General
Economic Assessment of Climate Change in Uganda-Adaptation Costly but Inevitable
After a year of intensive research and studies, Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) in conjunction with Climate Change Department (CCD), Ministry of Water and Environment has produced a fully fledged report on the Economic assessment of the impacts of climate change in Uganda.
Presenting the Report during the Economic Assessment Study-National Outreach Event organized by CDKN, Ministry of Water and Environment and Makerere University on 24th November 2015 at Protea Hotel-Kampala, Dr. Olivier Beucher from Le Groupe-conseil Baastel Sprl (Baastel) highlighted that although the cost of adapting to climate change is high, the cost of inaction is twenty times higher.
According to the report (Economic assessment of the impacts of climate change in Uganda), climate change is likely to cause an increase in extreme weather events such as floods, heat and droughts. Highlands are likely to become wetter and rainfall is expected to be more erratic, unpredictable and intense, with shorter rain seasons.
In addition, the report also points out that;
- Development prospects will only be reached if the impacts of climate change in Uganda are mitigated.
- The impacts of climate change in Uganda are expected to be felt across the sectors of agriculture, energy, infrastructure and water, as well as the local areas of Mpanga River Basin, Mt. Elgon, Karamoja and Kampala City, as studied to varying degrees
- The cost of adaptation will be so high estimated at around US$406m over the next five years (2015-2020). On an annual basis, this amounts to about 5% of the net official development assistance received and 3.2% of the total government revenues (excluding grants).
- The cost of inaction is 20 times greater than the cost of adaptation: inaction is estimated at between US$3.1b and 5.9b per year by 2025, which is more than 20 times of the proposed adaptation budget.
Further examining the economic impact in Uganda, Dr. Beucher said that Climate Change is more likely to affect the four sectors of Agriculture, Water, Infrastructure, and Energy. He highlighted that the damages to be reached in these sectors are estimated to collectively amount to 2-4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2010 and 2050.
“The higher the growth in GDP the lower is the percentage. The estimates include the costs of current variability as well as future change. In fact a major part of the problem comes from the current variability and a lack of infrastructure to deal with it. This gives urgency to the problem and to the need to act now to reduce impacts climate change,” he said.
He explained to the participants that, the development prospects for Uganda foresee an average annual growth rate of 7-8% over the next 25 years and a drop in poverty levels. However, Beucher said that these prospects depend on a lot of factors working in favour of implementation of sustainable development policies.
“Uganda is ready to take immediate actions, and must do so. Many of the recommended actions are likely to be ‘no regrets’. They will bring about gains regardless of whether climate change happens or not. Many of the actions also have potential co-benefits, for example reducing use of biomass for energy has carbon benefits and also potential biodiversity, health, and water management benefits,” he said.
In January 2014, the Government of Uganda commissioned the Economic Assessment of the Impact of Climate Change study. Its purpose was to provide the Government with economic evidence of the current and future costs associated with climate variability and predicted climate change, and the necessary adaptation measures for different sectors on both national and local scales. This evidence was intended to help policy makers mainstream climate change and resilience into national and sectoral policies and develop the case for investing in adaptation.
The study was carried out by climate change scientists from Makerere University, Metroeconomica (UK) and the University of Wolverhampton Centre for International Development and Training (CIDT) led by the Le Groupe- conseil Baastel Sprl (Baastel. It was jointly funded by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) and the Department for International Development (DFID).
According to the report, the evidence from the study has already informed Uganda’s Intended National Determined Contribution (INDC) to the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21), and to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) both in Paris France. The INDC outlines Uganda’s commitment to climate adaptation and mitigation of greenhouse gases as part of a new, universal global climate agreement that will be decided at the summit.
During the National Outreach Event organised under the theme: Economic Impact of Climate Change: what does it mean for Uganda’s development?, the Minister of Water and Environment Hon. Ephraim Kamuntu, acknowledged the great work carried out by CDKN, in sponsoring and developing the process of generating hard and empirical evidence on effects of Climate Change in Uganda. The Minister said that the figures generated will help to create awareness to the community.
He also explained that there is a need of the Ministry of Water and Environment to engage the community in influencing the impact of climate change as well as changing people’s mindsets towards a common goal of investing in Climate Change adaptation measures.
“There is a need to change peoples’ mindset and make them understand that climate change is real. Many Ugandans think that climate change is a myth. Therefore we need to prove to them that we are already experiencing it. It is very clear that in Buduuda almost 300 people were buried alive, glaciers on mountain Rwenzori melted and the recent floods in the western region clearly indicate that we are experiencing the impacts of Climate Change,” he said.
“We must also agree on means of implementation on Financing Climate Change. Money should be earmarked and not confused with funding for other programs. Secondly, Uganda National Meteorological Authority should be well equipped with modern technology to predict climate change accurately and raise awareness on it. At National Level, we need to engage Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to understand the economic threats of climate change,” he added.
