Denmark’S Country Program for Uganda (DK0061)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address?: Corruption in Uganda is both systemic and endemic, and while some efforts have been made to curb this trend, numerous high-level corruption scandals continue to surface. According to Uganda’s National Development Plan II “cor-ruption impacts the poorest sections of society disproportionately, and generally benefits those already in positions of power and authority”. Promotion of political inclusion is therefore very important. This will require identifying key democratic state institutions as well as agents of change in civil society and bring them together in constructive and responsive partnerships to further the rule of law, transparency, democratic space and respect for human rights. Strong right-holder and duty-bearer partnerships have the potential to hold the state more accountable to its citizens and improve service delivery.; What is the commit-ment?: Denmark will through the Country Programme – in close coordination with other development partners – support key democratic state and non-state stakehold-ers and the partnerships between them, and thereby promote a more accounta-ble, inclusive and stable society including engagements in: • Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) • Financial Management and Accountability Programme (FINMAP) • Inspectorate of Government (IG) • Anti-corruption control mechanisms in the country programme; How will the com-mitment contribute to solve the public problem?: The country programme for Uganda builds on the expectation that an increase in the public demand for inclusion, transparency, democratic space and respect for human rights in combination with stronger public governance institutions, will provide the foundation for a more accountable, inclusive and resilient society. The Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) provides support for Ugandan civil society with focus on: 1) Strengthened democratic processes that respond to citizens' rights, 2) Strengthened rule of law and improved access to justice for all citizens, 3) Increased protection and fulfilment of human rights and gender equality, and 4) Improved citizens' inclusion and engagement in decision-making processes. Support to Inspectorate of Government (IG) will contribute to a stronger role of key actors in strengthening good governance, accountability and the rule of law in public office. Danish support will focus on 1) enhanced public awareness about the functions of the IG and strengthened partnerships with strategic part-ners, including local communities and the private sector, 2) stronger local pres-ence, including more efficient procedures and work processes, in order to rein-force and build on the establishment of a number of decentralized offices, which has resulted in an increased number of complaints and cases, and 3) maximizing the IG’s ombudsman role by peer learning through the partnership with the Danish Ombudsman Institution. Furthermore, a twinning arrangement between the Ugandan Directorate of Public Prosecution and the Danish Bagmandspoliti and Rigsadvokat is envisioned to strengthen investigation of large scale corrup-tion cases. Financial Management and Accountability Programme (FINMAP) functions as the primary implementation framework for the Ugandan Public Finance Man-agement (PFM) Reform Strategy. Danish support to FINMAP will create an impetus for improvement and full implementation of Uganda’s legislative and institutional mechanisms for expenditure and revenue management. This will strengthen the efficient, effective and accountable use of public resources, and thereby ideally improve performance and service delivery across all sectors, which in turn is fundamental for inclusive economic and social development. Anti-corruption control measures: All development engagement partners under the country programme will receive an introduction to the Danida anti-corruption policy, including clear guidance on prevention, detection and reporting require-ments when implementing activities with Danida funds. The Danish Embassy in Kampala will also invite all partners to an anti-corruption workshop as well as offer online training courses in anti-corruption. All development engagement partners have undergone a thorough pre-grant assessment, which has identified potential capacity gaps, risk areas as well as anti-corruption measures applied by the partner. The Danish Embassy in Kampala has a rolling joint financial monitoring plan that builds on a detailed and prioritised risk assessment of the engagements, and joint programmatic and financial monitoring visits will be conducted to each partner at least once every year. Furthermore, the need for value for money studies, as well as specialized audits such as procurement audits, will be determined each year in connection with the planning of the annu-al audits.; Why is this com-mitment relevant to OGP values?: Through FINMAP the Government of Uganda have launched a budget website (http://www.budget.go.ug/) and helpline to promote transparency and accounta-bility in the use of public funds by allowing the public to access information and an opportunity to give feedback on national and local government budgets and performance. The Ugandan Ministry of Finance often provides budget release information through the local dailies when quarterly releases are made to spending agen-cies. In addition, press conferences are often called to discuss the same. This is to alert the public to follow up on implementation of activities. Spending agencies and units such as schools and districts are encouraged to display budget information on their noticeboards, as a way of promoting trans-parency. Through FINMAP the Civil Society is represented on the Public Ex-penditure and Management Committee meetings by the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG). At these meeting CSBAG is given a special slot to make comments on the effectiveness of reforms implemented by Government and provide input to proposed initiatives. Danish support to Inspectorate of Government focuses on improving mecha- nisms for holding public officials accountable. It includes capacity building for investigators and prosecutors to investigate and prosecute government officials who are accused or suspected of having misused or misappropriated govern-ment funds/resources. It also covers actual investigation and prosecution of public officers.; Additional infor-mation: Commitment budget in DKK as proposed by the Danish Government on the Finance Act for 2018: DGF –145 million FINMAP –35 million IGG –35 million The Country Programme is aligned with the Ugandan National Development Plan II. The support to IG will revolve around support to IG’s strategic plan for 2015-2020, which is fully aligned to Vision 2040 and the NDP II. The country programme is also aligned with the SDG’s, in particularly SDG 1 (End poverty); SDG 5 (Gender equality); SDG 8 (Inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work); SDG 10 (Reduce inequality); SDG 16 (Peace, access to justice and accountable institutions); and SDG 17 (Global partnerships).

