Background

The Government of Uganda (GoU) with the support of the Danish International DevelopmentAgency (Danida) and the British Department for International Development (DFID) has completed a strategic and operational framework for modernisation of agriculture. The overarching objective of the PMA is poverty eradication through agricultural transformation to improve the natural resource based livelihoods of the poor in a sustainable way both economically and from the point of view of the environment. The PMA was designed through a wide stakeholder participatory and consultative process. Building on the perspectives of poor farmers, the PMA spells out the vision and mission for the agriculture sector, the roles of keystakeholders (public, private, civil society and donors) and the priority areas for pubic sector investments in the agricultural sector.

The implementation of the PMA will involve policy decisions and resource allocations to ensure that the agreed actions are implemented on time and appropriately sequenced. All programmes will have to be aligned to the PMA principles and objectives. This will demand that some of the existing programmes will need to be re-aligned. Donors will be expected to support PMA based programmes jointly through budget support mechanisms or other modalities as appropriate.

The implementation of the PMA, therefore will require the guidance of a multi-sectoral planning and financing forum (PMA Forum) with an executive Steering Committee (PMA SC) The terms of reference for the PMA SC are defined below.

Terms of Reference (TOR)

The terms of reference for the PMASC will be:

• To provide advocacy, policy harmonisation and management support for the implementation of the PMA and to maintain a high profile for the PMA as a national,
• multi-sectoral poverty eradication strategy under the PEAP
• To mobilise adequate funding for the PMA from the central and local government budgets and from the donor community
• To ensure that all programmes are aligned with the PMA principles and objectives by setting minimum standards and providing an incentives and sanctions framework
• To ensure that those PMA agencies supporting farmers and traders to implement the PMA do so in a timely and effective manner and maintain a poverty focus in their activities
• To ensure that key stakeholders, especially the civil society effectively participate in the PMA dialogue and implementation
• Based on research and statistics, monitor and make adjustments in the PMA implementation to ensure achievement of the objectives
• To provide a mechanism for addressing cross-cutting multi- sectoral issues (gender, environment, etc) and ensure timely resolution of constraints
• To approve the workplans and budget of the PMA Secretariat, the PMA Forum, to take any steps that are required to ensure the effective in plantation of the PMA and to report to the Government on PMA implementation through the Ministry responsible for economic planning.

Modalities

(i) The PMASC will be appointed by the Minister responsible for planning who will determine the terms and conditions under which they will serve

(II) The membership will be limited to about 20 people to facilitate discussions, deliberations and minimise costs (time and facilitation)

(iii) The following key stakeholders should be represented as shown below:

• Central Government,
• Local Governments (Districts and Urban),
• The Private Sector (Processors, Traders and Exporters, Micro Finance Institutions),
• Civil Society (Farmer Organisations, NGOs, CBOs and Media), and
• Development Partners.

(iv) Government ministries shall be represented by the Permanent Secretary of the respective Ministry or on occasions by his /her nominee

(v) Local Government representatives shall be Chairmen of LCV Councils or Chairman of an Urban Authority and in the absence of a member, representation should be by another Chairman of LCV Council or Urban Authority, respectively

(vi) Private sector and civil society interests should have membership through the national level representative body of a relevant stakeholder category in the agricultural sector

(vii) An institutional representative of the private sector or civil society should be the most senior official or chief executive of his/her organisation, or a nominee capable of representing a particular category of stakeholders

(viii) Where there is a broad category of stakeholders, e.g. private sector and civil society associations that desire to join the PMASC, the practice of rotating membership on a 1or 2 year term should be used

(ix) A new representative of the private sector, civil society or Donors will have to be vetted by the PMASC before formal appointment by the Minister responsible for Planning

(x) The meetings of the PMASC will be held at least monthly while meetings of the PMA Forum will be held quarterly

(xi) The PMA SC will be provided with a budget to support its activities including contracting studies to provide information for policy formulation and the operations of the Technical Committee

(xii) The PMASC will establish adhoc sectoral or specialized committees to facilitate it's work

(xiii) Donors will be encouraged to support the PMA implementation through a "basket"funding mechanism to enable the PMASC to allocate resources to priority activities in a timely manner.