In her speech, Ms. Claire Monkhouse from Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) said that Uganda contributes very little to this climate problem with less than 1% of the greenhouse gas emission. She said that Uganda is one of the 13 countries CDKN supports across Africa, Asia and Latin America to investigate climate adaptations and mitigation.
“I would like to emphasize that the study has highlighted that Uganda’s economy has already been impacted by climate variability and I am sure that these effects will rise with climate change. I thank the people who have been involved in the study and developing the findings that have been partly illustrated in the film. We are going to show this film to the climate experts in the coming Paris conference and I believe that it will greatly influence the binding agreement, we are going to draft during the conference,” she noted.
The Head, Department for International Development (DFID) Uganda Mr. Howard Standen noted that the Paris agreement should give a framework for accelerating a global transition of climate resilient economy. To him this can only be achieved by collective measures and true determination of countries.
“It is my pleasure to participate in such an important discussion which will positively impact on the national vision of this country. The national vision of Uganda is to transform the country into a competitive middle income country by 2040. I therefore congratulate the Minister of Water and Environment together with the Government of Uganda for the strong efforts they invested in the study and commitment to strongly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 22% by 2030,” said Mr. Standen.
In a speech read by the Principal, College Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) Prof. Bernard Bashaasha, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu said Makerere University has engaged in building capacity for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
“The Makerere University College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has integrated aspects of climate change at undergraduate level and introduced new regional Masters Programmes on the same. The College also developed seeds for rangeland forages, drought and diseases resistant varieties of crops as well as carried out extensive research on indigenous multipurpose tree species that can absorb carbon dioxide from the environment,” explained Prof. Ddumba-Ssentamu.
What do the study findings mean to Uganda?
According to Mr. David O.O. Obong, Permanent Secretary- Ministry of Water and Environment the study findings have increased awareness to guide the government and community on how to act on climate change. Mr. Obong said that Ministry of Water and Environment is currently engaging all stakeholders to come up with the legal framework for implementing climate change adaptation across all sectors.
“For coordination, Ministry of Water and Environment has asked agencies to have a focal person for Climate Change. All sectors that is to say; the infrastructure, water, energy and agricultural sectors were asked by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to integrate climate change in their activities,” he mentioned.
Dr. Wilberforce Kisamba Mugerwa, Chairperson of National Planning Authority (NPA) highlighted that NPA in collaboration with Ministry of Water and Environment has developed guidelines for sectors and local authorities to prioritize certain activities during budgeting.
“Guidelines for local authorities exist. We have limitation of capacity at both sector and local government levels. Climate Change is a crosscutting issue just like HIV and Gender, so capacity has to be built if we are to mainstream and stipulate roles for each agency. There is also a need to identify who is responsible for what activity,” he said.
On behalf of Kampala Capital City Authority, Dr. Najib Lukooya Bateganya mentioned that most of the issues raised in the study i.e. water, infrastructure and energy relate to Kampala except agriculture. Dr. Bateganya said that engaging in the study helped KCCA to better understand the impact of climate change on its development activities. He 
further noted that with the help of the French Development Agency, KCCA was able to develop a Kampala Capital City Action Plan in which infrastructure is key.
“KCCA is also prioritizing drainage in which the Authority has developed projects planned up to US$500m to handle the drainage situation. On Renewable Energy, we are switching streetlights to solar and our target is to convert to 100% solar street lighting. We also need to decommission and start on new project to help recover recyclable resources at the Kiteezi landfill as well as create demand for climate-resilient planning at community level,” he stated.
The conference was moderated by Mr. Joseph Epitu, from Climate Change Department- Ministry of Water and Environment, Dr. Revocatus Twinomuhangi, Country's Engagement Leader-CDKN and Ms. Janefrances Alowo from Makerere University.
Article by Mak Public Relations Office
College of Health Sciences Quality Assurance (QA) Training in Assessments, Pedagogy and Competence Based Curriculum Held 18–19 June 2026 at Esella Hotel.
Pedagogy, Assessment and Supervision Training Workshop
The College of Health Sciences has embarked on the journey to improve the teaching, assessment and preparation for the adoption of the competence-based curriculum.
The training was held on 18-19 June 2026, at Esella Hotel, Kira, the training targeted the teaching assistants, lecturers’ senior lecturers’ key administrators and some PhD fellows, generally the early career academic staff that are yet growing in the ranks.
Objectives
- Equip participants with modern pedagogical approaches for effective teaching and learning.
- Review and harmonize assessment strategies to ensure quality and fairness in academic evaluation.
- Enhance supervisory competencies for guiding graduate students in research and academic progress.
- Foster collaboration and shared experiences among facilitators, supervisors, and administrators.
