It has been a pleasure to be welcomed at the farm of one of the beneficiaries of the MicroScale IrrigationProgram. One can see how much he has been growing and the benefits of the irrigation, which will allowhim to continue through the dry season.
There are cabbages, passion fruits and also the mobile solarpanels and the borehole pump. It is wonderful to see the fruition of the Micro Scale Irrigation. We haveheard that there has been generation of interest from other farmers in the locality. There has beenincreased demand for similar kinds of grants and support. It is an exciting beginning.
We are excited that we are linking issues around upstream financing, systems and capacities to make adifference on the ground – with citizens, farmers and children in schools and so on. In many ways, UGIFT is spearheading the kind of program and project that the bank isexpanding into rapidly.
Uganda has a long experience of decentralized local government on which itbuilds. We see it being applied in a very large scale in the context of this program to push forward theservice delivery, education, health, micro scale irrigation and water. The decentralized government is alsobuilding the systems, the capacities at local government, but also building the intergovernmental fiscal transfer system as well.
Many countries are looking to this because it is what governments are seeking todo and what citizens are seeking from their governments. We are excited that we are linking issues aroundupstream financing, systems and capacities to make a difference on the ground – with citizens, farmersand children in schools and so on.
There are two things I will point to for the fulfilment of the program’s strategic objectives; first – theimportance of continuing the recurring cost financing alongside the investments we are seeing, to ensurethat the real value of the investments is achieved.
We know that that is something the Ministry of Financeand the Government strive to attain and we continue to engage and support to ensure that’s the case.
Second thing is the involvement of citizens in the different communities. We have good examples of thedemonstration case. It is an important thing to ensure accountability, ownership and the sustainability ofthese kinds ofinvestments.
