Rural Accessibility Index

Assessment Phase II: Karamoja and South Western Regions, Uganda

1.1 Introduction

This project is essentially a delivery vehicle for a ‘rural accessibility assessment’ focused upon two regions of
Uganda (Karamoja and South Western). The assessment is the initiative of the World Food Program in Uganda
and UNOPS has been engaged by WFP to lead the assessment process; and as such this has been projectized by
UNOPS for its conception, implementation and delivery.

UNOPS was selected to lead this assessment due to the significant technical components of the assessment itself;
the assessment methodology’s central core is based upon the capture of physical infrastructure systems, assets
and transport network connectivity in regard to access to basic services of local populations, and their
demographics, in a geospatial analysis that relies heavily upon technical and engineering skills.

The principle of the assessment is to enable a rapid ‘technical evaluation of accessibility to basic rural services’
in two distinctly defined geographical locations. The purpose of the assessment, and its objective, is to enable
subsequent evidence-based decisions by Government that can optimise their investments into rural access from
the findings and recommendations that the assessment will produce.

1.2 Assessment Concept

The principle of the assessment concept is to conduct a rapid assessment of rural accessibility, drawn from i)
baseline data and ii) GIS field data collected by assessment teams, to enable a geospatial analysis of systems
connectivity, and local population accessibility to basic rural services. The aim of the assessment is to enable the
development a series of recommendations for the targeted improvement of the rural accessibility of local
populations to basic services.

The assessment has been initially designed for the aim of WFP to better understand the question of rural access
in terms of physical infrastructure systems and connectivity to the current key zones that they are supporting
refugees in Uganda. The first phase of the assessment has already been conducted and completed in the West
Nile region of Uganda. This second phase of the assessment will cover the regions of Karamoja and South
Western Uganda.

The concept of this second phase has been consciously focused more closely upon the integration and support
to government. The findings and lessons learned from phase 1 in West Nile demonstrated the potential benefits
and the requirement to integrate the assessment more closely with both central and local governments. In this
vein, phase 2 has placed a greater emphasis upon the concept and methodology to enable a better integration
and also the potential for a transfer of this assessment capacity to government to lead in the future.

The assessment concept is essentially a technical tool that is focused upon evidence-based analysis of physical
infrastructure systems and physical assets against local population demographics that is designed to enable
understanding of both i) (inter-) connectivity and ii) accessibility of rural populations to basic local services. This
assessment has been specifically designed to close a recurrent gap in the understanding of the relation between
the capacities of the built environment in its service delivery, or supply, to local population accessibility.
As the project is a delivery vehicle for this rural accessibility assessment, the assessment itself is being delivered
through a technical evaluation lens. The assessment has a heavy bias upon infrastructure data, systems and
geospatial analysis that is acknowledged in the concept. This is a conscious decision that has been taken in the
design of the assessment. The basis for this has been taken from the lessons learned and revision of the World
Bank’s own RAI methodology in 2016, in that they have stopped the household surveys and focused upon the
geospatial analysis as it was found to be more effective and efficient in terms of resources and clarity of outputs.

1.3 Assessment Scope and Limitations

The assessment scope for this second phase has been set at a 3-month timeframe to cover two regions of
Uganda. Karamoja and South Western regions will be the targets for this assessment phase. The assessment has
time, resource and physical limitations that will be outlined in this section. It is important to understand both
the assessment scope and its limitations, as these are the driving factors of the outputs and recommendations
that will be developed from the exercise.

1.3.1 Assessment Scope

The scope of the assessment has been set to achieve the 3 primary project objectives:

1. Conduct Rural Accessibility to Basic Services Mapping Assessment, using Rural Access Indexing
principles, in the South Western and Karamoja regions of Uganda in partnership with the Ministry of
Works and Transport (MoWT) and District Local Government (DLGs)
.
2. Provide technical assistance to the MoWT and DLGs to build their institutional capacity to conduct
accessibility mapping using Rural Access Indexing principles and in utilisation and maintenance of
evidence-based decision-making.
3. Provide specific recommendations based upon the assessment findings and analysis to inform and
enable improvements of livelihood, resilience and basic service delivery in the South West and
Karamoja regions.

