PhD defence by Mr Ahmed El Assal

For his analysis, Mr. Ahmed El Assal carried out case study research on the politics of accountability in social policy programmes in Uganda, focusing on how political dynamics shape citizens’ ability to hold state and non-state actors accountable for the delivery of quality public services.

In his thesis, Ahmed shows that social accountability initiatives in the Global South cannot be understood only through information gaps, feedback loops, or principal-agent relationships. Instead, he argues that accountability mechanisms are deeply shaped by power relations, clientelism, weak state capacity, donor influence, and the growing role of non-state actors in public service delivery.

Ahmed reflects on the political and institutional challenges of accountability in Uganda, particularly in a context shaped by foreign-aid dependency, decentralisation reforms, patrimonial networks, securitised development, and increasingly authoritarian governance.

Concretely, Ahmed explores:

1. How accountability mechanisms embedded in Uganda’s Universal Primary Education programme are shaped by politicisation, clientelist dynamics, the role of religious institutions, school inspection systems, and parents’ limited ability to influence school management.

    

2. The politics of citizens’ claims-making in the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment programme, focusing on grievance mechanisms, targeting problems, exclusion, austerity, weak administrative capacity, and the tension between fear and empowerment in citizens’ engagement with the state.

    

3. The legitimacy and accountability of NGOs in Uganda’s civic space through an analysis of the #UgandaNGOsExhibition campaign on X, showing how the urban public uses naming, shaming, and peer accountability to demand greater transparency and ethical conduct from NGOs.

    

4. How political incentives, fragmented service delivery, blurred responsibility between state and non-state actors, and citizens’ expectations of NGOs shape the possibilities and limits of accountability in Uganda’s social policy programmes.

Doctoral Board

Chair

Professor Ruard Ganzevoort

Doctoral dissertation supervisor

Professor Wil Hout
Professor Dion Forster, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Professor Azza Karam, Occidental College

Dr. Karim Kniou

Full Doctoral Committee

• Professor Paul Bukuluki, Makerere University
• Professor Anuradha Joshi, Institute of Development Studies
• Dr. Flavio Eiró de Oliveira, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Dr. Sylvia Bergh, ISS
• Professor Ben Crum, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Professor Shuaib Lwasa, ISS