TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION
APPROVAL
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
CHAPTER ONE 1
1.0 Introductiow
1.1 Back ground of the study
1.2 Statement of the Problem 4
1.3 Research Objectives 4
1.3.1 General objectives of the study 4
1.3.2. Specific objectives ofthe study 5
1.4 Research Questions 5
1.5 Research scope s
1.5.1 Content scope 5
1.5.2 Geographical scope
1.5.3 Time scope 6
1.6 Significance of the Study 6
CHAPTER TWO 7
LITERATURE REVIEW 7
2.0 Introduction 7
VI I
2.1 Defining Poverty and the Poor 7
2.1.1 Dimensions of poverty 8
2.2 General causes of poverty in Uganda 9
2.3 Measures to reduce poverty in Uganda 11
2.4 Decentralization 14
2.4.1 Forms of decentralization 15
2.5 The Relevance of Decentralization in Poverty alleviation 17
2.6 The Linkage between Decentralization and Poverty Alleviation 18
2.7 Challenges of decentralization in Uganda 20
CHAPTER THREE 26
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 26
3.1 Introduction 26
3.2 Research design 26
3.3 Population of the study 26
3.4 Sample size 26
3.5 Sampling techniques 27
3.6 Data collection methods 27
3.7 Data collection instruments 27
3.7.1 The questionnaire 27
3.7.2 Interview 27
3.8 Validity and reliability of the research instruments 28
3.9 Data quality control 28
3.10 Data processing and analysis procedures 28
3.11 Ethical Considerations 28
VI I I
CHAPTER FOUR .29
PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA 29
4.0 Introduction’ 29
4.1 Bio data ofthe respondents 29
4.1.1 Sex of the respondents 29
4.1,2 Age of the respondents 30
4.1.3 The marital status of the respondent 30
4.1.4 The educational Level of the respondents 31
4.2 The general causes o poverty in Uganda 32
4.3 Impact of decentralization on poverty alleviation in Iganga municipal council, Iganga
district 34
4.4 Challenges faced in the implementation of decentralization programs in Iganga
municipal council 35
4.5 Measures to reduce poverty levels in Uganda 36
CHAPTER FIVE 38
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 38
5.0 Introduction 38
5.1 Summary of the findings 38
5.2 Conclusion 39
5.3 Recommendations of the study 40
REFFERENCES 41
RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE 43
CHAPTER ONE 1.0 Introduction: This chapter will include the background of the study, the statement of the problem, general objective of the study, specific objectives of the study, research questions, research scope, and the significance ofthe study. 1.1 Back ground of the study There is a perception that poor countries are poor because they do not practice effective and efficient decentralization. There is also international and local acceptance that decentralized governance reduces poverty and enhances development in poor countries. The UN and its agencies such as UNDP and World Bank fully support this idea about poverty reduction and decentralization and sometimes go to the extent of making the 14 practice of decentralization a condition for attracting loans, grants and technical aid as a condition for development. The UNDP view poverty as revealed by Rakodi (1995) as a situation of people deprived of those opportunities and choices that are essential to human development, for a long healthy creative life, a reasonable standard of living, freedom, dignity, self-respect and respect from others. This is referred to as the life situation approach to poverty. In Africa there are signs of poverty everywhere to the extent that three hundred and forty (340) million people or half the population of Africa lives on less than $1.00 per day. The mortality rate of children under five (5) years of age is 140 per 1,000 and life expectancy at birth is only fifty-four (54) years. Only 58 percent of the population has access to safe water. The rate of illiteracy for people over l5years is 41 percent (New Partnership for Africa’s Development Report, 2001). Moreover, many hundreds of millions of people in the poorer countries are preoccupied solely with survival and elementary needs. For them, work is frequently not available or when it is, pay is low and conditions often barely tolerable. Homes are constructed of impermanent materials and have neither piped water nor sanitation. Electricity is a luxury. Health services are thinly spread and in rural areas only rarely within walking distance. Primary schools, where they exist, may be free and not too far away, but children are needed for work and cannot be easily spared for schooling. Permanent insecurity is the condition of the poor. There are no public systems of social security in the event of unemployment, sickness or death of