The key focus areas for the training
- Guidelines in Assessment & Course Outlines- Dr. Cyprian Misinde -Chief Quality Assurance Officer.
- Competence Based Education and Assessment- Dr. Mike Kagawa
- Advancing continuous improvement in teaching, learning through teaching styles -Dr. Ssebowa Dorothy.
- Teaching methods Knowledge production and acquisition- Dr. Peter Ssenkusu
- Graduate Supervision Challenges and Opportunities- Prof. Grace Ndeezi.
- Competence Based Curriculum in line with the NCHE- Dr. Innocent Besigye.
- Feedback mechanisms in training- Dr. Irene Rebecca Namatende.
Key Outcomes for this training
- The participants gained the understanding of learner-centered teaching approaches and pedagogical principles.
- Acquired new skills supervisory skills, particularly in guiding research and addressing student challenges.
- Consensus on adopting standardized assessment tools across graduate programmes.
- Practical exposure to teaching models and interactive learning methods.
- Development of action plans for continuous professional development in pedagogy and supervision.
- The participants also acquired more skills in line with the competence-based curriculum as required by the National Council for Higher Education.
During the Discussion Key important Questions emerged as follows:
- Who supervises the supervisor?
- What is the difference between notion hours and contact hours?
- The 60/40 way of assessments—can it be independent for every course unit taught or allocated differently?
- How do we manage difficult supervisors?
- How do we Coerce PhD students to be fully involved in departmental activities without them feeling Coerced?
- How much time do we need to prepare for the review of the programmes in line with the competence-based curriculum as required by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and the World Health Organization (WHO)?
We truly thank the facilitators and the participants who made this training very informative and enlightened. We also appreciate the Principal/Deputy CHS, the Chief QA Officer, Makerere University and the University Management for the enormous support and for making this activity possible.
Dr. Irene Rebecca Namatende
Quality Assurance 0ffice
College of Health Sciences,
Makerere University
The Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs (DVCAA) Prof. Sarah Ssali on 15th July 2026 commended the Research and Education Network for Uganda (RENU)’s Industrial Trainee Program, describing it as the perfect hands-on intervention for the future workforce. She made the comments while on a guided tour of RENU’s on-campus Lab facility where ten undergraduate students from Makerere and other Universities are undergoing a two-month practical training.
Origin of tour
The tour was prompted by a 24th June 2026 meeting with a RENU delegation led by CEO, Mr. Nicholas Mbonimpa, aimed at broadening the existing partnership with Makerere University beyond internet service provision to supporting teaching, learning and research activities. During the said meeting, Prof. Ssali expressed Makerere‘s desire to produce graduates that are not only academically grounded but also cognizant of the needs of the job market.
In his response then, Mr. Mbonimpa expressed RENU’s readiness to continue advancing digital transformation through advancing resilient connectivity, research infrastructure, and innovative initiatives that enhance teaching, learning, and research. He shared that the Senate Building’s computer network had been revamped in line with advancing resilient connectivity, and the initiative would be expanded to the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) buildings and other premises subsequently.
The RENU CEO further highlighted that resilient connectivity forms a good basis for the proposed Open Radio Access Network (RAN) Architecture deployment set to be done within six months, so as to boost training of students in 5G and other technologies. Other initiatives discussed included training staff and students on acquisition of Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) to improve visibility of their publications and research output.
Training Program Lauded
Addressing student interns during the 15th July guided tour, the DVCAA who was accompanied by the 92nd Guild Speaker Rt. Hon. Trevis Mutatiina Muhwezi urged beneficiaries to harness all the technical and social opportunities accorded by the Program. “Not all students in your respective academic programmes had the benefit of being exposed to this kind of training so please make the most of it and utilize skills gained here beyond the classroom setting”.
The 2026 Industrial Trainee Program is equipping students with skills on how to diagnose and repair ICT equipment based on old and disused stock.
Prof Ssali was also toured the makerspace where solar-powered routers are manufactured and deployed to extend internet connectivity to both rural and urban locations. In 2023, RENU partnered with Mesh++, a Chicago-based connectivity solutions manufacturer, to manufacture solar-powered internet routers in Uganda. Since inception, over 200 units have been manufactured and deployed across various sites in Uganda, while over 80 units have been shipped to various African countries such as Malawi, Rwanda and South Sudan under the RENUMESH Technologies joint venture.
Partnerships Inspiring New Prototypes
The RENU CEO nevertheless pointed to a long turnaround time for shipping parts from the U.S. as one of the drawbacks hindering the product’s rapid deployment. As a result, RENU, in response to the Ugandan Government’s call for import substitution and local capacity development is developing a solar-powered internet router with some of the components sourced from Ugandan companies Innovex and Chloride Excide.
