Participatory Programs in Nnindye Face Vast Structural Inequities in Uganda's Economy
Although the aims of the SILC project in trying to empower locals to diversify their incomes and bolster food security are admirable, in a practical sense this participatory program falls short of achieving these aims because it does not address a primary cause of rural poverty in Uganda – a massive inequality of human and social capital. As both UPFORD and CRS are realizing, the program could be strengthened by including educational components or collective marketing schemes designed to counteract the imbalanced economic relationships which put rural villagers at the mercy of the trading sector.
Ineffective Use of Loans
Many of Nnindye's villagers lack the basic education, social capital, and business plans to use loans effectively. SILC members I interviewed were afraid to take a loan from their SILC group because they did not understand when, or on what terms, the loan must be paid back. Neither did most of their neighbors. Others did not have a business plan to invest in, and thus had no use for a loan. During my research I concluded that SILC groups, as community-operated initiatives, did not provide adequate training to their members about interest rates or about developing business strategies to diversify their incomes. Although SILC does introduce many rural Ugandans to the concept of saving and borrowing money, because of these the poor educations of SILC members, the program cannot effect all of its goals.
Educational Inequities
The under-utliliztion of SILC groups is part of a broader story of economic inequality in Uganda. The education system exacerbates class differences. Our internship program exposed us to both sides of this divide. Most students from Uganda Martyr's University come from well-to-do families. Living in larger homes, and raised by parents who are doctors, lawyers, or international business people, they attend strong boarding schools that serve as preparatory academies for Uganda's universities. Our research program was, for some of our research partners, an eye-opening introduction to the rural, poorer areas where most Ugandans eke out a subsistence living. In contrast to this world, the secondary school we taught at for several weeks was very humble. Students did not have proper books, and often sad idly in class when their teachers did not show up. Because teachers are so poorly paid in Uganda, many teachers treat teaching as a secondary job. Consequently, these students face considerable barriers to acquiring a university-level education.
Zuze and Leibbrandt provide statistical evidence that Uganda's schools heighten achievement gaps between socioeconomic classes. Their multivariate analysis, using data from the Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality, indicates that schools containing a greater proportion of poor students produce low test scores. This is partially because poorer schools tend to have fewer resources and be staffed by teachers who treat teaching as a secondary occupation (27). Disconcertingly, the most advanced model indicates that although school achievement is greater in schools with higher average SES, these gains are disproportionately concentrated among wealthier students. Likewise, a teacher holding multiple jobs inflicts the most harm on low SES students. This may be explained by teachers focusing their limited efforts on wealthier students whose parents might show them favor. Taken together, these results indicate that schools exacerbate academic achievement gaps between wealthier and poorer students in Uganda (27). These achievement gaps in school help drive economic inequality.
I saw evidence of this inequality in Uganda. While the rich live with western-style amenities, poor, rural schools like the one I taught at for several weeks do not prepare students for anything but eking out a subsistence livelihood. This has created an inter-generational rural poor class in Uganda. Although Thomas Friedman says the world is flat, the students I taught are completely disconnected from the internet , have few books, and are taught by "teachers" who rarely show up to school. It is no surprise that many of them don't get the education needed to barter effectively with traders from Kampala who buy their products at below-market prices, then sell them in the city or export them abroad for large profits. Of all the interviews I conducted, only two men read newspapers or listened to radio programs to learn about fair prices for their goods. The rest of the villagers were even more are impoverished of opportunity, constricted in an economic system which leaves them few realistic life options.
Dependent Economic Relationships
In light of these factors, my experience suggests that the economic plight of Uganda's rural poor is aptly characterized by Dependency Theory. Dependency Theory challenges liberal, free-market economics by asserting that imbalanced international relationships between developed and developed nations often translate into dependent economic relationships within developing countries. In countries like Uganda, rural farmers are “dependent on the consumer trading sector for jobs, consumer goods, fuel, capital, and markets” (15).
How Participatory Programs Can Address Structural Imbalance
The UPFORD program and CRS have understood these economic inequities, and are trying to address the dependent economic relationships constricting Nnindye's villagers through programs encouraging farmers to scale up or diversify their incomes. By critically analyzing the profitability of various income sources and constructing viable new business plans, villagers might increase their incomes and risk-resilience, weakening their dependence on self-interested traders. To foster this forward-thinking, UPFORD is coordinating with CRS to establish collective agricultural marketing associations among SILC groups and to roll out a plan called “4 Steps to Strong Business,” a two-week program walking villagers through the process of making a business plan. Looking towards the future, both of these organizations recognize that establishing SILC groups in rural areas like Nnidye is not enough; villagers need increased human and social capital to emerge from imbalanced economic structures.
Sustainable development initiatives should be valued for considering the goal of development projects improving the villagers' standard of living as opposed to increasing industrial activity or modern technology in a top-bottom fashion. Relying on local management, utilizing renewable resources, and aiming to identify local needs and opportunities “links local perspectives to the project design in a way that capital-intensive, externally-organized projects do not” (8,9). The result, as demonstrated by the UPFORD program, can be empowerment and real changes in livelihoods. However, participatory programs deal with a class of people that are ill-served by the Ugandan educational system and are victimized in the economy. Thus, participatory approaches that fail to account for the dependent economic relationships limiting options for the poor, however well-intentioned, could be enhanced by strengthening human and social capital through educational or business-training components. Because these unbalanced economic relationships are largely driven by educational inequalities, an obvious way to strengthen human capital and weaken dependent economic relationships in rural areas is to strengthen conventional schools. Improved rural education might even enhance results from business trainings or marketing schemes organized by NGO's or the government.
