EPRC e-library
April 2026
Drivers of willingness to repay Parish Revolving funds (PRF) under Uganda’s Parish Development Model: a Bayesian Latent Class Logistic Regression (LCLR) approach
This study examines the determinants of beneficiaries’ willingness to repay the Parish Revolving Fund (PRF) under Uganda’s Parish Development Model (PDM), using nation ally representative data from the 2024 EPRC PDM Survey. The study applies a Bayesian Latent Class Logistic Regression (LCLR) model to account for observed and unobserved heterogeneity in repayment behaviour. Results show significant variation in repayment willingness by gender, education, region and wealth. Financial literacy, awareness of repayment terms, larger PRF amounts and shorter disbursement periods increase repayment willingness, while long delays and low household wealth reduce it. The Bayesian model i...
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March 2026
Perceptions of doing business decline, on account of pessimistic outlook
Uganda’s Business Climate Index (BCI) declined during the quarter October–December 2025, by 25.5 index points from 125.6 to 100.1, signaling weakening business sentiments largely driven by pessimistic expectations about the near-term economic outlook. Particularly, business expectations for the January–March 2026 quarter remain subdued on account of anticipated weakened capacity utilisation, rising input costs and reduced profitability. The subdued business outlook emerged with the uncertainty that is associated with the General Election season. At the sectoral level, business sentiments across all sectors registered an improvement in the quarter under review. The industr...
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February 2026
PROCESS ASSESSMENT OF THE PARISH DEVELOPMENT MODEL (PDM) PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION IN UGANDA
The Government of Uganda (GoU) launched the Parish Development Model (PDM) in February 2022 with the objective of transitioning 3.5 million households (33 percent) from subsistence to a monetised economy. The PDM is premised on seven pillars, that is, agriculture value-chain development (Pillar 1); infrastructure and economic services (Pillar 2); financial inclusion (Pillar 3); social Services (Pillar 4); community mobilisation and mind-set change (Pillar 5); Parish-Based Management Information System (PBMIS) (Pillar 6); and governance and administration (Pillar 7). The PDM programme aims for a holistic transformation of rural livelihoods by integrating subsistence households into the money...
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February 2026
Ensuring Continuity: Succession Planning Strategies for Ugandan Family Enterprises
Family businesses are central to Uganda’s economy, contributing over 70 percent of GDP and forming the majority of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. Despite their importance, most family businesses cannot transition beyond the founding generation. This policy brief examines succession planning practices and implementation challenges among established family businesses in Uganda. The findings show that some established family businesses are adopting promising succession planning practices, including early exposure of the younger generation to the business, hands on learning across operational levels, deliberate transfer of business networks, and gradual formalisation of transitio...
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Forthcoming Publications
January 2026
How the gender gap in phone ownership limits women’s access to formal financial services in Uganda.
This policy brief examines how the gender gap in mobile phone ownership limits women’s access to formal financial services in Uganda. The 2023 Finscope survey reveals that while mobile phone ownership has risen to 72% nationally, a persistent and widening gender gap exists, with 80% of men owning mobile phones compared to only 64% of women. This disparity has far-reaching implications for women’s access to formal financial services. These include limited mobile money access, exclusion from the digital economy, and reduced access to credit and savings opportunities. For example, women are less likely to qualify for mobile-based loans due to limited digital transaction hi...
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April 2025
Agricultural Finance Yearbook 2024
The 2024 Agricultural Finance Yearbook, which is the thirteenth edition in the series, offers the key highlights of Uganda’s Agricultural financing environment. The theme for this edition is “Achieving sustainable financing of Agriculture leveraging Wealth Creation Funds”.
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February 2026
PROCESS ASSESSMENT OF THE PARISH DEVELOPMENT MODEL (PDM) PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION IN UGANDA
The Government of Uganda (GoU) launched the Parish Development Model (PDM) in February 2022 with the objective of transitioning 3.5 million households (33 percent) from subsistence to a monetised economy. The PDM is premised on seven pillars, that is, agriculture value-chain development (Pillar 1); infrastructure and economic services (Pillar 2); financial inclusion (Pillar 3); social Services (Pillar 4); community mobilisation and mind-set change (Pillar 5); Parish-Based Management Information System (PBMIS) (Pillar 6); and governance and administration (Pillar 7). The PDM programme aims for a holistic transformation of rural livelihoods by integrating subsistence households into the money...
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August 2023
Diabetes costs the Ugandan Government and households UGX 2.2 trillion annually
The IDF regards Uganda as one of the 48 countries with a growing diabetesrelated health issue. With a prevalence of 4.1 percent for all types of T2DM (diagnosed and undiagnosed) in Uganda in 2019, 1.69 million Ugandans have T2DM. It is costly to manage and treat T2DM. The brief highlights that in 2022, diagnosed T2DM management and treatment cost the government and households a total of UGX 2.2 trillion, the burden falling more on households. Oral drugs and OPD consultations were the key cost drivers for treating T2DM without complications. At the same time, diabetic eye treatment of laser and cataract type, haemodialysis, and strokes drove the high costs of T2DM-related com...
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August 2016
Early Childhood Development in Uganda’s Education Sector
The first pathway from ECD to human capital development is through education. Uganda recognizes pre-primary education as the first step to education in the 2008 Pre-Primary, Primary and Post Primary Education Act. Owing to the fact that this act did not provide a consolidated approach to ECD, the country has recently developed and launched a National Integrated Early Childhood Development (NIECD) policy. This was indeed a significant effort towards enhancing ECD. The mission of the policy is to ensure equitable access to quality and relevant ECD services for holistic development of all Children from conception to 8 years. Apart from improving the policy environment, what progress...
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March 2019
State of Uganda’s Maize Industry
Maize is one of the most important cereal crops in Uganda. It is part of the 12 agricultural commodities that Government considers to have the potential to remarkably contribute to increasing rural incomes and improving livelihoods, and food and nutrition security.1 Maize doubles both as a cash and food crop for most smallholder farmers. In addition, it is a major ingredient in poultry and livestock feeds. In terms of food and nutrition security, maize compares favourably with root and tuber crops as an energy source because it contains large quantities of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and fats in the kernels.
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