Legislators under the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on SocialProtection (UPFSP) have implored the government to consider establishment of a National Child Disability Benefit (NCDB), a social protection measure aimed at protecting Children With Disabilities (CWDs).
According to the legislators, there is need to expand support to vulnerable population categories beyond older persons and children with disabilities are an important category to start with. A child disability benefit will provide regular income transfers with the purpose of supporting families to meet the basic needs of children with Disabilities (CWDs).
Speaking during the Social Protection National Dialogue 2024 that was held on Tuesday at the Kampala Serena Hotel, Flavia Rwabuhoro Kabahenda, UPFSP’S chairperson disclosed that: “a NCDB will be a critical tool for supporting CWDs and their care-takers to manage shocks, build resilient livelihoods and increase investment in their future human capital”.
Kabahenda explained many households are unable to make sufficient investment in the proper nutrition, healthcare and education of their children with disabilities. This leaves irreversible damage to the long-term development and productivity as adults.
She called on government to set a firm foundation in social protection policy, programs and systems to address vulnerability and enhance income security adding that“ Further investment in social protection is needed to foster a more inclusive and faster socio-economic transformation in line with Vision 2040,”
Kabahenda ( Kyegegwa district woman MP) was addressing representatives from Ministries Departments and Agencies such as National Planning Authority(NPA), Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development officials, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, District Local Governments, Civil Society Organizations, academia and development partners. The dialogue, a close-out event of a month long social protection advocacy campaign was organised under the theme, “Social Protection as an enabler for Human Capital Development”
“ Let us be honest, fellow leaders, our work is far from complete. Funding for social protection remains inadequate. The truth is, if we are serious about achieving Vision 2040 and the goals of NDP III, we must invest more in social protection. It is not enough to plan, we must allocate resources and ensure the timely release of funds to the programs that matter.” Kabahenda pointed out
According to the recently released World Social Protection Report (2024) by the International Labour Organisation, Uganda has just about 3.2% of the population covered under some form of Social Protection. The country also only currently invests 0.7% of GDP to social protection compared to 2.0% of GDP Expenditure of sub-saharan African countries. We cannot talk about transforming Uganda’s economy and leaving no one behind when only 3.1% of our population is covered by a social protection benefit. This is one of the lowest in region compared to neighbours such as Kenya (1.4%), Tanzania (2.5%) and Rwanda (1.3%).
“It is time to prioritize Social Protection in Budgeting because it is a major development intervention which directly reduces poverty, supports excluded citizens to access services, provides a foundation to build productive livelihoods that enables citizens to live a life of security and dignity.” Kabahenda emphasised.
According to a 2024 report by the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) on the establishment of a child disability benefit, currently, Uganda does not offer any national social protection benefits to either children generally or children with disabilities (CWDs).
The report using cases from other countries and similar programmes currently implemented in Uganda such as the NutriCash programme in the refugee hosting districts of West Nile, it proposed sh50,000 as a reasonable benefit level for those assessed with mild disability while those with very severe disabilities at sh150,000.
| Target group | Purpose of benefit | Benefit level |
| Children with mild disability. | Cover additional cost of disability. | UGX 50,000 |
| Children with severe disability. | Cover additional cost of disability. | UGX 100,000 |
| Children with very severe disability. | Income replacement. | UGX 150,000 |
Shortfalls in existing programmes
In an interview With New Vision, Alex Ndeezi MP for PWDs( Central regional ) said the National Special Grant for PWDS continues to suffer budget shortfalls. From Sh16.6bn in the last financial year, the budget to grant was slashed by half to 8.3bn. This therefore affects the number of beneficiaries to be covered in this financial year (2024/2025).
“This is the main program with specific focus on PWDS as a vulnerable group in society. Many PWDs are not benefiting from PDM,emyooga, NAADS because of stigmatization and discriminatory attitudes of the officials managing these programs” he noted.
According to Ndeezi, the Child Disability benefit will go a long way in protecting children. Most mothers of children with severe disabilities are often abandoned by the fathers and are unable to take care of the children especially those with severe disabilities.
While officiating at the function, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Developpment, Betty Amongi re-echoed gov’t’s commitment to improve the livelihood of Ugandans and indeed expand social protection coverage.
“What I would like you to help me with is on how do we ensure support and prioritization of social protection issues in the national budget. Equally, important, beyond just availability, social protection should be accessible to all without discrimination.” Amongi noted.
In her remarks, the Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Ireland, Jill Clements, noted that programs such as the Senior Citizens Grant currently reaching thousands of older persons in Uganda is a major milestone for the country.
“Looking ahead, we must intensify our investment in social protection systems. Particularly crucial is the capacity building of local government staff who are at the front line implementers of social protection,” she noted.
The Social Protection Month and National Dialogue is an annual event organized by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development together with the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection.