Lydia Ochieng-Obbo

Lydia Ochieng-Obbo is a partner with Frederick, Francis and Associates Advocates, a local firm operating in Uganda, is an Albert Parvin Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA and a graduate of Law from Makerere University, Kampala Uganda. 

She has 27 years working experience, 10 of which have been as private legal practitioner and consultant on private sector and Institutional development, governance, policy and regulatory issues, and 10 of which have been in the Central Bank and 7 in Microfinance. Between 2004-2006, she worked for 2 years and 9 months as an Institutional Development and Policy Specialist with the USAID funded Strengthening Competitiveness of Private Enterprise (SCOPE) where she was managing the component on strengthening the overall framework for competitiveness, enhancing private /public sector dialogue and building of effective partnerships to remove impediments to growth, enhance proactive engagement during the budget framework process to ensure adequate resources are allocated to key  productive sectors of the economy.

The work also involved strengthening the institutional capacity of private sector associations to undertake effective advocacy and strategic planning roles. Lydia contributed significantly to restructuring Uganda’s competitiveness strategy and institutional framework to make it the focal point for competitiveness dialogue that represents national goals, while taking into account both private and public sector interests and roles.

She was instrumental in broadening the scope of participation in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Survey in Uganda and thereby bringing the survey results to the attention of key policy makers. Lydia has done extensive work in the area of policy research, analysis and advocacy and reviewed institutional, legal and regulatory frameworks as they affect private sector development and indeed competitiveness imperatives in Uganda.

She was also instrumental in SCOPE’s participation in the Brand Uganda Initiative (Uganda- Gifted by Nature) and is well versed with branding as an n economic development tool at firm, sector and national level.  Between May 2007 and July 2009, Lydia worked as a short term consultant for the World Bank/ IFC in Juba Sudan, where as part of the World Bank/ IFC / Investment Climate Team, she conducted an Institutional Review for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Southern Sudan.

Lydia possesses an in depth understanding of financial sector issues having worked with the Central Bank as Legal Counsel for 10 years where she worked closely with the Supervision Function and later as Secretary to the National Forum on Private Investment and Export Growth, Financial Sector Development Working Group while working as Senior Research Officer with Uganda Manufacturers Consultancy and Information Services between 1995 – 1998.

She also has a good understanding of micro finance issues having been part of the National Forum Financial Sector Subcommittee that participated in the initial drafting of the MDI law and by virtue of extensive work done in the transformation of Uganda Finance Trust as a Board Director.  Lydia worked as an external consultant for DFID on their Commercial Justice Reform Programme - Output to Purpose Reviews for the years 2001 and 2002 and was responsible for writing the final reports.

Lydia has participated in training of Private Sector Association Governance Courses organized by the PSFU in conjunction with the USAID SPEED project between April 2002 and June 2002 and co-facilitated the delivery of the Policy Advocacy and Governance Courses. Lydia also facilitated the Policy Advocacy Course in April 2003, at MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation, Arusha, Tanzania. She participated in the Review of the Medium Term Competitiveness Strategy Thematic Area on Commercial Justice Reform Sector in October 2003.

She is a member of the Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited (UWEAL) and sits on the Governing Council of the Centre for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution (CADER).  She is also a member of the Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda (ICGU).  She has been recently appointed the Board of Trustees of the Agri Business Initiative, an initiative supported by Denmark, Belgium, Sweden and the EU.

Lydia is Computer literate, has excellent writing, analytical and leadership skills. She is 49 years old, married with children.

Experience Record

April 2010 – to date – Agricultural Business Inititiave Trust (aBi)

Lydia was appointed to serve on the Board of Trustees of the above initiative which has been set up to follow up on the work started by DANIDA under the Agricultural Sector Program Support (ASPS) Project. The initiative is intended to ensure sustainability of the support services for the agricultural sector in Uganda through the efficient management and investment of endowment and grant funds.

August – October 2009 – Independent Consultant for the National Competitiveness Forum Planning Committee–

Lydia was retained by USAID in conjunction with the Competitiveness and Investment Climate Secretariat (CICS) secretariat to assist with mobilizing participants from the public and private sector for the Fourth National Competitiveness Forum whose theme was Repositioning Uganda for Global Competitiveness. Lydia facilitated the mobilization and briefing of potential participants for the pre conference meeting and the main conference, updating and consolidation of the participants’ data base, and to prepare an updated and categorized conference attendance list.

