Abstract

Since the launch of the global 2030 Sustainable Development Goals nearly 10 years ago in 2015, Uganda and the majority of the developing countries have not made great strides in compiling data to track and measure its progress. The current paper argues that there is a lot of administrative data that is being generated by government ministries, departments and agencies that can supplement information from surveys and census to provide this required data. The paper uses meta data analysis technique to assess the quality of existing administrative data to measure 6 tier 1 sustainable development goals in Uganda: proportion of population with access to electricity, number of commercial bank branches and ATMs per 100,000 adults, proportion of adults (15 years+) with an account at a bank or other financial institution or with a mobile money service provider, the proportion of population covered by a mobile network by technology, the fixed internet broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants by speed and the proportion of individuals using the internet. Secondary data was obtained from the Bank of Uganda, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), Uganda Rural Electrification Agency and the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. The results show that only 10% of the Ugandan population currently owns electricity . The Uganda Rural Electrification Agency targets 26% electricity coverage in 2022, 51% electricity coverage by 2030 and 100% coverage by the year 2040.These results contract the 2014 Uganda National Population and Housing Census reports that 20% of households in Uganda had access to electricity. The Bank of Uganda statistical abstract reports 27 commercial banks with 563 branches and 817 ATMs but this data is not standardized to reflect per 100,000 adults as per the SDG targets. The 2014 Uganda National Population and Housing Census shows that 21.7% of adults had an account with a bank or other financial institution. The Uganda Communications Commission reports 21.9% mobile money subscribers. In addition, there are 22,698,000 prepaid mobile subscribers, and 140 postpaid mobile subscribers in Uganda. UCC data shows 51.9% internet penetration per 100 population in Uganda. In conclusion, the utilization of administrative data to measure and track the progress on the attainment of the sustainable development goals is very key for Uganda. The standardized data from surveys and censuses is good for comparison purposes especially between countries but at national level, administrative data which seems to be regularly updated and more accurate should be employed and used.