Administrative decentralization and poverty alleviation in Mbale district-Uganda

Abstract

This study delved into administrative decentralization and poverty alleviation in Bubulo, Bungokho and Mcny•iya counties, Mbale district. Specifically, the study sought to establish the role played by administrative decentralization in alleviating poverty in the above-mentioned counties and to what extents are administrative decentralization being achieved in the three counties above to alleviate pove1iy. Data was collected from three counties (Bubulo, Bungokho and Manjiya) in Mbale district, which were randomly selected to represent the views of the different respondents such as civil servant of the local government, local administrators and policy implementers and area residents. Among these varied respondents, local administrators, policy implementers and some civil servants of the local government responded to a questionnaire and area residents and some civil servant of the local government were interviewed. The findings were that administrative decentralization impacted positively on pove1iy alleviation in Bubulo, Bungokho and Manjiya counties, Mbale district especially on life expectancy, adult literacy and income but not to the required standard when it comes to safe drinking water and nutrition. However, due to administrative decentralization, the quality of safe drinking water and nutrition improved as compared to the previous centralized system of governance.It was, therefore, concluded that administrative decentralization yielded positive results on poverty alleviation in Bubulo, Bungokho and Manjiya counties, Mbale district but corruption was a hindrance to a better result though corruption was minimized since the introduction of administrative decentralization. Therefore, corruption needs to be combated to improve the positive impact of administrative decentralization on poverty alleviation.