Strengthening Capacities for DRM and Resilience Building

Uganda has over the past few years experienced a number of disasters ranging from floods, to land and mud slides, epidemics, earthquakes, forest fires and drought which in some instances have resulted into deaths and loss of livelihoods. With the increased manifestation of negative effects related to disasters, public awareness about disasters and disaster risks, proactive engagement of different stakeholders is becoming critical. The government is refocusing attention away from response to preparedness and prevention in terms of disaster management. With number of interventions that have been put in place to address these disasters, there is increasing need to develop a comprehensive system that has the potential to track the different beneficiaries disaggregated by gender, age and location so as to fast track the impact of these interventions. The government is constantly trying to improve and develop an active mechanism for the distribution of social services and assistance to become more equitable and efficient, and ensure the widest possible coverage, down to a complete system of social protection, justice and transparency. Faced with the challenge of not only reaching beneficiaries but also tracking them, as well as leaving a long term impact is crucial. Currently, the government uses paper based beneficiary registration system which has a number of challenges including; lost paper forms, slow data entry process, data entry of multiple people causing frequent data errors, inaccurate data tracking, poor supervision of staff in the field, and missing key opportunities.