Influencing Budgets- 'Kasaala village gets a new borehole'

By February 2012, Kasaala Village had one borehole which was serving more than 320 families. “In a dry season, women and girls who usually fetch water would take around 5 hours to get water. This used to put them at the risk of danger and many  would spend longer hours away from home”, says Mrs. Kivumbi Justine a VBC Member and Secretary.

VBC Members during a Budget Planning Meeting At Kyegombwa P. S in Feb 2012

 

In February 2012, the Village Budget Clubs organized a participatory budget planning meeting with officials from Luweero Sub County to present their priority issues for inclusion in the district budget for the financial year 2012/2013. This participatory budget planning meeting was part of the Local government Budget Planning meeting that feeds into the Sub County and District Budget priorities. Constructing a second borehole was among the priority issues the community presented and after this meeting, the Community kept on following up with the Sub County and district to assess whether their budget proposals had been considered for incorporation in the district budget.

As part of their follow up, the Chairperson Kasaala VBC and 2 members visited the sub county in January 2013, they were asked to make a co-fund of 150,000/= to the construction of the bore hole. This money was mobilized from the communities and submitted to the sub county chief. The community in March 2013 received the good news that a new borehole was constructed in Kasaala village to lessen the burdens of accessing clean and safe water.

A Resident of Kasaala Village Showing the recently Dug borehole as a result of the VBC engagements. March, 2013.

 Change does not come overnight especially when it comes to budgeting with government. For the Community of Kasaala to get a borehole, the engagement did not start yesterday. It started in the beginning of 2012 and now the bore hole has been dug in March 2013. Therefore, change deserves protracted efforts to be achieved.  The VBCs acknowledge, this success would not have been realized had they not involved the Kasaala community members, the sub county leadership including the community development officer, the Parish Chief and LC1 chairperson of Kasaala.  The other factor they attribute this success to is the fact that they had done their research which equipped them with facts for this mission. “The VBCs made research before engaging the Sub County on the priorities they want. They came up with evidence which obligated the Sub County to provide a bore hole to Kasaala village, stated the Luwero FOWODE Field Officer.

Despite such successes, the VBCs have face major challenges in their work of influencing budgets and monitoring service delivery. In some cases, they are perceived as saboteurs other than budget change agents by the duty bearers. Such attitude tends to de-motivate members although many are consistent on their issues which has helped them to sustain their budget advocacy efforts.

It is important, for all parishes, districts and sub counties to know that this achievement did not come over night and that great change deserves protracted efforts to be achieved. The VBCs recommended that FOWODE find out, through research, how many parishes in over 13 sub counties are mobilized to take part in participatory budget planning meetings as they have found them to be very productive to these communities. They help them identifying their needs and prioritize them as the Government Policy Planning and Budgeting requires.