The Governance of Non-Governmental Organizations in Uganda

Using original survey data, we document the activities, resources, and governance structure of NGOs operating in Uganda. The NGO sector is funded primarily by international non-governmental organizations and bilateral donors. We …nd large di¤erences in size and funding across NGOs, with only a few NGOs attracting most of the funding. Most NGOs are small and underfunded and focus on raising awareness and advocacy. Few NGOs are faith-based. Most screening and monitoring is done by grant agencies. Some monitoring is also done internally by members and trustees. Little monitoring is done by government. NGOs do not …le an income tax returns and few respondents are able to provide coherent …nancial accounts. We thank to the World Bank and the Japanese government for funding this research. We also would like to thank Professor Sam Tulya-Muhika, Kintu Nyago, and their team of enumerators for assisting with data collection. We are grateful to Peter Ssentongo from the O¢ ce of the Prime Minister and Mary Bitekerezo from the Kampala World Bank o¢ ce for their assistance and comments. Many thanks go to Nikos Evangelou for his very valuable assistance and support when piloting the survey. yDepartment of Economics, University of Oxford, Manor Road, Oxford OX1 3UQ. Email: abigail:barr@economics:ox:ac:uk. Fax: +44(0)1865-281447. zDepartment of Economics, University of Oxford, Manor Road, Oxford OX1 3UQ. Email: marcel:fafchamps@economics:ox:ac:uk. Fax: +44(0)1865-281447. Tel: +44(0)1865-281446. xSchool of Economics, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD. Email: [email protected]. Fax: +44(0)115-9514159. Tel: +44(0)115-9515477.