Primary school dropout remains a critical barrier to achieving universal education in Uganda, with socioeconomic factors identified as key determinants. This study investigated the extent to which household poverty and ancillary school costs contributed to primary school dropout among children aged 6–14 years in four regions of Uganda. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,200 households sampled using a multi-stage cluster sampling approach. Quantitative data were collected using a structured household questionnaire administered to caregivers, while qualitative data were gathered through focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Univariate analysis described the characteristics of respondents and the prevalence of school dropout. Bivariate analysis using chi-square tests and independent samples t-tests examined associations between household poverty indicators, ancillary cost burden, and dropout outcomes. Mixed effects logistic regression models were fitted to estimate adjusted odds ratios while accounting for within-district clustering. Results revealed that 29.4% of school-age children had dropped out of primary school. The odds of dropout were significantly higher among children from the poorest households (AOR = 6.82; 95% CI: 4.71–9.87), those in households with annual income below UGX 600,000 (AOR = 4.15; 95% CI: 2.93–5.88), and those facing high ancillary cost burdens exceeding UGX 150,000 annually (AOR = 3.47; 95% CI: 2.29–5.25). School fees, uniform costs, and examination fees were the most cited cost barriers. The study concluded that household poverty and ancillary school costs were independently and jointly associated with increased risk of primary school dropout. It is recommended that the Government of Uganda expand the capitation grant coverage to include all ancillary costs, introduce targeted conditional cash transfers for the poorest quintile
households, and establish community-based bursary funds to bridge the financing gap for vulnerable learners.

School-level 'gaming practices' — covert, systematic strategies through which school administrators manipulate learner registration, attendance records, and examination entry in order to inflate institutional performance metrics before national assessments — constitute a critically underexamined mechanism of learner exclusion in Uganda's primary education system. This study examined the nature, prevalence, and institutional determinants of gamingpractice-induced learner exclusion before the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) in Uganda, focusing specifically on how such practices operate, which learner profiles are most disproportionately targeted, and what structural, socioeconomic, and institutional factors predict the probability of exclusion. A cross-sectional quantitative design was employed, using a structured questionnaire administered to 500 Primary Seven learners and recent school leavers from 30 purposively selected primary schools across rural and urban districts in Uganda. Data were analysed using univariate descriptive statistics, bivariate Pearson chi-square tests, and binary logistic regression. The study found that 42.8% of respondents had been excluded through one or more gaming practices, with the most prevalent mechanism being invisible withdrawal or de-registration from examination rolls (66.4% of excluded learners). Learners who had personally witnessed gaming practices were 16.8 times more likely to have been excluded (Adjusted OR = 16.8; 95% CI: 9.4-30.0; p < 0.001) after adjusting for school type, location, household income, parental education, parental advocacy, and class repetition history. Exclusion rates were highest in government schools in rural areas (81.4%). The study concluded that gaming practices constitute a systemic and structurally embedded violation of the right to education, disproportionately targeting the most economically and socially marginalised learners, and recommends urgent policy reform including mandatory independent audit of PLE candidate rolls, community-based accountability mechanisms, and strengthened child rights complaint pathways.

This study examined the relationship between inventory management practices and business profitability among supermarkets in Kampala, Uganda. The inventory management dimensions studied included inventory control systems, supplier relationship management, demand forecasting, and inventory turnover optimization. A cross- sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 90 supermarket managers and procurement officers drawn from 30 registered supermarkets in Kampala. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis. Results indicated a significant positive relationship between inventory management practices and business profitability (r = 0.693, p < 0.01). Regression analysis showed that inventory control systems (β = 0.334, p < 0.001), supplier relationship management (β = 0.276, p < 0.01), and demand forecasting (β = 0.248, p < 0.01) were significant predictors of profitability, collectively explaining 63.7% of the variance in business profitability (R² = 0.637). The study concludes that systematic and technology-enabled inventory management is a key driver of supermarket profitability in Kampala and recommends adoption of integrated inventory management systems and strengthening of supplier partnerships.

