Challenges facing public policy implementation in areas of insurgency and displaced people: A case study of Northern Uganda Reconstruction Program (1992-1999) in Gulu District

Abstract

Public policy formulation is a very significant stage in the course of public policy development and success. For the policy to be realistic and workable, its design should carry the content, which makes it possible for the planned policy to be implemented. When identify the implementation inadequacies, the questions that one needs to bear in mind, is the course of the implementation failure. Northern Uganda reconstruction programme (NURP I) brings across the message of the importance of public policy formulation or design. There is need to dig deep in the public policy and identify the factors that are responsible for challenging public policy formulation. NURP I as a public policy was affected so much because of its design and approach.

The project objectives appear very complex. It was understood that the special situation in the North required a multi-track effort. The challenge was not only to build infrastructure but to increase the potential for sustained security in an area which had become socially and economically isolated. In designing a policy to suit the prevailing conditions of war, in Northern Uganda, considerations would have been made to adapt the emergency rehabilitation of infrastructure affected by the war, rather than aiming at medium term reconstruction and capacity building. It is noticed that insecurity was a problem from the start (during designing) and it remained a problem throughout implementation.

It should also be noted that the approach that was used in NURP policy design greatly affected its implementation. During policy design, the people to whom the policy was to be applied were not consulted, it was not right and fair to design a policy which did not consider the immediate needs of the people. Both the designers and implementers of NURP I as a public policy were people who did not experience the life o the people in the NURP area.