Assessing the effect of planning and budgeting in equitable distribution of resources among the males and the females: case study Amuru district in Northern Uganda

Abstract

Planning and budgeting is one of the strategies adopted by government of Uganda to address inequitable resource distribution among males, females and other interest groups such as persons with disabilities (PWDs), people living in hard to reach areas and children in order to promote equitable development. However, up to date, government has not been able to considerably realize the impact intended to have been achieved from the adaptation of the 1993 decentralized planning. The researcher sought to understand the gaps and to achieve the purpose of the study by use of three specific objectives, objectives are: To ascertain the nature of planning and budgeting in Amuru District; To establish the gender responsiveness of district and Sub-counties development plans; and to examine the challenges related to planning and budgeting in regards to equitable distribution of services in Amuru District. The research will benefit the researcher, civil society Organizations, higher and lower governments and specifically the community of Amuru District. The researcher used descriptive survey research based on qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to get a better insight of the study. The population of the study was 370 and random sampling technique was used to pick all the 215 respondents. The researcher used SPSS software application in order to process the data. Mean standard deviation and percentages was used for data analysis. The relationship between the variables was established by use of spearman’s correlations. In the finding, it was established that Amuru District Local Government have the following planning and budgeting policies; Participatory planning guide, the Uganda Gender Policy, Local government performance guidelines among others. The research findings indicate that there is minimal effect of planning and budgeting in equitable resource distribution among the males and females mainly due to poor mobilization, inadequate funding and lack of adherence to laws and policies in guiding planning processes and resource allocations. The study recommended for increase in IPF to the department of community services, strengthening participation of women in planning and that the district should continue building capacity of its staff in the different departments and different disciplines to improve on the delivery of gender related priorities.