The AIFYE shall also be very active in pushing for a comprehensive review of the Loan policies and practices in both governmental/international and private financial institutions like Ministries, Development Agencies and several micro-finance institutions and commercial Banks respectively. This will be aimed especially for seeking the most reliable and convenient loans for our members through acting as a guarantors, in the end promoting more investment among the youth to fight the rising levels of unemployment and increase their income levels to raise the income percapita in Uganda.
The AIFYE will work to broaden that dialogue and shall remain committed to supporting such key sources of concessional financing to its members. It shall however encourage the Banks and other Financiers to undertake fundamental reforms through consistent dialogues with them.
Relations with Other Stakeholders
While maintaining its principal focus on Entrepreneurship, poverty reduction and structural adjustment issues, the Organisation has sought to collaborate, share information and lend support and efforts to other NGOs consistent with the aims of the AIFYE. Such initiatives are deemed important to our organisational success
The AIFYE believes that this process will continuously seek where possible to lend the strongest policy support to these NGO’s and new initiatives. However, the Organisation is mindful of the fact that while building alliances is important to successful advocacy, there might be obvious differences of approaches between these organisations and AIFYE.
To this extent, the Group will reserve the right to challenge positions of other organisations that do not conform to the philosophical beliefs of the Organisation. While every effort will be made to seek out commonalities, any serious distinctions of necessity will be highlighted.
Situational Analysis
At the turn of the century, a review of the fight against poverty reveals that while there has been remarkable progress in some regions of the country, abject poverty persists unabated in many parts of Uganda, particularly in karamoja, parts of the central, western and eastern Uganda. While many regions have made significant headway on growth and poverty reduction, the current rate of progress is too slow to significantly improve the lives of the poor especially youth within the next 15 years or so. The gap between rich and poor is increasing, and the latest assessment undertaken by the World Bank indicates that unless current trends are reversed, the International Development Goals - including that of reducing the proportion of people in extreme poverty by 2015 - will not be met.
Concern over the current stalemate in poverty reduction has prompted an intense re-examination of Entrepreneurial development and debt strategies, involving national governments, international financial institutions and NGOs with a development motive, among others. One result was an agreement, at the September 1999 annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF, on strengthening the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative for broader, deeper and faster debt relief.
One of the outcomes of this has been a growing convergence on some fundamental principles, including:
Development is a process of societal transformation that takes place over time through Entrepreneurship.
A comprehensive approach to development and a multi-dimensional view of poverty are essential.
Faster economic growth is essential for sustained poverty reduction.
Greater participation of the poor in growth contributes to wider growth potential.
Country ownership of the goals, strategy and direction of development and poverty reduction - ownership that is shared by representative segments of society - is critical for sustainable development.
The development community as a whole must work together closely, forging strategic partnerships, rationalising programmes, and combining the relative strengths of its members.
There should be a clear focus on measurable development outcomes.
Major intended Activities
Organise a consultation of AIFYE members and associated NGOs/ networks interested in, or potentially interested in, working in entrepreneurial development, to discuss means of organising effective civil society participation in the process;
Identify credible NGO partners (networks) to serve as focal points for the mobilisation, collection and dissemination of information;
Conduct national rapid assessments of the structures and processes established for civic engagement in the PFA, areas of needed and potential improvement; and national AIFYE capacity, including national level focal points best placed for effective engagement with government and the international financial institutions;
Identify and engage Youth with appropriate capacity to play a role in stimulating engagement with their respective commercial activities and AIFYE missions.
Conduct intensive monitoring, documentation and Analysis of the PFA programs in the pilot regions agreed upon by the Evaluation team:
Assign documentation that will assist AIFYE staff in compiling and disseminating relevant materials on Entrepreneurial issues in their respective regions;
Commission and produce case studies on all regions selected based on the agreed monitoring instrument.
Information Sharing and Public Education of Lessons learnt
The AIFYE National Secretariat will establish a small three person unit with the assistance of two Programme Assistants and one Administrative Assistant, to work with Evaluation Monitoring Team, sub-regional and regional focal points in implementing the overall management of the entrepreneurial monitoring exercise, including the collection, synthesis, analysis and dissemination (in synthesis form) regional experiences and lessons learned on a regular basis;
Develop an appropriate information technology network within the National Secretariat to ensure proper recording and management of critical information emanating from the ongoing monitoring work, as well as timely dissemination of the same to the key stakeholders.
The Global Secretariat through the AIFYE will host an National Conference for key stakeholders involved in the entrepreneurial exercises to review the findings of the of the project and strengthen working practices, and develop new ones to improve in areas of deficiency.
Output Indicators
Better and more co-ordinated documentation of Poverty and social development data and the increase in use of these in national development planning.
Development of acceptable poverty related indicators to be used in the design and implementation of basic entrepreneurial practices in the pilot regions and other AIFYE designate Initiatives.
Creation of distinct instruments of measure for progress gained under skills training and to develop mechanisms for cross sectional application of the acquired skills.
Measurable input and participation of civil society to the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Poverty Reduction among the youth.
As part of (4) above, demonstrable increase in the capacity of national civil society organisation to engage local and international (Bank/Fund and government) policy makers in Entrepreneurial policy formulation processes.
Overall reduction of poverty across the national and sectoral plains as indicated from reductions in general poverty levels from specific regions engaged in AIFYE skills training and improvement in subsequent ratings of these regions in independent Socio-economic Development of Uganda.
Increased levels of investment by respective regions covered in the project in key economic indicators such as investment, healthcare, environment protection, micro business and rise in income levels.
Development of sharp and quick response mechanisms within the AIFYE National and regional secretariats in sharing emerging information on entrepreneurship with key partners in Civil Society, the banks, Government and the UN system and other international development agencies.
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