Ineffective Use of Loans
Many of Nnindye's villagers lack the basic education, social capital, and business plans to use loans effectively. SILC members I interviewed were afraid to take a loan from their SILC group because they did not understand when, or on what terms, the loan must be paid back. Neither did most of their neighbors. Others did not have a business plan to invest in, and thus had no use for a loan. During my research I concluded that SILC groups, as community-operated initiatives, did not provide adequate training to their members about interest rates or about developing business strategies to diversify their incomes. Although SILC does introduce many rural Ugandans to the concept of saving and borrowing money, because of these the poor educations of SILC members, the program cannot effect all of its goals.
Educational Inequities
The under-utliliztion of SILC groups is part of a broader story of economic inequality in Uganda. The education system exacerbates class differences. Our internship program exposed us to both sides of this divide. Most students from Uganda Martyr's University come from well-to-do families. Living in larger homes, and raised by parents who are doctors, lawyers, or international business people, they attend strong boarding schools that serve as preparatory academies for Uganda's universities. Our research program was, for some of our research partners, an eye-opening introduction to the rural, poorer areas where most Ugandans eke out a subsistence living. In contrast to this world, the secondary school we taught at for several weeks was very humble. Students did not have proper books, and often sad idly in class when their teachers did not show up. Because teachers are so poorly paid in Uganda, many teachers treat teaching as a secondary job. Consequently, these students face considerable barriers to acquiring a university-level education.
Zuze and Leibbrandt provide statistical evidence that Uganda's schools heighten achievement gaps between socioeconomic classes. Their multivariate analysis, using data from the Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality, indicates that schools containing a greater proportion of poor students produce low test scores. This is partially because poorer schools tend to have fewer resources and be staffed by teachers who treat teaching as a secondary occupation (27). Disconcertingly, the most advanced model indicates that although school achievement is greater in schools with higher average SES, these gains are disproportionately concentrated among wealthier students. Likewise, a teacher holding multiple jobs inflicts the most harm on low SES students. This may be explained by teachers focusing their limited efforts on wealthier students whose parents might show them favor. Taken together, these results indicate that schools exacerbate academic achievement gaps between wealthier and poorer students in Uganda (27). These achievement gaps in school help drive economic inequality.
I saw evidence of this inequality in Uganda. While the rich live with western-style amenities, poor, rural schools like the one I taught at for several weeks do not prepare students for anything but eking out a subsistence livelihood. This has created an inter-generational rural poor class in Uganda. Although Thomas Friedman says the world is flat, the students I taught are completely disconnected from the internet , have few books, and are taught by "teachers" who rarely show up to school. It is no surprise that many of them don't get the education needed to barter effectively with traders from Kampala who buy their products at below-market prices, then sell them in the city or export them abroad for large profits. Of all the interviews I conducted, only two men read newspapers or listened to radio programs to learn about fair prices for their goods. The rest of the villagers were even more are impoverished of opportunity, constricted in an economic system which leaves them few realistic life options.
Dependent Economic Relationships
In light of these factors, my experience suggests that the economic plight of Uganda's rural poor is aptly characterized by Dependency Theory. Dependency Theory challenges liberal, free-market economics by asserting that imbalanced international relationships between developed and developed nations often translate into dependent economic relationships within developing countries. In countries like Uganda, rural farmers are “dependent on the consumer trading sector for jobs, consumer goods, fuel, capital, and markets” (15).
How Participatory Programs Can Address Structural Imbalance
The UPFORD program and CRS have understood these economic inequities, and are trying to address the dependent economic relationships constricting Nnindye's villagers through programs encouraging farmers to scale up or diversify their incomes. By critically analyzing the profitability of various income sources and constructing viable new business plans, villagers might increase their incomes and risk-resilience, weakening their dependence on self-interested traders. To foster this forward-thinking, UPFORD is coordinating with CRS to establish collective agricultural marketing associations among SILC groups and to roll out a plan called “4 Steps to Strong Business,” a two-week program walking villagers through the process of making a business plan. Looking towards the future, both of these organizations recognize that establishing SILC groups in rural areas like Nnidye is not enough; villagers need increased human and social capital to emerge from imbalanced economic structures.
Sustainable development initiatives should be valued for considering the goal of development projects improving the villagers' standard of living as opposed to increasing industrial activity or modern technology in a top-bottom fashion. Relying on local management, utilizing renewable resources, and aiming to identify local needs and opportunities “links local perspectives to the project design in a way that capital-intensive, externally-organized projects do not” (8,9). The result, as demonstrated by the UPFORD program, can be empowerment and real changes in livelihoods. However, participatory programs deal with a class of people that are ill-served by the Ugandan educational system and are victimized in the economy. Thus, participatory approaches that fail to account for the dependent economic relationships limiting options for the poor, however well-intentioned, could be enhanced by strengthening human and social capital through educational or business-training components. Because these unbalanced economic relationships are largely driven by educational inequalities, an obvious way to strengthen human capital and weaken dependent economic relationships in rural areas is to strengthen conventional schools. Improved rural education might even enhance results from business trainings or marketing schemes organized by NGO's or the government.
Quick ideas
- SILC program is underutilized because villagers lack basic education
- This is part of a broader story of economic inequality in Uganda caused by educational inequality
- Participatory programs need to address the dependent economic relationships victimizing poor, rural villagers to achieve maximum impact