Commitment 12: Anti-corruption and transparency in Denmark's country programme for Uganda

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

"Denmark will through the Country Programme – in close coordination with other development partners – support key democratic state and non-state stakeholders and the partnerships between them, and thereby promote a more accountable, inclusive and stable society including engagements in:

· Democratic Governance Facility (DGF)

· Financial Management and Accountability Programme (FINMAP)

· Inspectorate of Government (IG)

· Anti-corruption control mechanisms in the country programme."

Milestones:

12.1 Continuous updates on the commitment can be found at http://www.openaid.dk

12.2 Mid-term review

Start Date: 2018

End Date: 2022

Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, see "The Danish OGP National Action Plan 2017–2019," Danish Agency for Digitisation, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/open-government/open-government-partnership-ogp-action-plan/, pp. 26–28.

Context and Objectives

Uganda is one of Denmark's 12 priority countries under Denmark's current development policy. The Danish government seeks to help stabilise Uganda's political and economic environments by bringing Danish good governance interventions to curb corruption challenges in Uganda. Denmark also seeks to promote Danish business collaboration in Uganda.^{[Note : "Country Policy Paper for Uganda 2018–2022," Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://uganda.um.dk/en/danida-en/country-policy-paper-for-uganda-2018-2022/. ]} This commitment also aims to address corruption in Uganda by promoting political inclusion. Specifically, the commitment will bring together democratic state institutions and civil society to promote legal security, transparency, democracy, and respect for human rights.

The commitment proposes to support democratic stakeholders in and outside the state through Denmark's country programme. The programme promotes inclusive engagement in the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF), the Financial Management and Accountability Programme (FINMAP), and the Inspectorate of Government (IG). The DGF emphasises strengthened democratic processes, greater legal security, human rights, and citizen inclusion. IG monitoring will allow stakeholders to pursue stronger good governance, accountability, and legal security in public office. Finally, the FINMAP programme is the basis for implementation of Uganda's management of public finances (PFM) reform strategy. Denmark's support for PFM is expected to bolster effective use of public resources. Such effective use will be promoted through an introduction to the Danish International Development Agency's anti-corruption policy, registration and reporting, and a workshop and online courses. The Danish embassy in Kampala will be in charge of, among other activities, the anti-corruption workshop and anti-corruption online training courses.

The commitment aims to promote open government in Uganda, particularly access to information (e.g., creation of a budget website) and public accountability (e.g., establishment of an anti-corruption help line). However, it is unclear how the commitment is relevant to OGP values in Denmark, since it will be implemented in another country. The initiative's milestones are unspecific ("continuous updates on the commitment can be found at http://www.openaid.dk") and refer to an unspecified midterm review. Moreover, the description of the commitment in the action plan is somewhat vague—e.g., the phrasing "support key democratic state and non-state stakeholders and the partnerships between them." The section on how the commitment will contribute to solving the public problem has useful detail. However, the section is long; the commitment text could be edited.

