Applying CLA to Increase Private Sector Participation in Local Governance in Uganda

This case study describes how the Governance, Accountability, Participation and Performance (GAPP) Program, with funding from USAID and DFID, used a CLA approach to increase effective private sector participation in local governance in Uganda. It takes place in a highly profit driven sector in the country, where time is money. It covers the period 2012 when the GAPP Program was designed, to 2018, just a year before the Program closes. A CLA approach was desirable because it was already embedded with the program design and we needed to see it at work. The challenge that this case addressed was how to interest the private sector in issues of local governance so that it can participate more in improving service delivery. At the onset of the GAPP Program, the methodology that had been designed for this intervention was not readily applicable, forcing the team to devise other means of getting the private sector on board. This is when the CLA approach was put to test. Several notable results were achieved which include meaningful engagements between the private sector and their respective local government leaders. These engagements further resulted into more friendlier business environment in terms of hygiene, security, more affordable levies and increased local revenue mobilized. External Collaboration, Scenario Planning, Pause and Reflect, Continuous Learning and Improvement and Decision Making were major CLA ingredients in increasing private sector engagement in local governance processes. The lessons learned during the process of addressing this challenge will be useful in informing similar interventions in the future.