The National Resistance Movement (NRM) has declared a renewed and intensified focus on eradicating poverty across Uganda, with President Yoweri Museveni stating the dual objective is to “secure the gains” already made while driving the nation towards a higher middle-income status.
The announcement was made by President Museveni, who also chairs the ruling party, during his keynote address at the opening of the 4th National Conference of the NRM at Kololo Independence Grounds on Monday, 25th August 2025.
The President’s commitment comes on the heels of a significant international endorsement. In March 2024, the United Nations officially announced that Uganda had attained lower-middle-income status. This milestone was awarded following documented, significant improvements in key development indicators, including health outcomes, education access, and per capita income levels, all reflected in the country’s ascending Human Development Index.
The President overly emphasized that economic growth must be felt in the households of all Ugandans, from the cities to the smallest villages. He outlined that the party’s strategy would build upon existing frameworks, with a particular emphasis on the successful implementation of the Parish Development Model (PDM).
The PDM is the government’s latest and most ambitious poverty alleviation strategy, designed to accelerate wealth creation by moving the last 39% of subsistence households in rural parishes into the money economy.
This renewed vow is part of a long scale of government-led initiatives. Since taking power in 1986, the NRM government has implemented a series of poverty alleviation programmes. The journey began with the comprehensive Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) launched in 1997.
This was followed by a succession of schemes, including the early Rural Farmers Scheme and Entandikwa credit initiative. Later, programmes like the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) and Prosperity for All (BonnaBagaggawale) were rolled out. More targeted initiatives such as the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP), the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP), and the Emyooga fund have also been deployed to empower specific groups.
The Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) programme, led by the army, was later introduced to revitalize agricultural production by directly supplying inputs to farmers. The government now pins its hopes on the Parish Development Model as the central mechanism to consolidate these efforts and deliver a final, decisive push against household poverty.
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