Digitalizing Monitoring of National Development Plans: A Case Study from Uganda

Development planning is key to the attainment of global and national goals, especially in low- and middle-income countries where diverse sectors leverage each other’s capacities to maximize limited resources. In this paper, we discuss approaches to digitalizing monitoring of national development plans in Uganda along a two-phase timeline where the first attempt to build a system failed while the second achieved relative success. The cross-sectoral dimension in our case adds to an already challenging situation where monitoring is challenged by duplicated data collection, poor data quality, inadequate technological infrastructures, and limited skills in most of the sectors. The empirical material is obtained from our work with a public organization in Uganda following the building and implementation of a monitoring system for national development plans and related challenges in its digitalization process. Our findings highlight variations in implementation approaches based on how user needs are coordinated and the installed base is cultivated. We posit that achieving national information infrastructures for cross-sector planning not only requires cultivation of the installed base to address emerging user needs but also effectively addresses challenges related to adaptability in a cross-sector setting. The study contributes by providing evidence of information infrastructures constructs especially from low-resource setting countries and the context of truly heterogeneous sectors.