Assessment of opportunities and challenges of community targeting: The case of the district livelihoods support programme in Kyenjojo District.

Abstract

The Government of Uganda (GoU) and other Development Partners have put in place several interventions to address poverty both at macro and micro level for poor. One such intervention is the District Livelihoods Support Programme (DLSP) which was implemented by the Ministry of Local Government with support from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The DLSP used community based targeting mechanism to reach the poor and vulnerable members of the community.

However, community based targeting presents several opportunities as well as challenges. This study set out to assess the opportunities and challenges of community targeting. Specifically, the study aimed at assessing the processes and procedures involved in community targeting, evaluating the criteria used for selecting beneficiaries of the DLSP, establishing the challenges and opportunities in community targeting, and identifying strategies for improving community targeting as a mechanism for effective implementation of social protection interventions for the poor and vulnerable.

To undertake this study, a cross sectional research design was adopted. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used for triangulation purposes. Quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS package while the qualitative data was analyzed by themes and content with the help of Atlas ti package.

From the findings of this study, it was clear that communities were able to participate in the processes and procedures for community targeting with guidance from technical resource persons. The community demonstrated the ability to identify the poor and vulnerable households. Their perceptions and attitudes towards community targeting were contrary to widespread views and could not therefore affect the process. However, in order to make community targeting more effective, it is important to prioritize creating awareness, clarifying and sharing the eligibility criteria and providing adequate level of funding so as to reach as many eligible households as possible.