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The Government of Uganda, together with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Union (EU) in Uganda, have today launched a five-year project that seeks to empower rural communities in most vulnerable districts, to identify and adapt to climate change, through interventions that will also promote food security, income generation and sustainability of livelihoods.

The project, Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+), now in its second phase (2018 –2023) and with funding of €8 million (Ugx 33.8 billion) from the European Union, will help to scale up agricultural adaptation to climate change in Uganda, enabling rural households to become more resilient to climate change effects and food insecurity by promoting sustainable and gender transformation actions. The GCCA+ Project will be implemented in nine districts of the central part of Uganda’s Cattle Corridor, including six previous beneficiary GCCA districts of Nakasongola, Luwero, Nakaseke, Mubende, Kiboga and Sembabule and three new adjacent, vulnerable districts of Kalungu, Gomba, Lyantonde.

The new phase of the Project builds upon the successful implementation of the first phase of the GCCA project, implemented from 2012 to 2017, which helped to make Uganda one of the leading countries in Africa undertaking climate change adaptation. Uganda remains one of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change especially in the areas like the cattle corridor that is characterized by erratic rains, flooding, frequent and prolonged droughts, inhabited by communities dependent on rain-fed crop and livestock production systems. The poor and the marginalized are the most affected because of limited productive assets.

“Climate change seriously impacts our joint efforts towards sustainable development and is a clear and present danger to the world we know. We have an individual and joint responsibility to respond and to address this global challenge,” said European Union Ambassador to Uganda, H.E Attilio Pacifici. “Actions are urgently needed to preserve and expand key ecosystems such as forests, to use natural resources sustainably and to promote ecosystem services. The action we launch today is complementary to other EU supported initiatives in the sectors of transport and energy infrastructure and agriculture, which are all implemented with the goal of ensuring inclusive and sustainable social, economic and environmental development.”

Some of the interventions in Phase 1 included construction of 15 valley tanks and rehabilitation of five old ones, formation of 168 Farmer Field Schools, with about 4,000 farmer households, establishment of about 700 hectares of bioenergy plantations to enhance sustainable energy production and formation of 400 farmer groups with over 10,000 farmer households. Phase 1 also witnessed the establishment of 380 plots to demonstrate and promote field adaptation practices for coffee. GCCA+ will augment these milestones targeting more households and more people. This Phase will witness the establishment of six valley tanks that will cater for about 12,000 livestock, distribution of 5,000 energy saving cook stoves, and installation of 300 small scale irrigation schemes benefiting 25,000 people in the nine beneficiary districts, among many other climate change adaptation interventions.

While officiating at the launch of the Project, the Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), Honourable Vincent Ssempijja called upon local political and cultural leaders to become ambassadors for climate change mitigation and adaptation in their localities by carrying out the basic recommended best practices in agriculture.

“Climate change is real and agriculture is the most affected sector; if our negative actions persist, we will not be able to feed our people,” he said. ”I therefore call upon all leaders to become role models in their areas and advocate for better practices that can stall and address
climate change”, he added. The Minister commended researchers under the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) for developing improved crop technologies such as high yielding, early maturing and fortified crops such like iron-rich beans. These, he said are critical for food security in the face of changing climate. Speaking during the launch of the project at Kalungu District Headquarters, the FAO Representative in Uganda, Antonio Querido, emphasized the need for Uganda to adapt to and mitigate climate change impacts, because with no action “in the coming decades, climate change will severely affect food production and have other catastrophic impacts depending on our choices as individuals and governments.”

“For Uganda, the next ten years are crucial to make a difference through effective, inclusive and efficient climate change actions. Building the resilience of people and the natural resources base that are adaptive to climate change while leaving no one behind through an integrated response is crucial if we are to succeed in our current efforts,” he said. Querido further revealed that FAO will be working with Government of Uganda in the next five years to strengthen national and district knowledge and skills to support agriculture adaption and community resilience to climate change in 33 districts, with financial resources of about USD30 million.