November – December 2008 – Short Term Consultancy with the Gambia Women Finance Association

Lydia was part of the WWB Team which visited Gambia Women’s Finance Association (GAWFA) to advise them on transformation from an NGO to a regulated Finance Company, She conducted stakeholder informant interviews and assisted GAWFA in organizing a stakeholder workshop at which she presented a case study from Uganda Finance Trust a transformed MFI in Uganda where she is a Board Member.

May – July 2007- October &December 2007, Feb – March and May-June 2008, March-May & June- July 2009 - Institutional Development Adviser (Short Tern Consultant) World Bank/ IFC / Investment Climate Team for Africa.

Lydia worked as part of the Investment Climate Team   on the Institutional Review of the Ministry of Commerce  and Industry between May / July 2007 and June /July 2009 and was instrumental in preparing the Report which was  presented and adopted at a Stakeholders Workshop held in July 2009. The Team’s efforts to support the reform of the Ministry are part of the overall investment climate improvement efforts of which institutional development is a key element.

October 2006 – April 2007:  Volunteer with Gifted By Nature Limited

Lydia assisted in the establishment of  the Secretariat for Gifted By Nature, a not for profit company set up to take care of Uganda’s national brand  which was launched in October 2005. She was instrumental in creating a code of practice and assisting with legal and advocacy aspects relating to the establishment of value and equity in the brand as well as institutional frameworks for managing the brand under a private/public sector partnership.

October 2006 – to date:  Consultant with the Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda (ICGU)

After attending a Corporate Governance Course in the last week of September 2006, Lydia was accredited as a member of the ICGU and a Consultant / Facilitator on Corporate Governance and the Law module. She has since conducted training for Board Directors of the National Forest Authority and Uganda Coffee Development Authority in Uganda among others.

December 2006 - Short Term Consultancy with the Medium Term Competitiveness Strategy

Retained on a short term assignment to review the draft Competitiveness and Investment Climate Strategy (CICS) 2006-2010, which has replaced the Medium Term Competitiveness Strategy (MTCS) 2000-2005. Lydia was tasked to ensure that the revised strategy articulated a well thought out competitiveness approach focussing on the productive sectors of the economy and emphasising the need for strong private/public partnerships based on efficient and effective institutional frameworks.

February 2004 – September 2006: Institutional Development and Policy Specialist, SCOPE Project

Lydia worked as Institutional Development and Policy Specialist with SCOPE, a project which was geared towards strengthening the competitiveness of private enterprise in 7 agro-based sectors and tourism.

Her component, which focused on strengthening Private/Public Partnerships for Competitiveness included the building of an overall institutional framework for private and Public sector actors to participate meaningfully in competitiveness dialogue by removing impediments to growth, including proactive engagement during the budget framework process.  She participated in SCOPE’s efforts to the revision of the MTCS document for 2005/2010, which had begun in earnest, to focus on the productive sectors and support monitoring and reporting on competitiveness indicators.

Under SCOPE she was instrumental in bringing the MTCS Secretariat together with the Makerere Institute for Social Research (MISR) to take the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index Survey 2004/2005 to four regions of Uganda namely, Lira, Mbale, Mbarara and Kampala (April 2005) so as to get a more geographically balanced respondent sample as well as skewing the respondent sample top reflect proportionate sectoral contribution to GDP.   The partnership was to be enlarged to include the Bank of Uganda, Economic Policy Research Centre and the National Planning Authority during  the 2006/2007 survey to bring more awareness about the importance of these results and their sue to influence policy decisions amongst key institutions.

Lydia played a key role in building partnerships this component focused on strengthening the private sector’s  ability to coalesce by cooperating amongst themselves, leading with the Floriculture, Fisheries, Tourism, Fish  and Coffee sectors, leading to increased appreciation of the need to strengthen private sector voice and involvement in policy making and resource allocation decisions. Private sector leaders became more aware of the need to tackle private sector fragmentation as a way of improving the ability to engage in pro- active dialogue with the public sector. For example with the assistance of SCOPE the private sector in the flower, coffee and cotton sectors successfully engaged with the URA on tax related issues such as Duty draw back, import duty and VAT.  With Lydia’s input SCOPE assisted Fresh Handling in a dialogue with URA  and MOFPED over VAT and helped  the private sector  to prepare a position paper on the issue of VAT on handling services for cold storage at Entebbe and has continued to assist with the resolution of this long outstanding issue.

February 1999 – February 2004: Managing Partner, Frederick, and Francis & Associates Advocates

Lydia was the Managing Partner for 4 years of the above firm, which opened in February 1999 and is positioned as primarily offering legal advisory services to the private, local and international business sector, in commercial/business law, International trade and Corporate Law Practice. The firm also provides consultancy services mainly to the private sector, Donor agencies and NGO’s.

