Uganda

COMESA and USAID/USDA worked with SPS stakeholders in Uganda to use the P-IMA framework, based on the use of Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) in 2012. Representatives of public and private sector stakeholders participated in a stakeholder workshop on 30 July to 1 August to agree on SPS capacity building options to be included in the analysis. National experts who play a leading role in making and prioritizing SPS investments came from the Phytosanitary Services, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, and the Uganda National Bureau of Standards.

A report published in March 2013 discusses the use of the MCDA in assisting governments and the private sector in prioritizing and making investment decisions on SPS capacity-building needs. The report, which was distributed to various stakeholders, presents the initial results of a priority-setting exercise for SPS capacity-building in Uganda. 14 distinct SPS capacity-building options were identified and prioritized based on a series of decision criteria to which weights were applied; these criteria were derived by consulting the stakeholders. 

The FAO in collaboration with IFAD; the WFP and the EU were involved in related work in Uganda to develop a decision-making process using MCDA to determine how food safety priorities can be established at the national level. This work considered the impact of unsafe food on health, trade, food security, socioeconomic development and consumer choices. Its goal was to enhance national food safety programmes and decision-making processes. The Ministry of Health is leading this work, which also seeks to engage stakeholders from other relevant Ministries, private sector and interest groups (for example, consumers). 

The STDF Secretariat facilitated contact between FAO and USAID/USDA for FAO to obtain the information collected for the STDF work. FAO subsequently invited the national experts leading the STDF work to the FAO/WHO food safety and MCDA workshop in December 2012.