Event summary
This event summary documents a multi-stakeholder roundtable convened by Development Initiatives in July 2021 to examine how data, statistics and evidence were used to target Covid-19 relief in Uganda during the second wave of the pandemic. The discussion focused on the government’s decision to deliver emergency cash transfers to vulnerable urban households and the challenges of identifying beneficiaries in a context of widespread informality and limited data.
Drawing on contributions from government officials, the national statistics office, civil society, donors and academia, the summary explores the strengths and limitations of the data sources used to target relief, including mobile money records, administrative registries and social protection databases. It highlights issues related to data gaps, fragmentation, transparency and trust, as well as concerns around inclusion, gender sensitivity and the risk of excluding some vulnerable groups.