Assignments Handled

• In October 2003 – February 2004 the Firm was retained as Consultants by the SPEED Project to develop the Board Policy and Staff Policy Manuals for Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU)
• In July 2003 – October 2003, the Firm was retained as Consultants by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to carry out a Review Study for the Medium Term Competitiveness Strategy Thematic Area on Commercial Justice Reform Sector.
• In April 2003, the Firm in association with the Firm of Nambale, Nsubuga & Co. Advocates and Legal Consultants, were retained as Consultants by Uganda Law Reform Commission to carry out a study on the Codification of the Law of Contract and to prepare a contract bill, 2003 with explanatory notes.  Lydia was the lead consultant.
• In April 2003, Lydia was a facilitator in the Policy Advocacy Course of April 2003, at MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation, Arusha, Tanzania.   She participated in the developing of the training programme and tools for training.
• In October 2002, the Firm was retained by Association for Micro Finance Institutions of Uganda, to amend and register their constitution.  Lydia was invited by the Association to their Annual General Meeting held in July 2003 to make a presentation on the proposed changes to the constitution.

Between April 2002 and June 2002, Lydia was a facilitator in the Association Governance and Management Series Courses offered by PSF in conjunction with the USAID SPEED Project’s BDS component.  She participated in the editing of the course manual for the policy advocacy course, delivering the first course and is also responsible for teaching the advocacy course in the series which is now on-going.  Lydia also participated in the preliminary review of course materials for the Association Governance Course, Strategic Planning and Members Development Courses prior to their delivery.

• In December 2001 and December 2002 Lydia was retained as an external Consultant by DFID to do their Outputs to Purpose Review (OPR) for the Commercial Justice Reform Programme for the year 2001.  On both occasions, Lydia conducted interviews of key stakeholders, filled in a DFID OPR forms and prepared accompanying report with explanatory notes.
• In November 2001, Lydia was appointed to serve on the Commission of Inquiry into the leasing of the City Square to a private developer. Lydia served on the Commission as Lead Counsel and the Commission’s Report was handed in on the 26th of March 2002.  The Report was upheld by Cabinet and the proposed development was rejected.
• Between July and August 2001, Lydia was part of a four person Consultancy team that has been working on preparing a Background Paper (Ugandan Chapter) that will inform the Rockefeller Foundation’s strategy of supporting Public-Private Partnerships as a basis for enhanced social and economic development in Africa.  The study, which centred on health, education and food security, covered Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe.  The team was lead by Dr. William Kalema. Others were Dr. Johnson Nkuhe (M.P) and Sarah Lubega a partner in the Firm.  Lydia and Sarah were responsible for putting together the material on private/public partnerships in the health sector in Uganda.
• Between July 2000 and December 2001, Lydia was lead consultant for the firm’s external consultancy services to the PSF whose mandate was to spearhead and map out a policy intervention and advocacy agenda that has guided the PSFU ’s participation in, and monitoring of the on going Commercial Justice Sector Reform Programme.  As part of the assignment the firm produced a Guide to Parliament for PSF members to assist them in mapping out their advocacy and lobbying agenda through the legislature.  The firm also represented the PSF on three task forces that were formed to review the four clusters of the commercial laws under the Commercial Justice Reform Programme and is in the process of finalising summaries of the reforms of the laws on insolvency; business association; fair trade legislation and secured transactions.
• The Firm was an Associate Consultant with Manpower Services (U) Ltd., a firm that specialises in Human Resource Development and Management Training.  Between 2000-2003, Lydia conducted training on;  “Labour Laws in Uganda – “The Employer and the Employment Decree and the Worker’s Act 2000, “Legal Aspects of Corporate Fraud” and “Legal Aspects of Debt Collection” as part of the training programmes offered by Manpower Services. Lydia has also conducted interviews for FIDA Uganda individually and in association with DAMA Consultancy Services. 

 June 1995 to May 1998: Senior Research Officer and Company Secretary, Uganda Manufacturers Association and Consultancy Services.

Policy Research, Analysis and Advocacy

Lydia’s major assignments centred on policy research and analysis including the compiling of the Uganda Manufacturer’s  private sector issues into a Budget  Proposals Platform and organising Forum workshops to present private sector issues  and position papers to the government.  The key assignments conducted are summarised below: -

1997 National Forum

A consortium of consultants including UMACIS was engaged to form a Secretariat for the 1997 National Forum whose scope was to extend national forum activities to the districts to get their in put. Lydia was involved in organising and conducting district workshops geared at creating an enabling environment to enable participants identify key constraints to private sector growth in their locality. Through this process Lydia acquired and grasped the basic tenets of the strategic management process and strategic involvement especially as it relates to policy dialogue and advocacy.

