Performance Management Systems and Program Performance: A Case Study of Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP) in Buhweju District

The study aimed at establishing the relationship between performance management systems and performance of UWEP in Buhweju District in order to address the problem of persistent declining performance of UWEP in Buhweju District. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: to examine the relationship between performance planning and UWEP performance, to determine the influence of performance monitoring on UWEP performance and to establish the influence of performance evaluation on UWEP performance. The study adopted a cross sectional study design and the population was 30 UWEP coordinators and 1,560 UWEP beneficiaries in Buhweju District. The data was collected using purposive, simple random and stratified sampling from a sample of 150 UWEP members and 20 UWEP coordinators. A questionnaire was administered to UWEP members while UWEP coordinators were interviewed. The study found out that: there is a statistically significant substantial positive correlation between performance planning and UWEP performance in Buhweju district (r=.696**, P<.01), there is a statistically significant moderate positive correlation between performance monitoring and UWEP performance in Buhweju district (r=.537**, P<.01) and there is a statistically significant low positive correlation between performance evaluation and UWEP performance in Buhweju district (r=.378**, P<.01). The study concludes that: performance planning is a key predictor of UWEP performance in Buhweju district since there exists a significant substantial positive relationship between it and UWEP performance; performance monitoring is a major driver of UWEP performance in Buhweju district since there exists a significant positive correlation between it and UWEP performance and performance evaluation also determines UWEP performance in Buhweju district since there exists a significant positive relationship between it and UWEP performance. The study recommends that UWEP members, UWEP coordinators and policy makers: should do more performance planning through better goal setting, setting performance agreements and ensuring performance development; they should improve performance monitoring through conducting constant ongoing superior support, continuous assessment & training and lastly, they should do more performance evaluation by doing more performance appraisal and encouraging more dialogue/feedback.