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Fulfilling young people’s potential lies at the heart of UNFPA’s work. Under the WITH YOU(TH) pillar of its Live Your Dream campaign, UNFPA Uganda is attempting to contribute to this critical component of the organisation’s work in a very practical way.

In line with efforts by the government of Uganda to promote entrepreneurship and find productive opportunities for its youth and address unemployment through initiatives such as the Youth Livelihoods programme, UNFPA supports government and partners to provide young people with access to skilling, and platforms for collaboration and mentorship to turn their ideas into transformative solutions.

One of the ways UNFPA does this is through the Learn from UNFPA initiative, a platform that brings together young people from various backgrounds, with an interest in social enterprise and leadership and links them with UNFPA staff who offer training sessions and mentorship on a range of subjects. The aim is to enable young leaders and managers of startups to learn how robust organizations like UNFPA conduct and manage their operations and to translate this to their own enterprises and organisations.

On June 28 2019, UNFPA Representative Mr.  Alain Sibenaler facilitated the fifth Session of Learn from UNFPA, held at UNFPA’s Innovation Café.  The focus of the one-hour session was Leadership and Fundraising, a continuation of the first session facilitated by Mr. Sibenaler. In attendance were about 30 young people; owners and leaders of various startups and youth-led organisations.

Speaking on the topic What leadership is and how it manifests itself, Mr Sibenaler emphasized that leadership is a trait every individual, regardless of their status or capacity, possesses. The best kind of leaders, he noted, are those who understand that leadership is multi-dimensional and are able to balance technical, managerial and political leadership as well as demonstrate multiple levels of intelligence. “If you really want to have transformational leadership then all the three aspects have to work hand in hand,” he told the young people in attendance.

On fundraising, Mr. Sibenaler highlighted that the most important aspect of fundraising is to have a clear understanding of why one comes up with a particular idea. Equally important, he noted, is to understand and apply the principles of Leadership and fundraising that he referred to as the 3A’s and 2C’s; the ability to anticipate, adapt and be accountable as well as having credibility and confidence.

Jamila Mayanja, the founder of the Smart Girls Foundation, that trains underprivileged girls on entrepreneurship, has consistently attended Learn from UNFPA sessions.  “Since our first session on leadership with Mr. Sibenaler, I have learnt the importance of creating internal systems.  I always thought as a small organization we didn’t need systems but after the training I have realized the importance. We are now working on developing our own code of conduct and other internal policies. And after today’s session, I really feel like a better leader,” she said.

Since the inception of Learn from UNFPA in December 2018, sessions have been held covering various areas in Leadership and Governance, Financial Management, Monitoring and Evaluation and Strategic Communications.  A total of 64 young people from 21 startups have benefited from the sessions.

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UNICEF has launched an emergency Ebola response plan in Uganda following the confirmation of the first three cases of Ebola Virus Disease in the country over the past two days. Among the cases was a 5-year-old boy who, following a visit with his family to the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), returned to Uganda on 9 June and died on Tuesday night after having been transferred to the Bwera Ebola Treatment Unit in Kasese.  The boy’s grandmother also died from the virus in Kasese District on Wednesday, where almost 400,000 children live.

UNICEF’s shift to its response phase in Uganda follows months of preparedness and prevention efforts as Ebola cases increased in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “As our thoughts are with this young boy’s family, this is a tragic reminder that even one case of Ebola is one too many,” said UNICEF Representative in Uganda, Dr. Doreen Mulenga. “We must do everything possible to stop this outbreak in its tracks and prevent other needless deaths.  UNICEF is intensifying its efforts to do so and minimize this outbreak’s potentially devastating impact on children and communities at-large in Uganda.”

