The Programme has been very successful in promoting and achieving a high level of public participation and community involvement on the ground. In the pilot projects implemented in the selected local authorities, CBOs and local community groups were consulted and engaged at all stages of the project cycle. Community groups have been supported to become key players in decentralized service delivery. By way of illustration, in Jinja services to be provided through PPP arrangements were identified and prioritized by the local community. This contributed to raising community awareness and strengthening their role in service provision.
By contrast, as argued above the Programme was less effective at conceptualizing and also realizing the participation of businesses and the private sector. Many of the key actors involved in the steering and implementation of the Programme seem to have greater knowledge and experience of the public and community sectors, rather than of private business. This to some extent accounts for difficulties in getting real private sector participation.
The Programme has not managed to develop appropriate communication channels between the private sector, municipalities and communities. The establishment of local PPP Steering Committees was a significant achievement of the Programme, but these failed to involve businesses. These bodies have the potential to increase trust and understanding, but only if partners from all sectors are involved and if private sector representatives are given the opportunity to be meaningfully engaged.
It should be noted that in Uganda there have been difficulties with identifying interested actors from the private sector, particularly at local level. The fragmentation and the lack of representation structures complicated matters even further. As a result, the cultural difficulties and the organizational resistances that derive from the attempt to draw actors from different sectors to work together could not be fully addressed.