The IRM has classified the potential impact of this commitment, as written, as "none." The milestones lack verifiability, and the initiative continues a long history of Danish anti-corruption work in Uganda. The proposed activities planned for this commitment would not change the Danish government's existing work in this area. FINMAP was established in 2006, and Danish support for the programme began in 2013.^{[Note : "Meeting in the Council for Development Policy," Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 26 October 2017, http://um.dk/~/media/UM/English-site/Documents/Danida/About-Danida/Danida%20transparency/Documents/Council%20for%20development%20policy/2017/04%20Uganda.pdf?la=en. ]} Nevertheless, the initiative may continue contributing to anti-corruption efforts in Uganda: according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the commitment was recognised during the 2018 International Anti-Corruption Conference in Copenhagen as a constructive use of a national action plan to further OGP's values.^{[Note : Adwan Mohamad (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), interview by IRM researcher, 30 October 2018.]}

Next steps

The IRM researcher recommends the following steps be taken for this commitment:

· The initiative could be strengthened by training Danish companies operating in Uganda on principles of open government.

· The commitment text could be further specified, primarily through more details in the milestones.

· Overall, however, the IRM researcher recommends that the next action plan focus on domestic reform efforts rather than international initiatives and therefore that this commitment not be carried forward.

12. Anti-corruption and transparency in Denmark’s country programme for Uganda

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“Denmark will through the Country Programme – in close coordination with other development partners – support key democratic state and non-state stakeholders and the partnerships between them, and thereby promote a more accountable, inclusive and stable society including engagements in:

• Democratic Governance Facility (DGF)
• Financial Management and Accountability Programme (FINMAP)
• Inspectorate of Government (IG)
• Anti-corruption control mechanisms in the country programme.”

Milestones:

12.1 Continuous updates on the commitment can be found at http://www.openaid.dk

12.2 Mid-term review

Start Date: 2018

End Date: 2022

Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, see “The Danish OGP National Action Plan 2017–2019,” Danish Agency for Digitisation, pp. 26–28, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/open-government/open-government-partnership-ogp-action-plan/.

This commitment was part of Denmark’s ongoing development policies in Uganda. Specifically, it planned to address corruption in Uganda by bringing together democratic state institutions and civil society to promote legal security, transparency, democracy, and respect for human rights. [45]

The commitment included two milestones that cannot be verified, as they relate to overall implementation of the Danish Uganda country program. The first milestone concerns regular updates on http://www.openaid.dk, however no update on the project appears to have taken place since 2011. [46] The second milestone concerns a mid-term review, which is not to be undertaken until 2021.

As stated in the government’s mid-term self-assessment, activities in Uganda that are related to the commitment are limited, and the program is still in its design phase. [47] Initial activities within the Financial Management and Accountability Programme (FINMAP), including the establishment of a budget website, have been undertaken. [48] Furthermore, the Ugandan Inspectorate Government (IG) and the Danish Ombudsman have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the provision of technical support to fight corruption and sharing challenges in the area. [49]

As mentioned in the IRM Design Report, this commitment built on a history of Danish anti-corruption efforts in Uganda. Given the limited implementation, there have not been any immediate results or changes to the Danish government’s existing work in this area. [50]

[45] “Denmark Design Report 2017–2019”, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Denmark_Design-Report_2017-2019_EN.pdf.

[46] “Project: Anti-Corruption Programme in Uganda”, Danida Openaid, accessed 3 November 2019, https://openaid.um.dk/da/projects/DK-1-96401.

[47] “Mid-term Self-Assessment Report on Denmark’s OGP Action Plan 2017–2019”, Danish Agency for Digitisation, Independent Reporting Mechanism.

[48] “Uganda Budget Information”, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, https://www.budget.go.ug/.

[49] “Uganda, Denmark Partner to Fight Corruption”, Anti-Corruption Digest, 10 January 2018, https://anticorruptiondigest.com/2018/01/10/uganda-denmark-partner-to-fight-corruption/#axzz660pIZPsS

[50] “Denmark Design Report 2017–2019”, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Denmark_Design-Report_2017-2019_EN.pdf.