Kazo district today hosted a delegation from Kitagwenda district local government on a benchmarking tour aimed at learning the best practices behind Kazo's outstanding performance in the 2024/2025 Local government Service Delivery Performance Assessment conducted by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).

Kazo district recently emerged as one of Uganda's top-performing local governments after being ranked 6th nationally in the OPM assessment. The achievement has attracted attention from several local governments, particularly newly created districts seeking to improve service delivery.

Established on 1 July 2019, Kazo district's impressive performance in the national assessment has inspired fellow new districts, including Kitagwenda, to study the strategies that have enabled it to excel despite its relatively young administrative status.

The Kitagwenda delegation, led by the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, Akankwatsa Moses and comprising all heads of department, was received at Kazo district headquarters by the District Vice Chairperson, Fred Ntungire, representing the LCV Chairperson Rev. Samuel Mugisha Katugunda and the Principal Assistant Secretary, Divine Kyogabirwe, who represented the Chief Administrative Officer, Hajji Badru Mayanja Majwala who was away on official duties.

Delivering the Chief Administrative Officer's message, PAS, Kyogabirwe welcomed the visitors and commended them for choosing Kazo district as their benchmarking destination.

She explained that Kitagwenda district had formally requested permission to conduct the study tour after being impressed by Kazo's performance in the national assessment.

"We accepted their request because benchmarking and sharing experiences are important in improving service delivery. Kazo's success has been driven by teamwork, cooperation and every officer performing their duties diligently," she said.

While delivering his opening remarks on behalf of the LCV Chairperson, Vice Chairperson Fred Ntungire attributed the district's success to the strong working relationship between the political and technical leadership.

"The political leadership provides effective oversight while the technical team implements government programmes professionally. This close collaboration has been instrumental in ensuring quality service delivery and excellent performance in the national assessment," Ntungire noted.

During the meeting, Kazo district Planner Tumuheise Imelda made a detailed presentation outlining the district's strategies for achieving high performance in the OPM assessment. She highlighted the importance of proper planning, documentation, teamwork, regular monitoring, compliance with government guidelines and continuous preparation for the assessment process. She encouraged the Kitagwenda team to adopt similar approaches to improve their future performance.

Speaking on behalf of the visiting delegation, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Akankwatsa Moses expressed appreciation to Kazo district for the warm reception and openness in sharing its experiences.

He said the benchmarking tour had achieved its intended objective and assured the hosts that the best practices observed would be adopted in Kitagwenda district to strengthen service delivery and improve performance in future Office of the Prime Minister assessments.

"We have learned valuable lessons from Kazo district. We are committed to implementing these best practices to enhance our performance and deliver better services to our people," Akankwatsa said.

He thanked the leadership and technical staff of Kazo district for their hospitality and willingness to share knowledge.

Both Kazo and Kitagwenda are among Uganda's newly created districts and continue to face similar opportunities and challenges in building strong local government systems. The benchmarking visit underscored the importance of collaboration, peer learning and the exchange of best practices as local governments strive to improve service delivery and promote sustainable development.

The writer is Tinyefuza Naboth, Communications Officer, Kazo district local government.