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Dev-News News Desk| East Africa. Urge- DevWire

Uganda Moves to Strengthen Evidence-Based Development Planning

KAMPALA, Uganda — 7 August 2026

Uganda is moving to strengthen the role of official statistics in national development planning, with the Ministry of Finance calling for more systematic use of reliable data in budgeting, policy formulation and monitoring of government programmes.

Finance Minister Henry Musasizi made the call during a briefing with the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) Board, where he emphasised the need for Ministries, Departments and Agencies to establish functional statistics units and improve coordination with UBOS.

The government is also constructing a new Statistics House office block in Entebbe. The facility is intended to strengthen the production, management and use of official statistics while providing space for data management, training, innovation and coordination of statistical activities.

The emphasis comes as Uganda increasingly relies on administrative data, digital systems and large-scale statistical exercises to monitor development outcomes. UBOS's 2024 National Population and Housing Census was the country's first fully digital census, while the bureau is also expanding its use of data science, big-data analytics and other technologies.

The development significance goes beyond the construction of a new government facility. Reliable statistics underpin decisions about where public resources are allocated, which communities require services and whether development programmes are producing measurable results.

For Uganda's development partners, stronger statistical systems could also improve programme coordination, monitoring and evaluation and make national data more useful for investment and policy decisions.

The immediate challenge will be ensuring that improved statistical production is matched by effective use of evidence across government, particularly at sector and local-government level.

Source: Uganda Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development / Uganda Bureau of Statistics

Dev-News Desk| East Africa. Urge- DevWire