Programme Information Sheet – Democratic Governance Facility
In response to the aspirations of the 1995 Constitution and Uganda’s National Development Plan
(NDP) for 2010/11 - 2014/15, and in view of the governance deficits identified in among others the
APRM Programme of Action, eight Development Partners have undertaken to establish a Democratic
Governance Facility (DGF). These partners are: Austria, Denmark, the European Union Delegation,
Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
This facility will harmonise support to selected public institutions and civil society organisations with a
particular emphasis on the latter.
The objectives of the DGF are as follows:
Development objective
(goal):
Equitable growth, poverty reduction, rule of law and long-term
stability in Uganda.
Intermediate objective
(purpose):
Strengthened democratisation, protection of human rights, access
to justice, peaceful co-existence and improved accountability in
Uganda.
The DGF will address the governance challenges identified through three separate but interlinked
programme components:
Component 1: Deepening Democracy
The objective of the DGF Component 1: Deepening Democracy is “More pluralistic, representative and
accountable governance based on democratic values, institutions and processes in Uganda. The
component includes three inter-linked and mutually supportive sub-components. While addressing
some of the key challenges in the way Uganda’s political governance currently operates, the issues
addressed, focus on areas where externally supported interventions are both desirable and feasible:
Sub-component 1: Political Responsiveness and Accountability aims at making elected leaders more
responsive to citizens’ needs and concerns and increasingly hold them accountable for their
performance in office.
Sub-component2: Democratic Culture, Space and Values focuses on interventions aimed at making
politics more pluralistic and tolerant based on democratic freedoms and values, centred on policies
and issues facing Ugandans.
Sub-component 3: Integrity of Democratic Processes - Elections pursues improved integrity and
credibility of key democratic processes, particularly elections.
The goal, purpose, objectives and outputs of the component are informed by the commitments and
aspirations of GoU in a number of policy documents (NDP, APRM Programme of Action etc) and
information gathered from Ugandan resource persons specialised in national governance issues.
Component 2: Rights, Justice and Peace
The objective of the DGF Component 2: Rights, Justice and Peace is: “The people of Uganda,
especially the poor, vulnerable and women are empowered to claim their human rights, access justice
and live in peace”. The three areas are perceived as mutually reinforcing to generate an effective
response to deficits. The component has three sub-components:
Sub-component 1: Promotion and Protection of Human Rights addresses knowledge and appreciation
of rights and is intended to empower citizens, especially the vulnerable and disadvantaged, and is
a prerequisite to pursuing rights. A wide range of violations of human rights that are a
consequence of constraints in the justice delivery system can be stemmed by pursuing appropriate
interventions within this component.
Sub-component 2: Access to Justice provides avenues for pursuing rights and accessing justice
through legal aid, alternative dispute resolution, advocacy etc. Increased awareness of human
rights going hand in hand with improved access to legal aid services should ultimately result in
improved access to justice and protection of human rights. Furthermore, the pursuit and
realisation of justice for the poor and vulnerable is empowering and increases confidence and
belief in the claim of rights as well as the justice delivery mechanisms available.
Sub-component 3: Peace and Reconciliation pursues rights and access to justice aimed at
underpinning the process for transitional justice since peace cannot be achieved without justice
and justice is not achievable without peace. Both are needed to overcome poverty, increase
confidence in the rule of law, and to promote economic growth.
Component 3: Voice and Accountability
The objective of the DGF Component 3: Voice and Accountability is: “Strengthened accountability and
transparency of service providers at state and local government level”. The component focuses on the
promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights through strengthening of voice and
accountability, which in essence are about how citizens articulate their needs and concerns and
subsequently hold the state to account for fulfilling the roles that are entrusted to it by society. The
component is comprised of three sub-components:

Sub-component 1: Local Accountability Networks and Partnerships is formulated around the
support to and creation of Local Accountability Networks and Partnerships. This includes both
existing networks or individual organisations that will be engaged in demanding and advocating for
change and improvements at the local and sub-national levels.

Sub-component 2: Improved Basic Service Delivery to Poor, Vulnerable and Socially Excluded
Groups in Northern Uganda and other Areas with Poor and Excluded Groups aims at improving the
delivery of basic services, but with a particular focus upon Northern Uganda. Using the GoU’s own
Peace, Recovery and Development Programme (PRDP) as a starting point, the sub-component
intends to geographically target vulnerable groups in areas of extreme poverty – in this case
Karamoja and Acholi Districts – in a specific effort to focus upon holding service providers in some
of the poorest areas of Uganda, accountable to citizens.

Sub-component 3: Harnessing Natural Resources for Better Service Delivery tackles the issue of
accountability in the extraction of natural resources, and will be focused on oil governance issues
at the start-up of the DGF. This will deal with accountability issues; translating oil incomes into
better services, better quality of life and better economic opportunities. Also it will deal with issues
around community conflicts, land ownership and understanding of rights, obligations and
responsibilities.
A human rights based approach will facilitate the mainstreaming of cross-cutting issues into the DGF,
among them gender mainstreaming and others.
The Democratic Governance Facility will operate from 1 July 2011 to 31 December 2016, during which
time programme partners will be selected and proposals will be considered.