Makerere University College of Business and Management Sciences

PhD Public Defense by Mr. Hillary Muhanguzi
2025-12-18 14:00 - 17:00 UTC | School of Statistics BoardRoom, Makerere University
INVITATION:
The Dean, School of Statistics and Planning under the College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), cordially invites you to the PhD Public Defense of the following candidate:
Name of the Candidate: Mr. Hillary Muhanguzi
Title of Thesis:
Methodological aspects in the construction of a composite indicator of service delivery in Uganda
Date: Thursday 18th December 2025.
Time: 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Venue: School of Statistics Board Room A16

ABSTRACT
This study elaborates methodological aspects encountered in the building of composite indicators with application to service delivery in Uganda. This study amplified the three main stages, the selection of quality data, the building of the composite indicator itself and statistical approaches that may be utilized to model service delivery composite indicator (CI). This study formulated a data quality assessment framework (DQAF) to enhance the construction of a composite indicator. The DQAF was formulated with a dual orientation that prioritizes two user-oriented data quality components (DQCs) namely; relevance, and interpretability, and three producer-oriented DQCs of methodological soundness, accuracy, and statistical adequacy. The application of the DQAF to service delivery data resulted in the selection of 51 from a pool of 103 potential indicators, reflecting a 48.6% acceptability percentage. The composite indicator for statistical regions, which included five dimensions—education, health, water, agriculture, and roads—was developed utilizing official data from the 2021 National Service Delivery Survey conducted by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, along with various sector performance reports from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Water and Environment. Additionally, the study developed an alternative composite indicator for district local governments, concentrating on the education, health, and water dimensions, which was modeled against potential covariates. The composite indicator for statistical regions indicated that Uganda achieved a score of 0.49 (0 ≤ composite indicator score ≤ 1) utilizing equal weighting, minimax transformation, and additive aggregation, whereas the score was 0.45 with equal weighting, distance-to-reference point transformation, and geometric aggregation. Min-max transformation yields higher scores compared to distance-to-reference point, attributable to the exogenously determined goalposts. Weights that are participatory determined were comparable with data-derived weights. Robustness tests demonstrated that the constructed composite indicator exhibited stability and can therefore be utilized. The absolute differences in ranks by region were observed, with Kampala and Lango exhibiting the lowest differences and Karamoja and Kigezi the highest, attributable to the presence of outliers and inequitable performance in the examined variables. The aggregation stage was the most sensitive accounting for nearly 60% of the total variance, primarily due to interaction with mainly the transformation stage; this underscores the necessity to cautiously select an aggregation method, as it greatly influences the robustness of the results.
The absolute rank differences were highest in the education dimension at 2.00 and lowest in the roads and health dimension at 1.33, indicating the varying impact of excluding aspects from the composite index. In assessing the differentials of service delivery at local government level, the composite indicator scores ranged from 0.25 to 0.60, with a substantial portion of the density plot situated below 0.50, indicating inadequate service delivery levels. The scores were negatively influenced by the number of sub-counties and land area, and positively influenced by central government funding, funding from other agencies, number of town councils, and age of the district. While beta regression adeptly models bounded data, random forest regression highlights the relative importance of predictors, and generalized additive model captures non-linear covariate effects. The comparable predictive accuracy of these methods, as evaluated using root mean square error, suggests their applicability to this investigation in accordance with the analytical objectives. A dual orientation of data quality components should be developed collaboratively, ensuring that redundancies and overlaps are recognized and resolved to clarify the intrinsic qualities of data and elementary indicators. Furthermore, it is recommended to investigate penalization methods to manage the substitutability of variables during aggregation due to unequal performance, as well as to employ both parametric and non-parametric techniques to assess differentials in service delivery.
Supervisors:

Yeko Mwanga
James.Wokadala
Francesca Bassi
Muuela Scioni

Your presence and participation will be highly appreciated as we support the student in this important academic milestone.

