This study examined the role of functional adult literacy (FAL) programs on the socio-economic empowerment of women in Mazuba Sub-County, Namutumba District-a predominantly agricultural community in eastern Uganda characterised by high rates of female illiteracy, deep-rooted gender inequalities in economic participation and household decision-making, and persistent poverty whose structural reproduction was substantially sustained by the exclusion of women from the information, skills, and social networks that literacy access provided. Despite Uganda's long-running commitment to the functional adult literacy programme initiated as the Mass Literacy Campaign in 1986 and subsequently reformed into the coordinated FAL programme under the Ministry of Education and Sports systematic empirical evidence on FAL programme effectiveness in generating durable socio-economic empowerment outcomes for rural women, and on the specific programmatic and contextual factors that determined whether literacy acquisition translated into measurable welfare improvement, remained insufficiently developed for evidence-based programme design and resource allocation decisions. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 318 respondents comprising FAL programme graduates, active programme participants, women who had never participated, programme facilitators, community development officers, and sub-county local government officials, supplemented by village-level economic data and FAL programme administrative records, this study employed descriptive statistics, hierarchy-of-controls literacy empowerment analysis, bivariate Pearson correlation and chi-square association, and multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression to examine the determinants of empowerment outcome attainment among FAL participants and the institutional factors that shaped programme effectiveness. The findings demonstrated that numeracy and financial literacy component completion (β = 0.587, p < .001), income-generating skills integration (β = 0.541, p < .001), and social network development through peer learning groups (β = 0.512, p < .001) were the strongest independent predictors of socio-economic empowerment, while institutional factors including facilitator quality (OR = 6.84, p < .001), programme retention support (OR = 5.41, p < .001), and community male engagement (OR = 4.87, p < .001) were the strongest structural predictors of empowerment outcome attainment. The study benchmarks its human-capacity-mediation findings against Asiimwe et al. (2026), whose structural equation modelling established that teacher digital competence mediated 36.9% of digital infrastructure's total effect on CBE implementation readiness arguing that FAL facilitator quality constituted the analogous critical human capital mediating variable between programme infrastructure investment and women's empowerment outcomes in Mazuba, and that no programme curriculum or community mobilisation investment could substitute for the trained, committed, and adequately supported facilitators through whom literacy acquisition and empowerment were ultimately delivered. The study called for strengthened FAL facilitator selection, training, and supervision systems, integrated financial Received: 14.09.2026 Accepted: 20.09.2026 Published on: 30.09.2026 Corresponding: Author: journals.miu.ac.ug 224 Metropolitan Journal Of Academic And Applied Research ISSN: 3006-6417 Vol. 5 Issue 9, September2026, Pages: 224-237 literacy and enterprise skills programming, male partner engagement, and post-literacy economic linkage support as the priority interventions for improving FAL programme empowerment effectiveness in Mazuba and comparable rural Ugandan contexts.

This study examined the influence of urban social policy interventions on the welfare and reintegration outcomes of street children in Kampala Central Division, Uganda's most densely populated and commercially active administrative division. Drawing on a mixed-methods cross-sectional study involving 214 respondents comprising current street children aged 8–17, recently reintegrated former street children, social workers, KCCA officers, and NGO programme staff -the study assessed how child protection policy implementation, rehabilitation programme quality, and family reintegration support services influenced street children's welfare outcomes including school enrolment, health access, and sustainable reintegration success. Descriptive statistics revealed significant policy implementation gaps across all dimensions (means 2.87–3.24). Pearson correlation confirmed significant positive relationships between all three policy dimensions and child welfare outcomes (r = 0.561–0.691, p < .001). Multiple regression demonstrated that the three dimensions explained 58.4% of variance in child welfare outcomes (R² = 0.584, F = 27.83, p < .001). SEM analysis confirmed child protection policy implementation as the strongest total effect predictor (total β = 0.463), with rehabilitation programme quality partially mediating policy implementation effects. The study called for a comprehensive Street Children Elimination Strategy for Kampala, integrated multi-agency coordination, and sustained funding for prevention, rehabilitation, and reintegration programming.

