ABSTRACT The study was carried out on the role of decentralization in the promotion of socio-economic development in Kaabong district where by Lolelia Sub County was used as the case study. The study objectives included to examine the ways through which decentralization was being practiced in Lolelia Sub County, to assess the contributions of decentralization towards socio economic development of Lolelia Sub County and to examine the challenges that decentralization was encountering in fostering socio-economic development in Lolelia Sub County. These guided the study and determined the data that the researcher collected from the field through interviews and questionnaires. The study used an exploratory research design to explore into issues concerning the practice of decentralization in Lolelia sub county, simple random sampling was used to select a representative sample from the study population where a sample size of 80 respondents were selected for the study. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources using documentation, interviews and questionnaires, collected data was analyzed qualitatively using thematic analysis to generate relate data into tables that helped the researcher in discussing the findings. The study indicated that decentralization was leading to equal distribution of resources and people were deciding for themselves on how to use their resources for development which were contributing to socio-economic development. Therefore decentralization should be encouraged for economic development to be realized in Lolelia Sub County and Uganda at large.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION.i

APPROVAL H

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF ACRONYMS viii

CHAPTER ONE I

PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Back ground to the study 1

1.2. Statement of the problem 4

1.3 Objectives of the study 5

1.4 Research questions 5

1.5Scopeofthestudy 5

1.6 Significance of the study 6

CHAPTER TWO 7

LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1. Ways in which decentralization is practiced 7

2.2 Challenges of decentralization 9

CHAPTER THREE 14

METHODOLOGY 14

3.0 Introduction 14

3.1 Research design .14

3.2 Area and study population 14

3.3 Sampling procedure 14

3.4 Sample size 15

3.5 Tools of data collection 15

3.6 Sources of data 15

3.7 Data analysis 16

3.8 Limitations of the study 16

CHAPTER FOUR 17

ANALYSIS, PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 17

4.1 Biographic features of respondents 17

4.2 Definitions of decentralization according to respondents 22

4.3 How decentralization is practiced in Lolelia Sub County 24

4.4 Contributions of decentralization to the development of Lolelia Sub County 25

4.7 How the government is promoting decentralization 30

Table XII: Showing how the Government is Promoting Decentralization 30

4.8 Causes of inadequate implementation of decentralization in Lolelia Sub County 31

CHAPTER FIVE 34

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 34

5.1 Conclusions 34

5.2 Recommendations 35

REFERENCES 38