DGF I+ Democratic Governance Facility - EC Funds



Contract partner: Royal Danish Embassy - Uganda Country: Uganda Funding amount: € 6.975.000,00 Project start: 01.01.2017 End: 31.12.2017

Short Description:

Overall goal


The Democratic Governance Program (DGF) aims to improve accountable, responsive, rights-based governance in Uganda through effective citizen participation coupled with stronger institutions. This is achieved by promoting the rule of law, access to justice, accountability and transparency as well as peace and reconciliation.


Expected results


Results to be achieved include

- a citizenry that is better informed and equipped to claim its rights and participate in democratic processes,

- enhanced human rights understanding by rights holders and duty bearers with improved functioning of selected human rights institutions,

- access to legal aid services and other relevant services, and

- support provided to vulnerable population groups.

The program mainly contributes to SDG 16 (peace & justice, strong institutions), SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 1 (eradication of poverty).


Target group / Beneficiaries


Target groups are Ugandan citizens who lack access to information, effective service delivery and access to justice. These are primarily people residing in rural areas, and in particular vulnerable groups such as destitute men and women, children and prisoners. As per the Workplan and Budget for the extension phase, the DGF I+ aims to reach about 258,900 direct beneficiaries through measures such as trainings and legal aid and about 8.5 million Ugandan citizens through civic education and awareness raising activities including the use of media.

During its extension phase from July 2016 to December 2017 (DGF I+), the program provides funding to 76 implementing partner organizations and is active in 107 out of Uganda’s 112 districts, effectively covering most of the country. 81% of the DGF’s total financial commitments are allocated to Ugandan civil society organizations, 3% to international NGOs and 16% to state institutions. DGF is therefore a major funding facility for civil society addressing governance issues in Uganda.


Activities


The DGF addresses governance challenges through three separate but interlinked programme components:

(i) Deepening Democracy,

(ii) Rights, Justice and Peace, and

(iii) Voice and Accountability.

Cross-cutting policy concerns like gender equality are mainstreamed within the DGF, which also addresses thematic issues such as land rights, conflict prevention and the involvement of young women and men in governance processes.


Training measures on issues such as investigative reporting, human rights or advocacy for better service delivery by government target journalists, the youth, duty bearers (police and prison personnel) and local civil society organizations who in turn work with grassroots communities. Awareness raising activities on civic education and human rights aim to reach the broader public, e.g. trough community “barrazas” (meetings) in rural communities or radio programs. Service provision such as legal aid or measures on transitional justice target the most vulnerable groups.


Context


The Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) is a basket fund supported by eight Development Partners (Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, EU)) and managed by a Programme Management Unit that has been addressing specific governance deficits in Uganda from July 2011 to June 2016. The programme was extended for 18 months until December 2017 (Extension Phase, DGF I+). The EU delegated the management of its un-earmarked funding contribution for DGFI+ for 2017 to the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). This funding will complement ADC’s bilateral contribution to component 2 on 'Rights, Justice and Peace' of the DGF. ADA will ensure the political, technical and financial oversight of the management of the EU funds, participate in monitoring visits and in Steering Committee and Board Meetings and implement visibility measures such as the production of videos highlighting the examples of the work of DGF partner organizations.

project number 6536-00/2016
source of funding EU
sector Staatsführung & Zivilgesellschaft, allgemein
tied 0
modality Basket funds/pooled funding
marker Gender: 1, Democracy: 2, Poverty: 1
  • Policy marker: are used to identify, assess and facilitate the monitoring of activities in support of policy objectives concerning gender equality, aid to environment, participatory development/good governance, trade development and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health. Activities targeting the objectives of the Rio Conventions include the identification of biodiversity, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and desertification.
    • 1= policy is a significant objective of the activity
    • 2= policy is the principal objective of the activity
  • Donor/ source of funding: The ADA is not only implementing projects and programmes of the Austrian Development Cooperation , but also projects funded from other sources and donors such as
    • AKF - Foreign Disaster Fund of the Austrian federal government
    • BMLFUW - Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water
    • EU - Funds of the European Commission
    • Others - various other donors are listed in ADA’s annual business report.
  • Type of Aid – Aid modalities: classifies transfers from the donor to the first recipient of funds such as budget support, core contributions and pooled programmes and funds to CSOs and multilateral organisations, project-type interventions, experts and other technical assistance, scholarships and student costs in donor countries, debt relief, administrative costs and other in-donor expenditures.
  • Purpose/ sector code: classifies the specific area of the recipient’s economic or social structure, funded by a bilateral contribution.
  • Tied/Untied: Untied aid is defined as loans and grants whose proceeds are fully and freely available to finance procurement from all OECD countries and substantially all developing countries. Transactions are considered tied unless the donor has, at the time of the aid offer, clearly specified a range of countries eligible for procurement which meets the tests for “untied” aid.