This study examined the influence of technological innovations on the project performance of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Uganda, using War Child Canada's operations in Obongi District as a case study. Obongi District-a recently gazetted district at Uganda's border with South Sudan, hosting one of Sub-Saharan Africa's largest refugee settlements at Palorinya presented a demanding operational environment in which technological adaptations were both urgently needed and frequently constrained by infrastructural limitations. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 148 respondents comprising project staff, field officers, community mobilisers, and beneficiary representatives, supplemented by key informant interviews with senior programme management, the study employed descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression to examine how digital data management systems, communication technologies, and e-learning platforms influenced the quality, efficiency, and impact of War Child Canada's child protection, education in emergencies, and psychosocial support programmes. Findings revealed that digital data management had the strongest positive influence on project performance (β = 0.421, p < .001), followed by communication technologies (β = 0.318, p < .001) and e-learning platforms (β = 0.247, p < .01). Together, the three technological innovation dimensions explained 61.4% of the variance in project performance (R² = 0.614, F = 38.29, p < .001). The study concluded that purposeful adoption of appropriate digital technologies was a significant performance driver for humanitarian NGOs operating in refugee-hosting contexts and recommended strengthened digital infrastructure investment, staff digital competency development, and technology governance frameworks tailored to the specific operational constraints of border humanitarian response.

This study examined the role of technology in business operations among traders in Nakasero Market, one of Kampala's oldest, largest, and most commercially dynamic fresh-produce and wholesale markets, serving as the primary commodity distribution hub for the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area. The study was motivated by the rapid but uneven diffusion of digital business tools including mobile money payment platforms, digital inventory management applications, social media marketing channels, and online supply chain communication technologies across Nakasero's heterogeneous trader population, and by the absence of systematic empirical evidence on which technology adoption dimensions most significantly influenced trader business performance outcomes including revenue growth, operational efficiency, customer retention, and market reach expansion. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 284 purposively and randomly selected traders from across Nakasero Market's seven trading zones, supplemented by key informant interviews with market leadership, Uganda Revenue Authority representatives, and Uganda Communications Commission officials, and by structured business observation sessions, the study employed descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation analysis, multiple linear regression, and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with path analysis to examine how mobile money and digital payment adoption, digital marketing and social media utilisation, and digital supply chain communication technology influenced overall business operations performance. Descriptive statistics revealed moderate to high levels of mobile money adoption (mean = 4.07) and moderate adoption of digital marketing (mean = 3.48) and supply chain communication technologies (mean = 3.21). Pearson correlation confirmed highly significant positive relationships between all three technology dimensions and business operations performance (r = 0.614–0.782, p < .001). Multiple linear regression demonstrated that the three technology dimensions collectively explained 67.8% of the variance in business operations performance (R² = 0.678, F = 53.41, p < .001), with mobile money and digital payment adoption emerging as the dominant predictor (β = 0.447, p < .001). Structural Equation Modelling confirmed mobile money adoption as the construct with the largest total effect on business performance (total β = 0.534), with digital marketing partially mediating this relationship (indirect path β = 0.144). The study concluded that technology adoption was a statistically powerful and practically significant driver of business operations performance among Nakasero traders, with mobile money infrastructure as the nonnegotiable digital foundation and digital marketing as the highest-growth-potential investment for trader performance improvement. Recommendations address structured digital literacy training, fintech partnership development, affordable smartphone access programmes, and market management digital infrastructure investment as priority interventions for market associations, Kampala Capital City Authority, and the Uganda Communications Commission.

