Impacts of Debt Cancellation on Uganda

A2 Geography

What benefits?

• Spending on Public Services has risen by 20%

• 40% extra on Education• 70% increase in Healthcare• Abolition of fees on basic health care• Free Primary Schooling• Enrolment rate increased from 62% to

93% for girls and 94% for boys• Girls and boys numbers almost even

• 2.2 million people (10%) have gained access to clean water

• Fetching clean water was often women's and girls work one of the reasons they did not go to school

Significance of Educating Girls

• Education is the path to independence and greater prosperity

• Primary schooling ratio is 1:1• By age 11 it is 1:2• By 16 upto as high as 1:10• Girls marry as young as 13 or 14 and have

children shortly after• Ugandan fertility is 6.8• Women are the poorest Ugandans• Work as landless labourers

• Have little control of their earnings• Return to work after giving birth Maternal

mortality is high• Unhealthy mothers have babies more

likely to die in their first five years

Education In Uganda

• Investment in education for girls can have a large impact

• Often defer marriage• Fertility rates therefore fall among

professional women• Educated women are more likely to select

a career, work in that career before marriage and children

• Infant mortality rates amongst Ugandan women are almost as low as in many developed countries

Ugandan Economy in focus

• The Ugandan economy grew an impressive 7 per cent in 2008

• Growth has been led by the service and industrial sectors, while agriculture has stagnated

• The global downturn threatens the Ugandan financial system, dampens demand for exports and reduces remittances from abroad

• As a consequence of these shocks, growth is expected to slow to 5.6 per cent in 2009 before recovering to 6.1 per cent in 2010

• High fuel and food prices pushed inflation up to an estimated 12 per cent in 2008

• The government is pressing ahead with a five year National Development Plan (NDP) focusing on infrastructure and agricultural development

• in a bid to increase exports and remove constraints to further growth

• Uganda continues to be a leader in social progress in Africa with poverty reduction and improvements in health and education

Growth in GDP