Wealth Creation for All by President Museveni
In efforts geared towards liberating Ugandans from ” ekida kyonka” (working only for the stomach) to the money economy, President Museveni has continuously emphasized the importance of wealth creation for all citizens, and he has implemented several initiatives to achieve this goal, including the Presidential Initiative on Wealth and Job Creation, also known as the “Emyooga” program, and the Parish Development Model (PDM) a program pushing for prosperity for all.
The Presidential Initiative on Wealth and Job creation (Emyooga) was launched as part of the broad government strategy targeting to transform 68% of homesteads from subsistence to market-oriented production with the overall objective of promoting job creation and improving household incomes.
The Emyooga initiative is centered on various 18 categories/enterprises/Emyooga covering majority of the financially excluded Ugandans engaged in similar specialized enterprise categories, these include; market vendors, welders, taxi drivers, carpenters, boda-boda riders, women, performing artists and restaurant owners who come together in the form of Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies (SACCOs).
The Parish Development Model PDM, on the other hand, is a community-driven development program that focuses on creating wealth and improving the livelihoods of citizens at the grassroot/Parish Level. The PDM has seven pillars: Agricultural (production, Storage, Processing and marketing); Infrastructure and Economic Services; Financial Inclusion; Social services; Mindset Change and community mobilization; Parish Based Management Information System PBMIS; and Governance and administration.
The PDM is a strategy by Government to deliver services closer to the people. It is an extension of the whole of government approach to development under NDPIII with the parish as the lowest unit for planning, budgeting, delivery of interventions for socio-economic transformation.
The PDM will deepen the decentralization process, improve household incomes, enable inclusive, sustainable, balanced and equitable socio-economic transformation and increase accountability at local levels. PDM SACCO beneficiaries from around the country have been trained and prepared to start utilizing Parish revolving fund and several households have so far received 1 million Uganda shillings Cash each.
Both initiatives aim to address poverty and unemployment in Uganda, and to promote economic growth and development through targeted interventions. President Museveni has emphasized that these programs are critical to achieving the goal of creating wealth for all, and continues to urge citizens to take advantage of the opportunities provided by these initiatives to improve their lives and contribute to the development of their communities and the socioeconomic transformation of Uganda.