PhD Public Defense for Ms. Lillian Ayebale
2026-02-11 10:00 - 13:00 | School of Statistics Board Room, Makerere University, KAMPALA, KAMPALA, +2560414, Uganda
INVITATION:
The Dean, School of Statistic and Population Studies under the College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), cordially invites you to the PhD Public Defense of the following candidate:
Name of the Candidate: Ms. Lillian Ayebale
Title of Thesis:
Risky Sexual Behaviours, fertility and coping responses among adolescents in South- central Uganda
Date: Wednesday 11th Februrary 2026.
Time: 10:00am – 1:00pm
Venue:
School of Statistics Board Room
ABSTRACT
Adolescents in Uganda face multiple vulnerabilities and exposures to risks. Approximately 25% of Ugandan teenagers become pregnant by the age of 19 years. This study explored and examined risky sexual behaviors, fertility, and coping responses among adolescents in South-Central Uganda.
This was a mixed-methods study. It involved a systematic review of studies on correlates of fertility among adolescents in SSA, statistical analysis of risky sexual behaviors among adolescents, and qualitative interviews with adolescents and parents from the Rakai Community Cohort Study (RCCS), a population-based HIV surveillance cohort. A systematic review protocol was developed and published in PROSPERO to guide the systematic synthesis of determinants of adolescent fertility in SSA. A negative binomial regression model was used to determine the risky sexual behaviours among adolescents, while the qualitative data analysis adopted an interpretivist approach to understand risky sexual behaviors and how parents influence these adolescent behaviors.
Cultural practices and taboos, child marriages, lack of parent-child communication on sexual matters, socioeconomic factors, and adolescent individual factors were consistently cited as key correlates of adolescent fertility according to the systematic synthesis. Adolescents aged 18-19 exhibited a significantly higher incidence of risky sexual behaviours compared to those aged 15-17 (aIRR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.77-2.28). Living in a single-mother family structure (aIRR = 1.36, 95% CI: 1.15-1.60), with other relatives (aIRR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.12-1.60), with non-relatives (aIRR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.21-1.94), or alone (adolescent-headed) (aIRR = 1.68, 95% CI: 1.34-2.10) were all associated with higher incidence rates compared to living with both biological parents. Parents acknowledged that talking with adolescents could help reduce risky sexual behaviour. Parental talks on sexual matters were usually unplanned and happened when triggered by specific incidents.
Evidence from the results suggest that adolescents engage in risky sexual behaviours including non-marital sexual partnerships, multiple sexual partners, unprotected sex with a non-marital partner, and transactional sex. Parent-adolescent communication on sexual matters is essential/pertinent approach is needed to reduce/avert the associated risks. There is need for continuous engagement of all different stakeholders involved in adolescents work to have targeted interventions to prevent the risky sexual behaviours among the young people.
Supervisors:

Allen Kabagenyi
Stephen Ojiambo Wandera

Critical Reader:
Dr. John Ssekamate – Ssebuliba
Your presence and participation will be highly appreciated as we support the student in this important academic milestone.

PhD Public Defense by Mr. Jordan Paul Semwanga
2026-04-07 08:00 - 17:00
INVITATION: The Dean of the School of Economics, College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), Makerere University invites you to a Viva Voce examination for Mr. Jordan Paul Semwanga on Wednesday, 23rd of April 2025, at 2PM in the College Conference Hall, Makerere University.
Date: Tuesday 23rd April 2025.
Time: 2:00 pm
Venue: The Conference Room, Level 2, Block B, College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), Makerere University.
Title: “Crop production and welfare effects of using sludge manure among rural households in selected districts of central Uganda.”
ABSTRACT
The quality of arable soils has continuously deteriorated in Uganda. This has resulted into reduced crop production and constrained household welfare especially among the poor and agro-based households. Many farm households have tried to adapt to the losses in soil fertility through the use of inorganic and organic supplements. Although, a vast body of literature exists that demonstrates the positive impact of either inorganic or organic supplements but one can argue that little evidence exists about the impact of sludge manure on household crop production, household welfare, and the economic viability of its use. Thus, this dissertation examines the impact of sludge manure on rural farm households’ economic outcomes. To elaborate, the dissertation address three key specific objectives which include; (1) examined the impact of sludge manure adoption on household crop production, (2) investigated the welfare effect of sludge manure adoption among rural farm households and (3) evaluated the economic viability of using sludge manure in maize production.
The study employed a quasi-experimental design. Specifically, Propensity score matching, Endogenous switching regression and a partial budgeting analysis framework were employed as tools of analysis. The key results from this dissertation include; (1) sludge manure adoption leads to increased crop yields of say green bananas, maize, coffee and cassava crops (2) the results shows that using sludge manure improve per capita household food expenditure and per capita total household expenditure for adopters compared to non- adopters, (3) applying sludge manure in the production of maize, yields a higher marginal rate of return and this means that it is economically viable for household farmers to use sludge manure other than using inorganic fertilizers. In terms of recommendations, the study recommends promotion of sludge manure as a pathway of increasing crop yields and eventually crop income which facilitates household welfare. Still, since majority of smallholder farmers are financially constrained, the use of sludge manure is recommended because it is cost effective in the production of crops like maize.
Supervisors
Dr Aggrey Niringiye (PhD)
Senior Lecturer, Makerere University, School of Economics.
Dr. John Sseruyange (PhD)
Lecturer, Makerere University, School of Economics
Venue

Your presence and participation will be highly appreciated as we support the student in this important academic milestone.
