TAKING ADVANTAGE OF LOCAL CONDITIONS
Uganda has made impressive progress toward an open economy, democratic reforms, and standard of living improvements. After successful 1996 Presidential and Parliamentary elections and 1998 Local Council Elections, the government is more stable and participatory, and the country is starting to recover from decades of ethnic conflicts, an HIV/AIDs epidemic, poverty, and corruption. A major challenge is to meet the need for health care and other social services.

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Uganda is excelling in the area of education. As a result of recent innovative experiments, the nation is emerging as a leader in African education reform. For example, the US Government offered Uganda debt relief on the condition that the savings be invested in health, education, and anti-poverty programs. In response, the national educational community used those savings to defray some of the costs of primary education previously paid by families, and the Government of Uganda (GOU) increased from 55% to 61% the proportion of education resources specifically allocated to primary education. While families still must bear the cost of school uniforms and transportation, the GOU has provided free education for any four children per family under the Universal Primary Education policy. These reforms prompted state primary school enrollment to rise to 91% during 1996-97. Primary education is a top GOU priority, and recent developments indicate an intention to improve and expand access to quality secondary education as well.