This study set out to map primary-to-tertiary attrition rates and structurally model their determinants within Uganda&#039;s education system, motivated by the persistent gap between near-universal primary enrolment and the markedly low proportion of learners who ultimately accessed tertiary education. A simulated cross-sectional cohort of 850 learners was constructed proportionally from Uganda&#039;s four administrative regions to reflect patterns documented in national education statistics, with each record capturing demographic characteristics, key structural determinants — including household income, parental education level, distance to school, school type, and a composite school infrastructure quality index — as well as attrition status recorded at four successive pipeline transitions: Primary One to Primary Seven (P1–P7), Primary Seven to Senior Four (P7–S4), Senior Four to Senior Six (S4–S6), and Senior Six to tertiary entry (S6–Tertiary). Data were analysed through univariate descriptive statistics, bivariate chi-square tests, independent-samples t-tests, and point-biserial correlations, before structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied with maximum likelihood estimation and robust standard errors, specifying Household Socioeconomic Capital, School Infrastructure Quality, and Geographic Accessibility as latent predictors of attrition. Findings revealed a monotonically accelerating pattern of cumulative attrition, rising from 21.4% at the P1–P7 transition to 38.7% at P7– S4, 46.2% at S4–S6, and 61.8% at S6–Tertiary, with the Northern region recording the highest overall attrition rate at 56.3%. Bivariate analysis confirmed statistically significant associations between attrition and all structural determinants examined (p &lt; 0.001), though individual effect sizes fell within the small-to moderate range. The structural model demonstrated good fit (CFI = 0.954, TLI = 0.941, RMSEA = 0.046, SRMR = 0.038) and identified Household Socioeconomic Capital as the strongest direct determinant of attrition (β = −0.42), followed by School
Infrastructure Quality (β = −0.31) and Geographic Accessibility (β = 0.27 direct; β = 0.34 total), with the total effect of geographic accessibility incorporating a significant indirect pathway through which remoteness eroded household socioeconomic capital, thereby amplifying attrition risk through a second, compounding channel. The study concluded
that learner attrition across Uganda&#039;s education pipeline was structurally produced by the interlocking influence of
household poverty, school infrastructure deficits, and geographic remoteness, and recommended that effective policy
responses address these determinants simultaneously through targeted household financial support, infrastructure investment in remote government schools, and expanded geographic accessibility interventions such as school transport schemes, satellite campuses, and all-weather road development.

Multi-sectoral coordination remains a fundamental challenge in the effective implementation of social policies in subSaharan Africa, and Uganda presents a particularly instructive case given its complex governance architecture, diverse
sectoral mandates, and persistent service delivery gaps. This study investigated multi-sectoral coordination challenges in Ugandan social policy implementation, guided by three specific objectives: to examine the nature and extent of inter-agency communication barriers, to assess the relationship between resource allocation efficiency and policy implementation fidelity, and to evaluate the structural pathways through which leadership commitment and stakeholder participation influence overall coordination effectiveness. A cross-sectional survey design was employed, with data collected from 312 purposively sampled policy implementers drawn from five key social sectors — health, education, water and sanitation, agriculture, and social protection — across twelve districts in Uganda. Primary data were gathered using a structured, pre-tested questionnaire containing validated Likert-scale instruments. Descriptive statistics revealed that inter-agency communication scored a mean of 3.42 (SD = 0.87), while resource allocation efficiency recorded the lowest mean of 2.89 (SD = 1.02), suggesting persistent bottlenecks in financial coordination. Bivariate Pearson correlation analyses confirmed significant positive associations between all coordination predictor variables and overall coordination effectiveness (r = 0.714 for ICS; r = 0.632 for RAE; p &lt; .001). A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was estimated using AMOS, yielding excellent model fit indices (CFI = 0.967; RMSEA = 0.043; CMIN/DF = 1.32), with the full model explaining 58.7% of the variance in overall coordination effectiveness. Path analysis revealed that inter-agency communication exerted the strongest direct effect (β = 0.412, p &lt; .001), while sector overlap conflicts exerted a significant negative effect (β = −0.198, p = .001). The study concluded that structural communication deficits, fragmented resource flows, and sector overlap conflicts constitute the primary impediments to effective social policy implementation in Uganda. Recommendations include the institutionalisation of interministerial coordination frameworks, the establishment of unified budget tracking systems, and the strengthening of
participatory policy implementation platforms at district and sub-county levels.

Uganda&#039;s education and skilling policy discourse has, over the past decade, converged on the language of a &#039;skills gap&#039; to explain youth unemployment and weak labour absorption, attributing the problem largely to mismatches between what graduates know and what employers need. This study interrogated that framing empirically and conceptually, asking whether the &#039;skills gap&#039; is a verifiable labour-market phenomenon or a case of conceptual displacement in which structural, wage, and firm-level constraints are relabelled as deficiencies of graduates and training institutions. Adopting a cross sectional analytical design, the study surveyed 420 formally registered firms across 14 districts of Uganda, capturing firm characteristics, training investment behaviour, wage offers, graduate qualification profiles, and firms&#039; self-reported perception of a skills gap among recently hired graduates. Data were analysed using univariate description, bivariate chi-square and t-test comparisons, and a multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression with firms nested within districts to account for geographic clustering and unobserved district-level heterogeneity. Overall, 60.2% of firms reported a skills gap among recent graduate hires. Bivariate analysis showed that firm size, training investment, and qualification mismatch were significantly associated with reporting a skills gap (p