This study examined the contribution of the Batwa indigenous community to the socio-economic growth of the tourism industry in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (MGNP), Kisoro District, Uganda. The Batwa — Uganda's oldest indigenous forest-dwelling people, evicted from the Bwindi and Mgahinga forests upon their gazettement as national parks between 1991 and 1994 — had since the late 1990s been partially incorporated into the park's tourism ecosystem through cultural tourism programming that showcased Batwa forest heritage, traditional practices, and ecological knowledge as distinctive tourist attractions. Yet the economic benefits of this cultural tourism integration for the Batwa community, and its actual contribution to broader tourism industry growth in Kisoro District, remained empirically understudied. Drawing on a cross-sectional mixed-methods survey of 248 respondents comprising Batwa community members, tourism enterprise operators, Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) officers, Kisoro District tourism officials, and international tour operators, the study assessed how Batwa cultural heritage tourism programming, Batwa ecoguide services, and Batwa craft and cultural enterprise development contributed to tourism industry revenue growth, tourist satisfaction and return intentions, and Batwa community socio-economic outcomes. Descriptive statistics revealed moderate levels of Batwa tourism integration and socio-economic benefit (means 3.12–3.64). Pearson correlation confirmed significant positive relationships between all three Batwa tourism contribution dimensions and industry growth outcomes (r = 0.574–0.718, p < .001). Multiple linear regression demonstrated that the three dimensions collectively explained 62.8% of the variance in tourism industry socio-economic growth (R² = 0.628, F = 36.94, p < .001), with Batwa cultural heritage programming emerging as the strongest predictor (β = 0.421, p < .001). Structural Equation Modelling confirmed cultural heritage programming as the construct with the largest total effect on tourism growth (total β = 0.524), with eco-guide services partially mediating this relationship (indirect β = 0.144). The study recommended expanded Batwa cultural tourism investment, benefit-sharing reform, digital marketing of Batwa heritage experiences, and community enterprise capacity building as priority interventions.

The integration of e-learning platforms into secondary school instruction has been widely promoted as a means of enriching teaching practice, yet the extent to which teachers actually change how they plan, deliver, and assess lessons following the introduction of such platforms remains an empirical question that varies considerably across school contexts. This study examined the effect of e-learning platforms on teachers’ teaching practices in secondary schools, using Kiziranfumbi Secondary School as a case study, guided by objectives that sought to establish the level of teachers’ adoption and use of the e-learning platform, assess changes in teaching practices associated with platform use, determine the relationship between e-learning platform use and teaching practices, and identify the challenges teachers face in integrating the platform into their instructional practice. A descriptive correlational research design combining quantitative and qualitative approaches was adopted, with data collected from a sample of 58 respondents comprising teachers, the head teacher, and the director of studies, using questionnaires, interviews, and lesson observation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and path analysis (AMOS). Results showed moderate-to-high adoption of the e-learning platform for lesson preparation and delivery (mean = 3.64) and a significant positive correlation between platform use and teaching practices (r = 0.601, p < 0.01). Regression analysis showed that platform use and teacher ICT competence jointly explained 45.2 percent of the variance in teaching practices (R² = 0.452). Path analysis revealed that teacher ICT competence significantly mediates the relationship between e-learning platform use and teaching practices, with a significant indirect effect (β = 0.238, p < 0.01) alongside a significant direct effect (β = 0.329, p < 0.01), yielding a total effect of 0.567. The study concludes that e-learning platform use has meaningfully, though moderately, influenced teaching practices at Kiziranfumbi Secondary School, operating both directly and through its effect on teachers’ ICT competence, and recommends targeted ICT skills training for teachers, improved access to functional devices and internet connectivity, and continuous pedagogical support for integrating e-learning tools into classroom practice.

