In 1981, the Government of Uganda (GOU) and the ILO launched the Labour Intensive Special Public Works Programme. This led to a number of field projects being carried out, whereby it became increasingly apparent that a more consistent policy approach was required. The GOU's Poverty Eradication Action Plan for instance, explicitly recommends the use of labour-based methods in its strategy for both economic and social development. The strategy, supported by a large number of influential donors, emphasises economic growth, decentralised government and privatisation for a number of sectors.
This led to the eventual establishment of an inter-ministerial committee called LAPPCOM (Labour-based Policy Promotion Committee), supported under the present project by ILO with financial assistance of DANIDA and GOU.
The objective of LAPPCOM is to contribute to the Government's efforts to promote employment generation, poverty reduction and economic development. The main tasks are to formulate a comprehensive labour-based policy for public investments, as well as to initiate and coordinate capacity building activities for implementation of this policy.
With the project coming to a close in the beginning of 2001, the present final and independent evaluation has been organised.