“Innovex will supply the Internet of Things (IoT) component to help RENU remotely monitor and control the router while Chloride Excide will provide the batteries” Mr. Mbonimpa explained. He added that some of the current lot of trainees were already running simulations on the prototype and proposing how the device can be further refined so as to increase its portability and reduce its price.
A call for Expansion
At the conclusion of the tour, Prof. Ssali who commended the use of modular Ugandan components for the prototype thanked the RENU team to exposing students to real-world technological deployments. She nevertheless urged the CEO and his team to expand the program’s intake beyond ten trainees and duration beyond the current two months so as to give students a richer experience.
The CEO RENUMESH Technologies Mr. Brian Masiga thanked the DVCAA for following up their 24th June meeting with the visit, which demonstrates that the University Management values students’ development of practical skills. He equally thanked Prof. Ssali for Management’s support to RENU activities and pledged to further refine the prototype to produce a cheaper and more portable proudly Ugandan product.
General
Makerere University Launches First Writing Summer School to Strengthen Professional Writing Skills.
KAMPALA, UGANDA, EAST AFRICA| July 6, 2026.
Makerere University has officially launched its inaugural writing summer school, a week long professional development program aimed at equipping students, graduates, researchers and staff with practical writing skills required for academic excellence and success in today’s competitive job market. The program jointly organized by the Makerere University Writing Centre and Makerere University Press (MakPress), reflects the University’s commitment to nurturing graduates with not only academic knowledge but also the communication skills needed to thrive professionally.
Held virtually, the launch attracted more than 280 participants from Makerere University and other higher education institutions, demonstrating the growing demand for structured writing support beyond the classroom.
Building the Next Generation of Writers.
Speaking at the launch, the Director of Makerere Writing Press, Prof. William Tayeebwa, said the summer school represents an important investment in developing writers before their work reaches publication.
“The press has traditionally focused on publishing books, journals and scholarly work. Today, we are expanding that mission by helping and develop the writers who will produce tomorrow’s publication.
He noted that MakPress continues to support the publication of books and scholarly works produced by members of the Makerere Community. Using recently published books authored by a member of staff and a student as examples, he encouraged participants to submit manuscripts for publishing support rather than relying solely on self publication.
Writing as a Foundation for Academic and Professional Success.
Chairperson of the Makerere University Writing Centre, Prof. Frederick Muyodi, said the center was established to strengthen the writing competences among students, researchers and university staff.
” The Writers Center is here to support every stage of the writing process from CVs and application letters to research manuscripts, grant proposals, reports and responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in writing.”
He explained that the Centre supports writing across multiple disciplines and professional contexts, adding that its long term vision is to extend writing support beyond Makerere University to institutions across Uganda and the East African region.
Equipping Graduates for the Labour Market.
Officially launching the summer school, the First Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Prof. Sarah Ssali, described the initiative as a strategic investment in preparing graduates for an increasingly competitive labour market.
She observed that while universities successfully impart disciplinary knowledge, many graduates leave campus without the practical writing skills required to secure employment and other professional opportunities.
“We teach content very, but many students are never taught how to write an effective CV, application letter, motivation statement or scholarly essay. Yet these are the documents that often determine whether someone secures an opportunity.”
Prof. Ssali said the writing summer school would bridge the gap between classroom learning and professional practice by equipping participants with market ready communication skills.
Reaffirming her office’s commitment to the initiative, she added:
“My office is pleased to support this initiative as we institutionalize the Writing Summer School to ensure that Makerere graduates leave not only with degrees but also with practical competencies needed to thrive professionally,”
She officially declared the inaugural Writing Summer School open and expressed optimism that future editions would attract even more participants and resources.
Participants Gain Practical CV Writing Skills.
The first technical session was facilitated by Mr. Abdul Noor Luttamaguzi, a PhD student in the Department of Zoology, Entomology and Fisheries Sciences within the School of Bio sciences at Makerere University, a Senior Fisheries Officer with Luweero District Local Government, and the founder and director of the ANL Foundation, an organization that supports youth employment and capacity building.
During the session, he guided participants on developing competitive CVs tailored to specific professionals and employer expectations. He emphasized that applicants should customize their CVs to suit each opportunity instead of submitting the same document for every application. Participants also learned how effectively present their education, work experience, leadership roles technical competencies and professional achievements, while avoiding unnecessary personal information. Practical demonstrations using professional specific CVs provided participants with hands on examples of preparing competitive job application documents.
Looking Ahead.
The Writing Summer School continues throughout the week sessions on application letter writing, responsible use of artificial intelligence, professional communication and other essential writing skills aimed at improving academic productivity and employablity.
Through initiatives such as the Writing Summer School, Makerere University continues to strengthen its commitment to producing graduates who are not academically accomplished but also equipped with practical communication skills that enable them to compete and lead in today’s global workplace.
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