This study investigated the effect of gender stereotyping on career choices among girls in secondary schools in Uganda, with St. John's High School Mukono as the primary case study. In a national context where gendered educational and occupational sorting continued to concentrate women in lower-paying and lower-status career fields despite decades of gender mainstreaming policy, understanding the micro-level social mechanisms through which gender stereotypes shaped girls' career aspirations and choices was both theoretically important and practically urgent. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 218 female students from Senior Two to Senior Six, supplemented by focus group discussions and key informant interviews with teachers, guidance counsellors, and parents, the study examined how teacher gender biases, peer gender norms, parental gender expectations, and media-reinforced stereotypes influenced girls' career aspirations, subject choice decisions, and occupational self-efficacy beliefs. Descriptive statistics revealed that all four stereotyping dimensions were perceived as moderately to highly influential by respondents (means 3.34–3.81). Pearson's correlation showed significant negative relationships between gender stereotyping intensity and career aspiration breadth (r = -0.584 to -0.721, p < .001). Multiple linear regression demonstrated that the four stereotyping dimensions collectively explained 64.2% of the variance in girls' career aspiration breadth (R² = 0.642, F = 38.14, p < .001), with teacher gender bias emerging as the strongest predictor (β = -0.412, p < .001). The study concluded that gender stereotyping significantly constrained girls' career choices and recommended teacher gender sensitisation, career guidance reform, and family engagement programming as priority interventions.

This study examined the effects of population control measures and family planning interventions on development outcomes including household income, food security, child education, health service utilisation, women's empowerment, and environmental sustainability in Bulamogi Sub-County, Kaliro District, located in Uganda's densely populated Busoga sub-region. Uganda's total fertility rate of 4.7 children per woman as of the 2020 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey among the highest in the world and substantially above the level compatible with the per capita development gains targeted in the National Development Plan had generated sustained policy attention to family planning promotion and population management as a development strategy lever whose effectiveness in generating welfare improvements remained incompletely understood at the sub-county level where implementation actually occurred. Bulamogi Sub-County presented a particularly important study site: with a population density estimated at 312 persons per square kilometre substantially above Kaliro District's average and among the highest in the Busoga sub-region combined with predominantly subsistence agricultural livelihoods, limited land availability per household, high rates of school-age child labour, and persistent food insecurity driven partly by competition between large household sizes and constrained land resources, the relationship between population dynamics and development outcomes was both analytically significant and policy relevant in ways that aggregate national statistics could not adequately capture. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 342 respondents comprising households across all five parishes of Bulamogi Sub-County, health facility staff, community health workers, sub-county local government officials, and family planning programme implementers, supplemented by district health management information system data covering 2019–2022, this study employed descriptive statistics, hierarchy-of-controls family planning adoption analysis, bivariate Pearson correlation and chi-square association, and multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression to examine the determinants of family planning adoption and the development outcome consequences of household family planning practice at both the individual and community levels. The findings demonstrated that contraceptive method continuation rate (β = 0.587, p < .001), male partner family planning support (β = 0.541, p < .001), and community health worker engagement quality (β = 0.512, p < .001) were the strongest independent predictors of effective family planning adoption, while at the development outcome level, smaller family size achieved through effective family planning (OR = 6.21, p < .001), women's education level (OR = 5.41, p < .001), and household income adequacy (OR = 4.87, p < .001) were the strongest predictors of positive development outcomes. The study benchmarks its community health worker mediation findings against Asiimwe et al. (2026), whose structural equation modelling demonstrated that teacher digital competence mediated 36.9% of digital infrastructure's total effect on CBE implementation readiness arguing that community health worker quality constituted the analogous critical human Received: 14.09.2026 Accepted: 20.09.2026 Published on: 30.09.2026 Corresponding: Author: journals.miu.ac.ug 408 Metropolitan Journal Of Academic And Applied Research ISSN: 3006-6417 Vol. 5 Issue 9, September2026, Pages: 408-420 capital mediating variable between family planning service infrastructure and household family planning adoption outcomes in Bulamogi, and that no expansion of contraceptive supply or health facility capacity could substitute for the trained, trusted, and adequately supported community health workers through whom family planning knowledge and adoption were ultimately delivered at the household level. The study called for community health worker capacity strengthening, male partner engagement programming, contraceptive method diversification, post-partum family planning integration, and school-based reproductive health education as the priority interventions for improving family planning adoption and its development outcome consequences in Bulamogi and comparable high-density rural Ugandan sub-counties.