National Forum on Private Investment and Export Growth. (1995-1996)

National Forum Monitoring Group.

Ms. Ochieng-Obbo assisted the Director of UMACIS as Secretary of the National Forum Monitoring Group, organises the meetings and ensuring follow up. Assisted the Director of UMACIS by providing Secretarial services to the National Forum Monitoring Group, and organising the National Forum Workshops. Responsible for supervising the writing and submission of the Progress Quarterly Report on activities of the Forum funded under a USAID grant, to the USAID

The Financial Sector Development Working Group.

Lydia acted as Secretary for the working group, responsible for organising meetings, taking minutes and following up on important issues raised by the group.  She worked with the task force that drafted initial legislation aimed at supervising and regulating the activities of micro- financial institutions in Uganda.

Private Sector Foundation and Private Sector Competitiveness Project.

Worked as Secretary to the Private Sector Task Force responsible for designing, guiding, and implementing the PSCP. Responsible for mobilising interest groups, assisting in initiating dialogue and brain storming sessions with representatives of Business Associations and other organisation which facilitate private sector initiative, a process which resulted in the formation of the Private Sector Foundation. Responsible for drafting the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the PSF,

Overseeing the incorporation of the PSF and opening of the PSF accounts. Organising the PSF and PSCP Project Launch Workshop and assisting in the establishment of the PSF Secretariat.

National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO) Sustainable Funding Initiative Programme.

Worked with the Lead Consultant and produced the legal component of the report on Sustainable Funding Initiative Programme for NARO. The World Bank sponsored this study. Lydia interviewed the key constituents to gauge the legal constraints to obtaining funding for the statutory sources and also raising revenue from the research within the parameters set by the various laws affecting the activities of NARO and other related organisations and government departments.

Background Analyses into the Legal Framework for the Design Phase of a Credit Reference Bureau (CRB). (Sept 1997)

Lydia was engaged by the Business Associations Initiative component of the PRESTO project to do a preliminary study into the legal framework for the establishment of a Credit Reference Bureau in Uganda. Lydia interviewed key constituents from banks, business organisations and public authorities who are potential sources of credit and other related information to establish the legal constraints that would need to be overcome to enable the establishment of a CRB in Uganda.  A Business Information Bureau has been established under the auspices of the Institute of Bankers of Uganda.

Institutional Framework for Sustained Dialogue between Government of Rwanda and the Private Sector, and Institutional Reform of the Chamber of Commerce in Rwanda. (November 1997- December 1998)

Lydia was part of a team of Consultants seconded by the PSF Uganda to assist the government and the private sector in establishing an institution similar to the PSF in Uganda and to suggest ways in which the Chamber of Commerce can be reformed.  She played a leading role in conducting interviews of stakeholders and preparing the various reports including the final report.

World Bank / Privatisation Unit Survey of Parliamentarians to Collect Views on the Privatisation Process in Uganda - March/ April 1998.

Lydia headed a Team of enumerators, who conducted a two-week random survey of parliamentarians to gauge their views on the Privatization process and the privatization of Public Utilities in Uganda.  Was responsible for organizing the workshop which followed to discuss the results of the survey and was involved in the writing and compilation of the Survey Results, writing and editing the Workshop Report.

Legal Counsel July 1995 - April 1998.

Acting as Corporation Secretary to UMACIS, drafting agreements and other legal documents as and when required. Have also provided legal services to UMA where requested.

January 1984 to December 1994. Joined the Central Bank as Banking Officer voluntarily retired at the level of Senior Banking Officer 1

Tasks included drafting legal memoranda and legal documents. Advising the bank on legal issues and representing the bank in negotiations with third parties. Causing the bank to be represented in Court and or other similar for a by outside counsel.

October 1993 to December 1993 Nakawa College of Commerce

Lydia taught Introduction to Law and Business Law to first year students doing a Diploma in Business Studies and continuing students reading for the Chartered Secretaries and Administrators Institute Examinations, respectively.

1982- August 1983 Assistant Claims Manager, Interstate Insurance Brokerage Services.

Responsible for handling Clients Insurance Claims, renewing their policies, advising them on their rights and obligations under the respective policies, and setting up Arbitration proceedings where necessary and causing legal action to be taken up in their interest against Insurers.

January 1978- July 1978- Grind lays Bank – Savings Bank Ledger Clerk (Senior Six Vacation)

Responsible for entering savings postings and withdrawals in the savings book and completing and balancing ledger sheets in the savings department.