Uganda: Understanding Poverty

This note describes the author's experience of field testing poverty assessment tools for the USAID's microenterprise development team under the 'Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project' (AMAP). The note presents the author's account of her work with Nkoola Institutional Development Associates (NIDA) to implement a survey of 800 Ugandan households by adapting their work to Uganda's environment, including multiple languages, conflict, AIDS and even wildlife. The note describes:

• The adaptation of the questionnaire to Ugandan conditions;
• The easy availability of food;
• The collection of data by three teams;
• The civil strife in Uganda that led to the exclusion of households in those areas for the survey.