Uganda, March 12 -- Although the Parish Development Model (PDM) was rolled out last year in such haste, sound and fury, the programme seems to be registering relative success among the beneficiaries who used the one million shillings that has been extended to them to buy goats and/or sheep to rear. In my recent tour of a few areas around Awoja wetland and the Bisina lakeside, I was pleasantly surprised to see several flocks of sheep grazing peacefully around these areas. My brief inquiries revealed that the healthy animals belonged to countless beneficiaries of the first phase of PDM in Soroti, Kumi, Katakwi and Ngora districts.

Suffice to say that, as the brainy people who framed this social intervention programme begin to collect preli...