A&E Services to Support the Northern Uganda Development of Enhanced Local Governance, Infrastructure and Livelihoods (NUDEIL) Follow-on Award

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated school closures exacerbated challenges faced by Uganda's Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) and the District Local Governments (DLGs) to provide quality infrastructure and uninterrupted education for children in this region. An example is the Aparanga Primary School in Nwoya District, which enrolls 531 students, but has seen increasing rates of school absenteeism, dropouts, and overcrowding in recent years. Since 2020, USAID Uganda's NUDEIL (Tranche IV) activity has supported infrastructure investments across seven districts through Government-to-Government (G2G) financial partnerships with the Ugandan Government. Under NUDEIL, Green Powered Technology (GPTech), alongside Ugandan A&E firm, MBW, and international firm DT Global, have supported seven DLGs including planning, engineering design, procurement, and construction services for rural infrastructure investments. In addition to providing engineering services, the GPTech team strengthens DLGs' capacity to deliver basic services to Ugandan citizens through construction management, quality assurance, and quality control services and training for all project sites; environmental compliance monitoring; and financial monitoring of DLG administrative funds. NUDEIL's 45 project sites have included the rehabilitation and expansion of infrastructure in 23 schools, repair of three rural road sections, repair of 158 boreholes and drilling of 26 new boreholes. Ten of these projects, including the Aparanga Primary School, are in Nwoya District. They include the rehabilitation and expansion of infrastructure in seven schools and the rehabilitation of 34 boreholes. To date, the rehabilitation and expansion of infrastructure in four schools and 27 boreholes have been completed. At Aparanga Primary School, the Nwoya DLG and MoLG oversaw construction of one classroom block of two classrooms and a staff room, another one classroom block of two classrooms, and five ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrines—contributing to a 133% expansion of classrooms in the school from 3 to 7 classrooms. The newly renovated Aparanga Primary school was officially handed over to the Nwoya DLG, the Aparanga Primary School teachers, and the surrounding community on July 21, 2023. At the official handover ceremony, school officials noted that the expansion and renovation of Aparanga has already started to attract some pupils from neighboring schools. Parents and guardians were sending their children to other schools because of lack of facilities, desks, and a library, but after the construction of these facilities, some pupils have changed schools and come to Aparanga Primary School so that they can study in the new structures. The addition of these facilities will significantly increase school enrollment and will hopefully lead to an increase in student health, retention, and learner performance. The renovation of Aparanga Primary School is a testament to the success of the NUDEIL project in improving infrastructure and education in Northern Uganda. The project's focus on providing quality infrastructure and strengthening DLGs' capacity to deliver basic services has had a positive impact on the lives of Ugandan citizens, particularly children. The expansion of classrooms and the inclusion of safe and dignified water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities during design or expansion of schools is critical for improving attendance, teacher retention, prevention of gender-based violence, and broader social and behavior change.