“Basic Services” have been defined by the limitation of the scope of this assessment as the following 4
categories/sectors:
I. Markets and Food Distribution Points (FDP’s) - for the purposes of this assessment Markets and
FDP’s has been defined and limited to ‘Physical Structures Used as Market Places or FDP’s’
II. Schools – for the purposes of this assessment schools has been defined and limited to ‘Formal
Primary and Secondary School Structures (buildings)’.
III. Health Centres- for the purposes of this assessment health has been defined and limited to ‘Formal
Health Facility Structures (level 1 to 3 buildings)’.
IV. Water Points - for the purposes of this assessment water points has been defined and limited to
‘Physical Points of Water Sources (Central supply, Borehole, River etc.)’

In addition to the four primary Basic Services noted above, a series of secondary data sources will be captured
when it is evident that they have a direct impact, or present issues, in regard to accessibility. These will include:
communications (network coverage), waste management, livelihoods, and other visible physical elements that
are evident and directly impact connectivity or accessibility in rural areas.

1.3.2 Geographical Scope and Approach

The geographical scope of the assessment has been specifically set and designated by WFP Uganda. The two
regions of Karamoja and South Western Uganda that will be targeted by the assessment have clearly differing
rural profiles, dynamics and makeups. Karamoja is more remote and sparsely populated in comparison to the
greater densification and concentration that is presented in South Western Uganda. These factors have been
taken into account within the assessment scope and methodology. Whereas the profiles of the two rural regions
do differ the assessment methodology and its application will be applied consistently to both regions to have a
clear and directly comparative understanding of both regions in terms of connectivity and accessibility to basic
rural services.

1.3.2.1 Karamoja Regional Geographical Assessment Scope

The region of Karamoja consists of 7 districts as outlined in Fig: 1. The map indicates both the 7 districts and the
total regional population of 965,026 (Ref: UBOS Census 2014). The rural profile of Karamoja is that of a remote
and relatively sparsely populated region. The assessment scope for the coverage of Karamoja region will be
targeted and focused upon developing the regional understanding of i) connectivity and ii) accessibility to basic
services.

Fig: 1 Karamoja Region Assessment Zone

Overall the assessment in Karamoja will focus upon the i) regional connectivity (both internal and external
connection) and ii) accessibility of local populations to basic serviced internally within the region. The dynamics
and impact of the refugee influx in Karamoja region is more ‘diluted’ into the more sparse demographics of the
region and as such the assessment will be focused upon the complete regional accessibility question, rather than
focused upon specific habitations of refugee influxes.

To conduct the Karamoja field data collection it is planned to use 5 vehicles and a team of 8 surveyors for a
period of one month (November). The Karamoja team will liaise with local district government; United Nations
offices and operations; and local communities.

1.3.2.2 South Western Regional Geographical Assessment Scope

The region of South Western Uganda consists of 27 districts as outlined in Fig: 2. The Map indicates the 27
districts and total regional population of 9,291,171 (Ref: UBOS Census 2014). The rural profile of the South
Western region is that of a higher density and concentration of population, connectivity and basic services (in
comparison to Karamoja region).
The geographical scope of the assessment in the South Western region will be focused in detail upon the 5
districts with designated ‘habitations’ identified by WFP (Highlighted in Blue in Fig: 3) as the priority receivers
of refugee populations that are in addition to the existing resident populations. These habitations are:
Kiryandongo (266,197), Hoima (572, 986), Kyegegwa (281,637), Kamwenge (414,454) and Isingiro (486,360). The
total targeted population of the micro level accessibility assessment in the South Western region will be
2,021,634.
Fig: 2 South Western Region Assessment Zone
1.4 Structure of Project Outputs

1.4.1 Output 1: Concept and Methodology Document

This document constitutes the first of 5 key project outputs. This document is primarily focused upon the
assessment process, methodology and analytics. This will effectively underpin the recommendations that will
follow from the assessment analysis. This document will be important for those in government who wish to
engage or lead such assessments in the future.

