After nearly 20 years of continuous conflict in Northern Uganda, the Government of Uganda has formulated a Comprehensive Development Framework, the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP), the initiation of which was launched by H.E. the President in October 2007. This strategy is not only a response to immediate post-conflict-specific issues, but is also to eliminate the great discrepancies in the development of the Northern and the Southern part of the country. Through the adoption of a set of coherent programmes, the Government of Uganda seeks to achieve four Strategic Objectives in harmonisation with all stakeholders of the PRDP’s implementation process. The Department for Pacification and Development in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) is in charge of the coordination of the PRDP and is spearheaded by the Undersecretary for Pacification and Development.
The government’s efforts to realise the following Strategic Objectives are testimony to its great commitment to stabilise and recover Northern Uganda:
(1) Consolidation of State Authority
(2) Rebuilding and Empowering Communities
(3) Revitalisation of the Economy
(4) Peace Building and Reconciliation
These objectives are mutually reinforcing, thereby contributing towards reaching the overall goal of the PRDP, which is to consolidate peace and security and to lay the foundation for the recovery from conflict and the promotion of development in Northern Uganda.
The Government of Uganda (GoU) embarked on a broad development agenda since the 1980s, promoting economic stabilisation and growth with a view to contributing to increasing household incomes and reducing poverty. The transformation to constitutional democracy, including the promulgation of a new constitution in 1995, decentralisation and devolution of administrative, political and financial powers to local government and more recently the reinstitution of multiparty governance, have all set the stage for local ownership of issues and solutions. Moreover, the promotion of the development agenda is viewed as a key integrative mechanism to resolving the remaining conflicts in the country while consolidating the gains that have been realised.