Over the past several months, UNICEF has supported the Government of Uganda implement extensive programmes to make sure communities in numerous districts in western Uganda bordering the DRC are prepared for a potential outbreak. UNICEF support includes:

• Nearly 350,000 household visits to provide targeted, culturally appropriate information around Ebola prevention and timely care-seeking;
• Over 14,000 community group meetings at schools, churches, mosques, market places, taxi, boda-boda and bus stops as well as at funeral gatherings, to discuss Ebola prevention and timely care-seeking, which have reached around 2.4 million people;
• Providing water, sanitation and hygiene supplies to more than 500 health facilities, over 1,000 schools, and 60 border points;
• Building capacity for infection prevention and control in health facilities through water, sanitation and hygiene interventions and on-the-job orientation and mentoring of health facility staff on effective prevention;
• Training nearly 1,500 Uganda Red Cross volunteers and para-social workers to support affected populations deal with Ebola-related stress.

“Awareness is the best way to prevent the spread of this virus. Strategically communicating the correct knowledge and best practices to affected communities is critical to doing so which, among other key interventions, UNICEF will provide its full support to moving forward,” said Mulenga.

UNICEF requires $3.9 million (14.6 billion UGX) to support the Government of Uganda’s Ebola response with intensive Risk Communication and Social Mobilization, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Infant and Young Child Feeding, and Psycho-Social support interventions to children and their families.

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On May 15, 2019, the Danida-funded Northern Uganda Resilience Initiative (NURI) was launched in Lamwo district by the Hon. Minister of Northern Uganda and the Head of Mission at the Embassy, Majbrit Holm Jakobsen. The function was graced by officials from districts, line ministries, implementing partners and more than 600 farmers, including refugees.

NURI will support 120,000 farmers and 2000 community groups with climate smart agriculture and rural infrastructure. The programme will be implemented in nine districts in West Nile and Acholi sub-regions and will also benefit refugees and host communities.

NURI is part of the Danida-funded ‘UPSIDE’ (Uganda Programme for Sustainable and Inclusive Development of the Economy), which is a private sector development programme aimed at creating sustainable and inclusive economic growth based on agricultural development. The total budget for 2018-2022 is DKK 605 million (EUR 88 million). The main beneficiaries are smallholder farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises within agri-business, including refugee and tehir host communities. UPSIDE focuses on value chain development and making the markets work better for the poor. UPSIDE builds on experience with previous interventions and will have a particular focus on Northern Uganda.

You can find more information about Danida’s work in Uganda on the Embassy of Denmark’s webpage.

On May 1, 2019, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation[1] with Uganda. Uganda needs to create over 600,000 jobs per year to match annual population growth of over 3 percent. After two decades of formidable gains on poverty reduction, progress has stalled in the last available household survey for 2016/17. Growth needs to become more inclusive again, and prospects are closely linked to the growth dividend from public investment and investments in human capital.

Uganda’s economy continues its recovery. The economy grew by 6.1 percent in FY17/18, with a strong services sector and a rebound in agriculture from the previous year’s drought. Investor surveys suggest that business conditions and sentiment are strong, while credit to the private sector has improved, helped by an accommodative monetary policy stance. Growth could reach 6.3 percent in FY18/19, though slow rainfalls and regional tensions are a risk to the outlook. Over the medium term, growth could range from 6 to 7 percent if infrastructure and oil sector investments proceed as planned.

Macroeconomic policies are supportive of economic activity. The government continues its policy of scaling up infrastructure investment. Investment reached 8.9 percent of GDP in FY17/18 and is envisaged to increase further this year and next. As a result, public debt grew further to 41.3 percent of GDP at end-FY17/18. Headline inflation stood at 3 percent and core inflation at 4.6 percent year-on-year in March. The monetary policy stand remains accommodative, even with the 100 bps policy rate increase last October that ended the previous easing cycle. Inflation is projected to converge to Bank of Uganda’s 5 percent target over the next 1½ years mainly driven by food prices and fiscal spending.

Vulnerabilities are increasing. Uganda remains at low risk of debt distress, even though debt metrics have deteriorated and one in five Ugandan shillings collected in revenue will be spent on interest in FY19/20. The current account deficit widened to 6.1 percent of GDP in FY17/18, somewhat weaker than desirable. With gross international reserves of $3.4 billion (4.2 months of next year’s imports) at end-February, Uganda has a sound buffer against external shocks. The main risks to the outlook are unfavorable weather conditions, domestic and regional political tensions, and further delays in the start of oil production.