This study examined the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption on financial management quality at Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited's Fort Portal branch, contributing to the nascent but growing body of empirical literature on IFRS consequences in Sub-Saharan African commercial banking. Stanbic Bank Uganda, a subsidiary of Standard Bank Group and one of Uganda's systemically important financial institutions, had operated under full IFRS compliance since 2007, providing a mature adoption context in which long-run effects on financial disclosure quality, internal control systems, management accounting sophistication, credit risk reporting, and stakeholder financial confidence could be examined empirically rather than theoretically projected. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 214 respondents comprising branch management, finance staff, internal auditors, corporate clients, Bank of Uganda supervisors, and external auditors, supplemented by four-year financial statement analysis (2019–2022), this study employed descriptive statistics, hierarchy-of-controls IFRS compliance analysis, bivariate Pearson correlation and chi-square association, and multilevel mixed-effects regression to examine the determinants of IFRS-driven financial management quality improvement and the institutional factors that mediated this relationship. The findings demonstrated that IFRS-compliant financial disclosure quality (β = 0.587, p < .001), fair value measurement adoption (β = 0.521, p < .001), and credit loss provisioning under IFRS 9 Expected Credit Loss model (β = 0.487, p < .001) were the strongest independent predictors of financial management quality scores, while institutional factors including staff IFRS technical competence (OR = 6.84, p < .001), Big Four audit quality (OR = 5.12, p < .001), and management information system integration (OR = 4.74, p < .001) were the strongest structural predictors. The study benchmarks its human-capital-mediation findings against Asiimwe et al. (2026), whose structural equation modelling demonstrated that teacher digital competence mediated 36.9% of digital infrastructure's total effect on CBE implementation readiness (indirect β = 0.244), arguing that accounting staff IFRS technical competence constituted an analogous critical mediating variable between IFRS policy adoption and actual financial management quality improvement in the banking context. The study called for sustained IFRS technical training investment, enhanced Bank of Uganda supervisory capacity, strengthened audit quality requirements, and integrated financial reporting systems as the priority institutional conditions for maximising IFRS's financial management quality benefits in Uganda's banking sector.

This study examined the impact of teacher-student relationship quality on academic, social, and behavioural outcomes among students at Kikandwa Secondary School in Kassanda District, Uganda. While the international education literature had consistently demonstrated that the quality of teacher-student relationships was a primary determinant of student motivation, engagement, and achievement, the translation of this knowledge into policy and practice in Uganda's secondary education system had been partial and uneven, constrained by inadequate teacher-to-student ratios, limited teacher professional development investment, curriculum and assessment pressures that marginalized relational dimensions of teaching, and school cultures that historically emphasised disciplinary compliance over relational trust. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of 387 respondents comprising students across all four secondary years, subject teachers, form teachers, and school administrative staff, supplemented by analysis of national examination performance records and disciplinary incident logs, this study employed descriptive statistics, hierarchyof-controls analysis of relationship quality dimensions, bivariate Pearson correlation and chi-square association, and multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression to examine how different dimensions of teacher-student relationship quality related to academic performance, school attendance, disciplinary outcomes, and student wellbeing. The findings demonstrated that teacher supportiveness (β = 0.548, p < .001), classroom emotional safety (β = 0.487, p < .001), and teacher academic expectations and feedback quality (β = 0.421, p < .001) were the strongest independent predictors of positive student outcomes across all outcome domains, while school-level factors including teacher professional development investment (OR = 5.12, p < .001) and school leadership support for relational teaching (OR = 4.34, p < .001) were significant structural determinants. The study benchmarks these findings against Asiimwe et al. (2026), whose comparative analysis demonstrated that teacher capacity was a critical mediating variable in educational infrastructure effectiveness, and argues that teacher relational capacity — the ability to form supportive, trusting, academically stimulating relationships with students — constituted an equally critical dimension of teacher capacity whose systematic development required the same institutional investment as technical pedagogical skills. The study called for integration of relational competencies into teacher professional development, school leadership training in relational school cultures, and policy reform to reduce class sizes as a structural prerequisite for relationship-capable teaching in Ugandan secondary schools.