The Local Government Councils Scorecard Initiative (LGCSCI) is a social accountability initiative that seeks to deepen local governance by strengthening political accountability of elected local leaders and citizens’ demand for excellence in the provision of service delivery by their local governments. LGCSCI was launched in 2009 in 10 districts and currently covers 35 districts in Uganda. Through our partnership with the Uganda Local Governments Association (ULGA), ACODE can reach out and disseminate research findings and policy recommendations to all local governments. The conceptualization of the initiative was premised on the realization that while the decentralization policy in Uganda had registered significant social, economic and
political progress especially in terms of provision of service delivery and political participation, there were significant gaps that required urgent action. For example, while progress was recorded in the areas of universal primary education (UPE) construction of several health centres and increased financing for roads sector there were several deficiencies, which if not addressed in time, could potentially reverse the gains. The introduction of UPE resulted in increased school enrolment of children but completion rates for UPE pupils have not been impressive especially for the girl child. The health sector has also continued to experience drug stock-outs, absenteeism of health workers and poor work ethics. While the government increased funding for the roads sector, the quality of roads remained very poor across the countryThe overall goal of the scorecard project is to deepen the demand side of democracy through three major outcomes: (i) Effectiveness of citizens to demand political accountability and effective service delivery; (ii) Enhanced capacity of civil society organizations (CSO) partners to act as mediators between citizens and Local Government councils to improve service delivery; (iii) Enhanced capacity of government to respond to citizens demands at local and central government levels.