Executive Board Assessment [2]

Executive Directors agreed with the thrust of the staff appraisal. They commended Uganda’s macroeconomic performance and development gains over the last three decades, including halving its poverty rate. Noting Uganda’s growing population and job creation needs, Directors encouraged further progress towards poverty reduction and shared prosperity, through strong macroeconomic policies, human capital development, and improvements in institutions and governance with continued IMF capacity development support.

Directors welcomed the authorities’ intention to develop a fiscal rule to manage future oil revenues and encouraged the authorities to consider adopting an interim debt ceiling to guide fiscal policy. Directors also stressed the need to improve fiscal policy formulation and implementation including through a more binding approach to the annual budget process and encouraged the authorities to promptly adopt and implement the Domestic Revenue Mobilization Strategy given Uganda’s still low revenue collection.

Directors noted that a more balanced expenditure composition between infrastructure and social development (especially for the youth, women and low‑skilled workers) would better support inclusive growth and highlighted the need for spending prioritization, addressing domestic arrears and continued efforts to strengthen public finance and investment management practices.

While Uganda’s debt level remains at low risk of debt distress, Directors cautioned that debt metrics had weakened, some investment projects may not generate the envisaged return, and interest payments are rising. Directors thus called on the authorities to keep debt below 50 percent of GDP in nominal terms over the medium term to safeguard the hard‑earned favorable debt sustainability rating.

Directors agreed that inflation targeting continues to serve Uganda well under the central bank’s stewardship. They indicated that monetary policy could remain supportive for now and agreed on building reserves opportunistically under a flexible exchange rate regime given external vulnerabilities. Directors also urged the authorities to strengthen the Bank of Uganda’s financial position through recapitalization and expenditure measures.

Directors concurred that bank supervision and regulation are generally sound and noted the importance of a more favorable business environment and greater access to finance for a private sector‑led growth.

Finally, Directors welcomed the improvements in Uganda’s compliance with the AML/CFT standards and its decision to begin accession to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. They called for further efforts to strengthen governance and reduce corruption, including addressing weak implementation of the relevant legal framework.

Notes:

On April 17, 2019, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a grant of $150 million additional financing from the International Development Association (IDA) to boost an ongoing project to improve access to basic social services, expand economic opportunities, and enhance environmental management targeting both refugees and communities that host them. The $150 million-project is financed through the IDA 18 Refugee Sub Window.

Uganda is currently the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa and the third largest worldwide. Approximately 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers are living in Uganda due to ongoing conflicts and instability in some parts of the region.

The Additional Financing builds on an initial $50 million-project approved by the World Bank Board on May 31, 2016 and which became effective on June 29, 2017. The Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project (DRDIP) covers 11 districts that host the largest number of refugees and therefore bearing a disproportionate amount of strain on existing community social services and infrastructure. The project is implemented by the Office of the Prime Minister. It supports investments in basic social service infrastructure, integrated natural resources management and income generating activities including alternative livelihoods like value-addition to agriculture products, and fish farming. The project also seeks to strengthen transparency and accountability while addressing social risk management and gender-based violence.

“Government of Uganda welcomes this support from the World Bank to boost our efforts in responding to the needs of refugees and the generous communities that host them. It is a strong demonstration of solidarity with us, which we appreciate, ” said Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, Prime Minister, Republic of Uganda whose office oversees and coordinates the refugee response in the country.

The Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project is part of a regional operation – also being implemented in Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. The World Bank has significantly scaled up support in Uganda through its Forced Displacement Program. In addition to the DRDIP and the Additional Financing operation, two other projects have already been approved by the World Bank’s Board.

“Uganda’s progressive approach to refugees provides some of the best prospects for self-reliance. This Grant shows the international community – and the World Bank – greatly appreciates Uganda’s generosity towards refugees. We look forward to working very closely with other development and humanitarian partners to support the Government and the people of Uganda to support these efforts,” said Tony Thompson, Country Manager, World Bank, Uganda.

