government has launched the fourth phase of the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF IV) in the Lango Sub-region, targeting 481,200 people living below the poverty line with interventions aimed at improving household incomes and cushioning vulnerable families against economic shocks.
The programme will provide livelihood grants to poor households, support young people and women to establish businesses, and offer temporary employment to vulnerable community members through public infrastructure projects.
Beatrice Akello Akori, the Minister of State for Northern Uganda, said the programme should deliver lasting improvements in household incomes rather than short-term benefits that leave communities dependent on government assistance.
Speaking during the induction of local government leaders and technical officers in Lira City, Akori urged district chairpersons, mayors and technical staff to ensure that funds reach eligible beneficiaries.
“A project that its leaders do not understand cannot be defended. And a project that is not defended will be abused,” she said.
She explained that under the livelihood component, eligible members of rural enterprise groups would receive grants of approximately Shs1 million each to establish or expand income-generating activities.
Young people and women in urban areas, including Lira City, will also receive entrepreneurship training and business grants of approximately Shs1.8 million to support enterprises in the informal sector, Akori said.
The programme will further provide temporary employment to members of extremely poor households through climate-smart public works. These will include the construction and improvement of community assets such as access roads and water facilities.
Akori said participants would earn Shs6,500 per day for 46 days, translating into approximately Shs299,000 per person over the period.
“At least 40 per cent of the positions under the public works component will be reserved for women. Households unable to provide labour will receive direct support, while mothers and young children will benefit from nutritional interventions,” she added.
In the Lango Sub-region, districts including Alebtong and Otuke have been classified as vulnerable to drought. Akori said the programme would use early warning indicators to scale up public works before affected families are forced to sell productive assets or withdraw their children from school.
She added that the programme would establish a National Social Registry to help the government identify poor households and improve the targeting of social protection interventions.
Akori urged local government leaders to mobilise residents to register for national identity cards and provide accurate information to ensure that assistance reaches the intended beneficiaries.
The minister warned officials against demanding money or favours from applicants, emphasising that no one should pay to benefit from the programme.
“Anyone who asks for a fee, a favour or a card is committing fraud and must be referred to the Inspectorate of Government (IGG). Beneficiary selection should be transparent and based on established criteria rather than political affiliation or personal connections,” she said.
Charles Enyuk, a principal inspectorate officer at the Inspectorate of Government, said the institution would oversee implementation through community social accountability, corruption-risk monitoring and investigations.
He added that community volunteers would participate in oversight activities to strengthen accountability at the grassroots.
“We are going to use the STAAC approach. The TAAC approach must be mainstreamed. Community social accountability, corruption-risk monitoring and investigations are some of the innovations we are bringing into NUSAF IV implementation and other livelihood programmes. We are going to have volunteers from the communities to provide oversight,” Enyuk said.
James Ebitu, a World Bank official, said NUSAF IV was designed to reach 2.9 million beneficiaries across its target areas, with poor and vulnerable households as the primary focus.
He said lessons from previous phases of the programme had informed measures to improve beneficiary selection and minimise the risk of eligible households being excluded while undeserving individuals received assistance.
Ebitu urged local government leaders to work together to ensure communities receive accurate information about eligibility requirements, application procedures and the implementation process.
The programme is financed through a $276 million package comprising a $250 million credit from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and a $26 million grant. It is scheduled to run until December 2031.
Akori urged local government leaders to integrate the programme into their work plans and budgets, saying its success would ultimately be measured by improvements in the livelihoods of participating households.
“We should not be showing signposts only, but we should see cars, we should see coffee gardens, we should see people moving away from grass-thatched houses,” she said.