Uganda Human Development Report 2015

2016 Awards for Excellence in Human Developing Reporting Awardee

This report is about unlocking the development potential of the northern part of the country that is recovering from 20 years of violent civil war. The report shows what is possible when working in a challenging region. This report generated baseline data on the region and its human development challenges. And it has had a tangible impact, already shaping government and development partners’ policies and programming. The report has also influenced the National Poverty Reduction Strategy for the region.

Abstract

The Uganda Human Development Report 2015 (2015 UHDR) focuses on development in Northern Uganda, broadly defined as the region covered by the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP). The report applies one dominant notion of post conflict research - that is, restarting the engines of growth. This notion is applied to examine the abundant development opportunities, and the unique challenges associated with unlocking the economic potential of the PRDP region using the UNDP-inspired lens of human development. The underlying premise as stipulated by Amartya Sen is that development is not just about investments as we regard them (for instance infrastructure), important as they are. Nor is it about growth per se. Development is fundamentally about people and their wellbeing.