The World Bank has significantly scaled up its Uganda Forced Displacement Program to help secure the sustainability of the Government’s progressive refugee policies and practices through a combination of policy dialogue, investment financing, knowledge and research. In addition to the DRDIP Additional Financing and the initial operation, two other projects – $360m USMID Additional Financing and $280m Integrated Water Management and Development Project – have been approved by the Board  and include refugee-host community components that are focusing on various interventions ranging from improving social service delivery; creating economic opportunities and upgrading infrastructure in refugee hosting districts.

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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Uganda have today, launched a five-year project aimed at economic empowerment of women and contributing to the eradication of poverty in Karamoja and West Nile Regions of Uganda.

The project, “Climate Resilient Livelihood Opportunities for Women Economic Empowerment (CRWEE) in Karamoja and West Nile Regions of Uganda, is funded by the Government of Sweden, through the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) in Uganda. It aims to strengthen gender responsive and climate change resilience of rural women populations which depend on agricultural production systems through three key result areas:

• Improving women’s access to and control of productive resources and decision-making capacity;
• Improving household income and capacity to adapt to and mitigate climate change through gender-responsive livelihood opportunities and;
• Enhancing ecosystem adaptive and mitigation capacities.

Through the project, FAO will target about 250 farmer groups, reaching 52 500 people as direct beneficiaries, with a ripple effect to over 100 000 people supported overall. Six out of every ten beneficiaries will be women and girls. An additional 6 000 households will benefit from ecosystem management interventions such as tree planting, while at least 180 government officials from national and district levels, will receive training to empower them for gender-transformative climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Minister of State for Northern Uganda, Hon. Grace Freedom Kwiyucwinyi, expressed optimism about the Project, which she believes is a timely deliberate effort to uplift the 9 000 households living below the poverty line in Northern Uganda, through greater empowerment of women in agriculture.”

She called upon FAO, the Government of Sweden and other development partners to work together to eliminate poverty in the two poverty-laden regions by enhancing agricultural production, tackling youth unemployment and creating opportunities for income generation. “If we can address these three things, Karamoja and West Nile regions will have more food,” she said.

Hon. Kwiyucwinyi commended FAO for supporting the communities to identify relevant commodities such as cashew nuts, Irish potatoes, cassava, apiary and tree planting, which she advised the Project implementers to promote further through value addition.

Speaking at the launch of the project in Arua District, the Head of Development Cooperation at the Swedish Embassy in Uganda, Ola Hällgren emphasized the commitment of the Swedish Government to support Uganda to increase economic empowerment of rural women through support to production, productivity and productive employment in the agricultural sector, particularly in Karamoja and West Nile.

“The Government of Sweden recognizes the need to address a number of bottlenecks such as the use of rudimentary tools and technology in production, impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, lack of markets and market information, limited access and ownership of production assets for women and youths, limitations to financial access and vulnerabilities to shocks”, Hällgren said.

This project aims to address some of the above challenges, while also ensuring sustainable watershed management and use, access to energy, financial inclusions, among others, through increased collaboration between different stakeholders provides a strong opportunity to achieve project goals,” he added.

The West Nile and Karamoja sub-regions of Uganda have peculiar challenges to rural development and poverty reduction. Compounded by the refugee influx in West Nile and recurrent long droughts and floods in Karamoja, make it extremely hard for many households to sustain an agriculture-based livelihood. For West Nile and Karamoja, this means even greater pressure on already strained natural resources, with a high possibility of rendering currently productive lands and livestock-based livelihoods unproductive, thus exacerbating food insecurity.

The FAO Representative in Uganda, Antonio Querido, while speaking at the project launch, said that the role of women as the invisible hands that feed the nation remains constrained by social, cultural, environmental and economic orientations that must be addressed for sustainable development.

“The elimination of challenges faced by women in agriculture, including easing access to water for irrigation and provision of more climate resilient economics opportunities can contribute to increasing food security in Uganda, thereby positively impacting the incomes of agriculture dependent households”, said Querido.

