The Vice Chancellor-Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe steps on the foot pedal to launch MAKNAI – a solar-powered prototype to automate cranking of the hand pump that draws water from a borehole, 30th December 2020, SFTNB Conference Hall, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda.
The Private Financing Advisory Network is a global network of climate and clean energy financing experts. Selected PFAN projects undergo intensive one-on-one coaching to perfect their business plans, financial structures and investment pitches. Applications are accepted on a continuous basis, and you may submit your application at any time. Applications are evaluated on a quarterly basis after the regularly announced deadlines. If you submit just after the deadline for the next evaluation round, it may take up to three months before your application is evaluated. The application consists of an online form and three documents:
Project proposal
Financial model
Executive summary
Eligibility Criteria
PFAN accepts applications from projects and businesses in low- and middle-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Central, South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Eastern Europe, Central America and the Caribbean Islands. Click here for a full list of eligible countries.
To be eligible for PFAN support, your project or business must:
provide climate change adaptation benefits and/or
offer or use clean energy technologies, products or services that fall within our areas of work.
Examples of eligible projects
Projects and businesses which deploy clean and renewable energy and/or climate change technologies for productive uses;
Greenfield and brownfield utility projects, independent power producer and distributed generation projects (for both thermal and electrical energy);
Existing projects which are operating at small or pilot scale and which are ready for scale-up;
Projects which increase access to energy for remote communities, including rural electrification, off-grid and mini-grid projects, thermal energy and clean cooking solutions;
New or expanding business ventures in clean energy and related technologies, including downstream projects (focused on deployment of existing technologies) and upstream projects (focused on development and commercialisation of a new clean technology);
Mergers, acquisitions or joint ventures, which will add value to an existing clean energy / technology business.
Investment amount
The investment amount, or investment ask, should lie between US$1 million and US$50 million. This may be disbursed in smaller tranches as requested.
ONLY for energy access and rural electrification projects (clean cook stoves, solar home systems, mini grids) an exception is made, and the investment ask can lie between US$500,000 and US$50 million. This too may be disbursed in smaller tranches as requested.
72 undergraduate students of Makerere University have successfully been admitted to the Millennium Fellowship Class of 2026, an initiative of the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) and United Nations Academic Impact. Makerere’s Fellows were selected from a record-breaking 76,000 applicants from over 6,000 campuses across 174 countries to participate in the ambitious programme.
According to the Fellowship website, the programme aims to make the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UN Academic Impact Principles a reality on campuses, in classrooms and throughout communities. Millennium Fellows are university undergraduates selected for their leadership on sustainable development projects in their communities. As Fellows, they complete a semester-long leadership development programme that strengthens their student organizing, partnership-building and community-impact skills.
In his congratulatory message to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, Sam Vaghar the Executive Director, MCN shared that Over 330 campuses across 60 nations have been selected to host 2026 Millenium Fellows. “Congratulations to you and Makerere University for having a cohort of Millennium Fellows from your student body again this year!”
Below is a sample of the work of the Class of 2026.
At Harvard University, a UN Academic Impact member institution in the United States of America, Millennium Fellows are expanding OpenDoor, an AI-powered platform that helps people navigate retraining, job opportunities and pathways into high-demand careers. The project grew from their work with people experiencing homelessness and from seeing how difficult workforce programmes can be to navigate even when support exists. Advancing SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, it expects to reach about 7,500 people during the Fellowship.
At the University of Ilorin, a UN Academic Impact member institution in Nigeria, Millennium Fellows are building what they describe as Africa’s first green AI policy framework, helping policymakers and developers understand how artificial intelligence can advance while reducing energy use, pollution and material waste. Aligned with SDG 13: Climate Action, it expects to reach about 75 people during the Fellowship.
At BRAC University, a UN Academic Impact member institution in Bangladesh, a Millennium Fellow is advancing SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production through a start-up replacing single-use products with environmentally friendly alternatives. Its current focus is a paper pen that uses roughly 90 per cent less plastic than a conventional pen, with a seed built in so it can grow into a plant when properly disposed of. The project expects to reach about 450 people.
At Nicolae Testemițanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, a UN Academic Impact member institution in Moldova, a Millennium Fellow is advancing SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being by studying how environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity may affect recovery after brain surgery. By bringing simple digital monitoring tools into postoperative care, the project aims to help doctors make timelier decisions.
We wish our Millennium Fellows an impactful fellowship.
The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released admission lists of candidates admitted under the Talented Sports Men & Women, Disability and District Quota Schemes with Government sponsorship 2026/27 Academic Year including appeals and remarked cases.
Other admission lists released include A-Level Applicants with Ugandan and those with Foreign Qualifications, Diploma in Performing Arts, Mature-Age Entry and Bachelor of Education (EXTERNAL Batch 2) for the Academic Year 2026/2027 under self sponsorship.
Makerere University‘s position in the July 2026 edition of the Webometrics Rankings has improved from 925th to 776th globally and from 13th to 11th on the Continent, compared to the January 2026 edition. Makerere remains the top-ranked University in Uganda and East Africa.
The new rankings are as a result of improved performance in the Impact Rank, which measures the number of external domains referring/linking to Makerere (from 1,593 to 1,185) and the Excellence Rank, which measures Research papers in the top 10% most cited between 2019 and 2023 (from 1,095 to 715).
Please see the attached screenshots for details or view Makerere‘s rankings online using the link below:
The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities aims to recognize and promote the digital transformation of higher education institutions by evaluating how effectively they reflect their academic, research, and societal contributions online.
We remain committed to ensuring that all our good work in teaching and learning, research, knowledge transfer, and partnerships continues to be reflected online through various journals and other platforms.
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