1.4.2 Output 2: Accessibility Solutions and Recommendations Report

The accessibility solutions and recommendations (ASR) report will focus specifically upon the understanding that
findings of the assessment have developed. This document is targeted at the government prioritisation of their
objectives. It will highlight the analytical finds of the assessment, identifying root cause problems driving
accessibility and connectivity issues in the regions, and providing potential solutions and recommendations that
can positively impact rural accessibility in Karamoja and South Western regions.

1.4.3 Output 3: GIS Mapping Output Supporting Packages

This output will provide complimentary support to all of the key project outputs. The objective is to support,
clarify and enable visual representation of all project process, analysis, findings and recommendations. The GIS
mapping outputs are made through a selective analytical process that provides key information transfer and
representations drawn from the assessment process analytics. Dedicated and custom maps can be produced
from the output of the ESR onwards upon request. This capacity will be enabled to the end of the project,
scheduled for 31st December 2018.

1.4.4 Output 4: Communication and Dissemination Tools

The project will provide both communications and dissemination capacities for the delivery of the project
outputs. In addition to mapping outputs the project can provide copies of all reports, documents and
presentations. Workshops, working groups, validation meetings and project dissemination can be engaged and
delivered by the project through to 31st December 2018. Please contact the project manager if there are any
dissemination requirements or requests for the assessment project.

1.4.5 Output 5: Phase II Lessons Learned Report

From the instigation of the project a ‘Lessons Learned’ log and register has been created. In every assessment
phase and stage lessons can be captured that can enable improvement and further development of the concept,
objectives and usages. The assessment tool is ‘open source’ and can be adapted to many rural contexts. The
lessons learned register is open to partners and stakeholders to provide feedback and review of any aspect of
the project, the assessment and its usage and application. At the end of the project the lessons learned register
will be compiled and disseminated as a final project output.

1.5 The Assessment Framework

The assessment framework provides the foundation and structure for the assessment methodology, and has
been designed in accordance to the project objectives. The framework is constituted of 6-sequenced process
‘Stages’ as outlined in Fig: 4.

I. Stage 1: Baseline Creation – the initial stage in the assessment is the mapping of information
stakeholders and collation of baseline data sources. The baseline data is then processed and validated
datasets are selected and then integrated into the central assessment database to form the baseline.
II. Stage 2: Assessment Design – once the assessment has set its baseline data the assessment design is
conducted, referencing from the baseline the additional datasets that will need to be captured in the
field assessments to complete the analysis stages. This design stage is critical to maximise the efficiency
of the assessment and ensure that there will be no data gaps that can inhibit the analysis.
III. Stage 3: Field Data Collection – once the assessment design is completed the field survey teams are
trained in the use of the field data collection tools and the targeting of the field data components that
will be required. The field surveyors are structured into units composed of both engineering and GIS
skill sets. Throughout the field data collection exercise the teams will, in addition to the field collection,
verify and validate the baseline data of the assessment.
IV. Stage 4: Geospatial Analysis – As the field data collection is ongoing the datasets are streamed daily
into the central data management centre where real-time processing, quality control and first level
analysis is conducted. This first level will provide feedback and guidance to the field assessment teams
on a daily basis. Further to the first level real-time analysis, second and third level processing of the
data is conducted concurrently to form the GIS and data layers that will form the base for the geospatial
analysis and calculations of the RAI and RAI+ Basic Service indexes. The geospatial analysis will continue
through to the end of the project on 31st December 2018.
V. Stage 5: Recommendations and Solutions – The findings from the geospatial analysis will be captured
in the ‘accessibility and recommendations report’ that will develop a root cause analysis of the
accessibility findings. The findings and analysis will in turn build evidence based recommendations and
solutions that will be presented in the report.
VI. Stage 6: Government Prioritisation and Implementation – The assessment findings and
recommendations will be disseminated to the government and partners in December. It is proposed
that there be a validation meeting with the presentation of the assessment findings and
recommendations. The final stage of the assessment will be the process of government prioritisation;
setting objectives that will decide the scope and decisions required that will enable implementation of
their chosen solutions.