“The project we are launching today will strive to integrate actions on climate change, poverty, and women economic empowerment for sustainable economic development in the constrained regions of Uganda,” he further said, while calling on all partners for a collaborative effort to ensure the success of the project.

Cultural leaders from the region, including His Royal Highness Drani Stephen of the Madi people and His Royal Majesty Ubim Phillip of Alur Kingdom pledged, in a public declaration, to support women’s access to more economic opportunities, mobilize communities and stakeholders to increase women’s access to productive resources and markets and ensure that women have greater access to and control of productive resources such as land, water and forests, as well as decision-making.

This project will also empower disadvantaged women and youth including those in refugee camps, to improve their skills and capacity to tackle the root causes of gender inequalities at both household and community levels.

The Project will be implemented in close collaboration and partnership with the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, the Ministry of Water and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Lands Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Prime Minister, Civil Society organizations and the private sector. This multi-sectoral and integrated approach will ensure sustainability of the Project results by aligning its activities to national and district priorities that promote local stakeholder participation and ownership.

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Illegal wildlife trade is the fourth largest global criminal market after illicit drugs, counterfeit goods and human trafficking. The Cross-Regional Wildlife Conservation in Eastern and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean project, funded by the European Union, is among other, working to support anti-trafficking efforts throughout the region. This programme is funding the Container Control Programme (CCP), developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Customs Organization (WCO), through which the Uganda customs recently seized 750 pieces of elephant ivory and 423 Kg of pangolin scales in Kampala, Uganda.

The elephant tusks and pangolin scales were being smuggled into the country. The seizure also resulted in the arrest of four suspects. The smuggled goods were mingled and stuck within candle wax, fitted within molded woods of timber and concealed in nine logs.

The Cross-regional Wildlife Conservation programme in Eastern and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean is a €30 million prorgamme working to support anti-trafficking efforts, enforcing wildlife law and cross-border collaboration in selected transboundary ecosystems and promoting the establishment and sustainable management of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs).

With the financial support of the European Union, the Ugandan Government is also establishing a profiling unit at the Entebbe International Airport.

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On March 12, 2019, the Government of Hungary announced that Uganda stands to benefit from a EUR 16.1 million development program, which is the largest Hungarian bi-lateral assistance program ever. This was announced at a joint press conference between Uganda’s Foreign Minister, Sam Kutesa, and the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó.

The program will focus on support in the areas on information, communication and technology, cyber security, and refugees, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hungary will also be providing 20 scholarships annually for Ugandan students to attend Hungarian higher education institutions and cooperation between universities is planned to continue within the food industry.

On March 6, 2019, the European Union Delegation in Uganda, together with the European Union Member States and the Embassy of Norway, opened a call for nominations of human rights defenders (HRDs) who have made an outstanding contribution to human rights in Uganda over the past year.

Remarking on the opening of nominations, EU Ambassador to Uganda, H.E Attilio Pacifici said: “This award, which is now in its eighth year, is an important moment to reward the work being done by courageous and selfless individuals in Uganda. We have had impressive winners in previous years and I have no doubt that the standard will continue to be high this year.”

Individuals and organisations are invited to submit their nominations by downloading the nomination form below:

Nomination form

Who can be nominated?

Nominations for Human Rights Defenders operating in all parts of Uganda are welcome. Human Rights Defenders are people who promote and protect universally recognised human rights and fundamental freedoms. These include civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights. Human Rights Defenders also promote and protect the rights of members of minority groups. The broad range of activities carried out by Human Rights Defenders can include the following:

• documenting and reporting human rights violations;
• seeking remedies for victims of human rights violations through the provision of legal, psychological, medical or other support;
• combating the culture of impunity which can hide systematic and repeated breaches of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
• mainstreaming a human rights culture, and transmitting information about HRDs at the national, regional and international levels;
• advocacy for the respect of human rights.

Candidates will be assessed by a jury composed of human rights experts of different European Embassies and the EU and Norwegian Heads of Mission. A list of shortlisted candidates will be made public in mid-April, with the winner to be announced during a ceremony at a ceremony hosted by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in May 2019.

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