Citizens and access to information in Uganda
17 May 2017
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| Learning and Evaluation
In Quarter 3 of 2016, Twaweza East Africa commissioned a research company in Uganda to gather feedback on a number of our areas of work, through a nationally representative “omnibus” survey. The survey consists of face to face interviews with randomly selected respondents, aged 18 or over, using a semi-structured questionnaire administered through smart phones.
In this brief, we summarize the findings on items related to access to information, focusing on interest and demand from citizens, and citizen perceptions of the transparency of local services and local government. The key highlights from the research include:
- Ugandans profess to be interested in local government information, particularly on expenditures on local services (47%) and availability of local jobs (14%). They also say that the best way to receive this information would be via radio (63%) or via community meetings (25%).
- On the other hand, the majority of Ugandans would not be able to find basic government information today: over 85% could not find information on education, agriculture or local budgets; 36% say they could find information on local construction plans. By far the most common reason given for not finding this information was simply not knowing where to look or who to ask (45%).
- Less than half Ugandans believe they currently have influence over local government decisions (45%) or over local services (39%).
- Similarly, less than half believe that local governments (34%) and services (42%) are currently transparent.
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