assessment

Two-dozen children welcome me into the school’s library—a rare space in most Ugandan primary schools. But this is no ordinary school, and their headmistress, Olivia Muhumza, is no ordinary individual. Ms. Olivia asks the children to share information about the many programs that Railway Children Primary School offers its students. The school is located in Nsambya, one of the capital Kampala’s poorest neighborhoods.

This week I am writing from Kampala, where I have spent the past week assessing potential opportunities for IREX programming in Uganda. As I read about Uganda in preparation for my trip, one theme that kept arising was the overarching importance of religion. Uganda has large Catholic and Protestant populations as well as a significant Muslim population, and I was interested to learn more about the impact of religion and faith-based organizations on the conflicts in northern Uganda and other regions of the country.

Having recently come across an essay by former USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios, I’ve been thinking a lot about what contributes to a successful civil society program. In the piece, Mr. Natsios argues – strongly – that accountability mechanisms originally designed to measure the impact of democracy and governance programs have become over emphasized to the point where they actually interfere with achieving development goals.