fundamental policy issues that account for the failure of local governments to become the frontline institutions for effective public service delivery. Consequently, it is argued that concentrating interventions on the supply-side financing and monitoring of performance of local governments is the wrong policy prescription. On the contrary, it is argued that what is needed are interventions that reconstruct and give confidence to local governments to plan and execute locally developed medium and long-term development programmes while building the accountability relationships between the citizens and leaders.

This Synthesis Report presents findings and analysis of the first LGCSC assessment conducted in 10 districts. The 10 districts which are spread evenly across the country were selected through criteria that sought to achieve a regional balance in the sample, balance old and new districts, included districts that were considered marginalized by geopolitical circumstances, or inclusion of districts that were perceived as models in terms of performance. Kampala District Council was particularly included in this lot by virtue of its metropolitan status. The score card is based on three interrelated building blocks: the council and its respective organs; the core responsibilities and functions of those organs; and the causal-effect relationship between score card performance and service delivery outcomes. The assessment covered the performance of local government councils in the 10 districts during the FY 2008/09. The following organs of the local government councils were assessed and scored: district councils; individual district councilors; the district chairpersons; and the district council speakers. All the organs are scored on performance of their core responsibilities with scores ranging from 0 up to 100 points.

The 10 district councils were assessed on the performance of 4 core responsibilities or functions: local legislation and legislative functions, accountability, planning and budgeting, and service delivery on National Priority Programme Areas (NPPAs).

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Monitoring and assessing the performance of local government councils in Uganda: background, methodology and score card

This background paper was prepared as part of the process to develop a framework for monitoring and assessing the performance of local government councils in Uganda under the ACODE Local Government Score Card Initiative. Since the adoption of the decentralization policy at the beginning of the 1990s, attempts to improve the functioning of local governments through systematic monitoring have not yielded the required results.

The monitoring mechanisms that have been adopted mainly focus on the fiscal and technical aspects of decentralization. Consequently, the role of local government councils as a major source of balance of power between the central government and citizens has not been properly highlighted. This background paper and the ACODE Local Government Score Card Initiative are aimed at deepening democratic governance in Uganda through evidence-based assessment of the performance of local government councils. The initiative was launched in 2009 with initial funding from the Deepening Democracy Programme and the Think Tank Initiative (TTI).

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