School dropout remains one of the most persistent structural inequalities in Uganda&#039;s education system, and nowhere is this more acute than in the Karamoja sub-region. This study examined regional disparities in school dropout between Karamoja and national trends, drawing on a cross-sectional comparative design with a stratified random sample of 847 respondents, including students, teachers, parents, and local education officials, drawn from 32 schools across three Karamoja districts — Moroto, Kotido, and Napak — and a nationally representative comparison stratum of 18 districts across Uganda&#039;s four administrative regions. The study was anchored in the Social Exclusion Framework and Human Capital Theory. Descriptive analysis revealed that Karamoja&#039;s overall dropout rate stood at 57.6%, compared to 28.7% nationally, with the upper secondary level recording the starkest contrast at 72.4% versus 44.2%. Bivariate analysis using chi-square tests confirmed statistically significant associations between dropout and key determinants including poverty, gender, distance to school, cultural norms — particularly early marriage and cattle herding obligations — and teacher quality, all significant at p &lt; 0.001. Structural Equation Modeling established that school absenteeism fully mediated the relationship between structural deprivation and dropout in Karamoja (β = 0.53, p &lt; 0.001), with the Karamoja model explaining 67.4% of dropout variance compared to 53.1% nationally. Binary logistic regression further identified early marriage (OR = 6.83, p &lt; 0.001), cattle herding obligations (OR = 4.57, p &lt; 0.001), and poverty (OR = 3.84, p &lt; 0.001) as the strongest predictors of dropout in Karamoja. The study concluded that Karamoja&#039;s dropout crisis is not merely a reflection of national trends but represents a structurally distinct and compounded educational emergency requiring targeted, context-sensitive policy intervention. It recommended the establishment of a Karamoja-specific educational emergency fund, integration of nomadic-responsive schooling models, and a district-level early warning system anchored in EMIS data.

This study examined the effect of supplier evaluation on procurement performance at Mukwano Group of Companies in Kampala, Uganda. Mukwano Group, as one of Uganda's largest manufacturing and commercial conglomerates, presents an important case for understanding procurement management practices in a complex multi-sector organizational context. Using a descriptive correlational research design, data were collected from 150 procurement professionals, supply chain managers, and senior managers through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive, correlation, and regression analyses were performed using SPSS version 25. The study examined supplier evaluation through three dimensions: supplier qualification criteria (r = 0.548, p < 0.01), supplier performance monitoring (r = 0.612, p < 0.01), and supplier development programs (r = 0.523, p < 0.01), all significantly correlated with procurement performance. Regression analysis revealed that supplier performance monitoring was the strongest predictor of procurement performance (β = 0.391, p < 0.001), followed by supplier qualification criteria (β = 0.278, p < 0.01) and supplier development programs (β = 0.214, p < 0.05). The model explained 67.4% of the variance in procurement performance (R² = 0.674). The study recommends establishing a formalized supplier performance management system with regular scorecards, standardized qualification criteria for different procurement categories, and proactive supplier development initiatives to build long-term supply chain resilience.

This study examined the effect of taxpayers' skills on tax compliance among small business taxpayers in Kampala, Uganda. Persistent low voluntary tax compliance rates among small businesses represent a major challenge for revenue mobilization in Uganda, yet the specific role of taxpayer skills in explaining compliance behavior remains inadequately explored. A cross-sectional survey of 220 small business owners in Kampala's central business district was conducted using structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression using SPSS version 25. The study conceptualized taxpayers' skills along three dimensions: financial literacy (r = 0.534, p < 0.01), tax record-keeping skills (r = 0.581, p < 0.01), and digital filing proficiency (r = 0.496, p < 0.01), all of which showed significant positive correlations with tax compliance. Regression findings demonstrated that tax record-keeping skills were the strongest predictor of compliance (β = 0.362, p < 0.001), followed by financial literacy (β = 0.281, p < 0.01) and digital filing proficiency (β = 0.198, p < 0.05). The model accounted for 62.1% of variance in tax compliance (R² = 0.621). The study concludes that targeted skills development programs focusing on record-keeping and financial management can significantly improve voluntary tax compliance rates. Recommendations include integrating tax education into business registration processes, establishing mobile tax clinics in commercial areas, and developing vernacular- language tax guidance materials.

This study examined the relationship between teamwork and organisational performance at Mogas Petroleum Company in Kampala, Uganda. Employing a quantitative descriptive correlational design, data were collected from 88 employees using structured questionnaires. Teamwork was operationalised through team communication, team cohesion and trust, team goal alignment, and collaborative decision-making. Organisational performance was measured through operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and employee retention. Findings revealed significant positive correlations between all teamwork dimensions and organisational performance (r ranging from .612 to .694, p < .001). Multiple regression analysis showed that teamwork dimensions collectively explain 65.9% of the variance in organisational performance (R² = .659, F(4,83) = 40.03, p < .001). Team communication was the strongest predictor (β = .371, p < .001). The study concludes that effective teamwork significantly enhances organisational performance at Mogas Petroleum Company and recommends investment in team communication training, structured team-building activities, cross-functional goal alignment sessions, and participatory decision-making frameworks.