Makerere University recruited the first Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) Cohort 2021 in December 2020 and subsequently launched the program in June, 2021 with six (6) senior public servants nominated from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development,  Ministry of Water and Environment,  the National Planning Authority (NPA) and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).

This first cohort 2021 has undergone a full year capacity building and is slated for graduation and crowning with the title, “IGE fellows” to become IGE change agents and trainers in their different Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

“Makerere University IGE in Practice” is a collaborative programme between Makerere University’s Environment for Development Initiative (EfD-Mak) Center and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden fully funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Other participating countries are Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

The program is aimed at strengthening Uganda’s capacity for transformation towards an Inclusive Green Economy largely under the United Nations SDG 8 that focuses on promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

The program focuses on the use of environmental policy instruments, and specifically economic instruments such as environmental taxes, pollution fees, subsidies or subsidy reduction and other types of fiscal incentives for societal development in line with the Global Agenda 2030.

On 17th March 2022, EfD-Mak center organized a Training of Trainers workshop as the final activity for the pioneer IGE Cohort 2021 and a platform to share  lessons learnt and what they have done in National Policy Reviews in the previous year with the new IGE cohort 2022.

The blended workshop held physically and online was graced by IGE program leader from the EfD Global Hub at the University of Gothenburg Sweden Prof. Anders Ekbom and the co-programme leader Emelie César. It was also  attended by graduate students from Makerere.

Makerere University IGE Program Policy Engagement Specialist Peter Babyenda said the workshop was the last for the IGE fellows 2021 who had been taken through the IGE principles, policies and what to do to achieve the IGE goals.

Babyenda said the pioneer fellows were trained online due to COVID-19. The program also held a grand workshop at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Uganda where all participating countries joined to present their national environment and natural resources-related policies for review.

“We also did a review of all existing IGE policies in Uganda and today our IGE fellows have been disseminating to us and the new fellows what they have learnt from forestry sector, urbanization, energy and the agricultural sector” he said.

The workshop inaugurating the new cohort 2022 was officially opened by the Principal, College of Business and Management Studies (CoBAMS), Assoc. Prof. Eria Hisali on 17^th March 2022 at the EfD-Mak Conference room in the Central Teaching Facility Two at Makerere University.

 Dr. Hisali congratulated the IGE Cohort 2021 upon their resilience to work in an environment which combines office work and training, expressing hope that they will put into practice everything they have learnt.

“We are still having a challenge in this country that the concept of Inclusive Green Economy and inclusive green growth generally still has a very limited audience. There are very many people in the private sector and government and elsewhere who have limited knowledge on what this inclusive green economy is”, Dr. Hisali said.

Hisali congratulated and challenged the IGE pioneers to integrate what they learnt into the workplace and implored them to support the university whenever called upon to give guest lectures and undertake joint research.

The Principal hailed the program facilitators for the good work done in capacity building even during the COVID-19 lockdown, and thanked Sida for the continued support to Makerere University programmes.

Dr. Hisali welcomed and congratulated the new IGE Cohort 2022 assuring them that they were in the right place. He highlighted a number of issues that the cohorts should be interested in answering as they embark on the journey.

 “Our growth of Uganda’s economy has been largely driven by unsustainable use of natural resources. What interventions then, are we going to put in place as a country to enhance productivity of our resources so that we see growth coming in from increased productivity and less on unsustainable use of natural resources”, Dr. Hisali asked.

The other challenge that IGE fellows ought to take note of according to Dr. Hisali is how to go about the income inequality and high population growth rates accompanied by the fact that many of the people are clustered around the poverty line with about 40-42% living on less than 1.9 dollars a day. These, he said, will intuitively resort to exploitation of natural resources.

Dr. Hisali also observed that Uganda has a number of IGE projects spread across the private and public sectors involving many individuals, but with very limited synergies because they are scattered and isolated.

“The other challenge is that we are focused on pursuing a private sector led growth which in its self is not a problem, but in my own view, has a number of disadvantages .The challenge with respect to Inclusive Green Economy is that many private sector actors may not give enough attention to the issue of sustainable growth. They may be driven in the short term by the profit, motive to maximize the returns on their investment, and the situation is made worse because of the weak regulatory framework.” Hisali decried

Program objectives

Speaking online, the IGE Programme leader from University of Gothenburg, Prof. Anders Ekbom said the Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) in Practice is Capacity Development Programme for Senior Civil Servants and Policy makers.

Prof. Ekbom explained that besides strengthening research –policy interface, the IGE program is to strengthen countries’ capacity for transformation to an Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) – through increased knowledge and application of economic and environmental policy instruments, organizational change, and strengthened national systems for inclusive and sustainable economic development.

He further said the countries’ capacities are strengthened at three levels namely Individual, organizational and system level.

”At individual level, the objectives include increased understanding of IGE and the application of environmental economic instruments, increased knowledge of organizational changes and  expanded international, regional and national networks.

At organisational level, the aim is increased capacity for IGE and application of economic instruments, increased priority on IGE and economic instruments and IGE projects and support for ongoing IGE work and processes.

And at system level, the program objectives include improved cooperation between organizations and sectors in the country and region, strengthened IGE system and  transformations towards IGE and application of useful environment economic instruments”, Prof. Ekbom explained.

The Director EfD-Mak Centre Prof. Edward Bbaale commended the the centre staff and Makerere University Management for supporting and providing an environment that is conducive for the IGE program to thrive.

Prof. Bbaale welcomed the students,  as well as IGE 2021 and 2022 cohorts to the workshop.

”It is an exciting opportunity having the IGE 2021 fellows building capacity of their fellow workers and even for ourselves on what they have done and learnt for the year on Inclusive Green Economy training for senior public servants. This is a great opportunity and moment”, he said.

Bbaale thanked all the stakeholders from different Ministries, Departments and Agencies for considering IGE program as a great opportunity and nominating the senior colleagues to participate in the training program.

The Director thanked the Global hub for organising the program and meeting on the mandate despite the COVID-19 challenges.

Bbaale extended gratitude to the Sida and the EfD Global hub for financing the program and expressed the centre’s commitment to deliver on her mandate.

Participants speak out on the training

Aloo Steven doing Masters of Arts in Economics, Policy and Planning Makerere University said he learnt about how to incorporate issues of environment in development, and how to have a smart city.

” I wish this kind of training continues. I have seen the training is on the higher level and I wish it can be brought to the lower level to bring students to cause a mindset change among the young people on how to keep the environment green”.

Ronald Kagwa, a  pioneer IGE fellow from the National Planning Authority (NPA) said, ”This is a very good way to begin a new program. The second lot of IGE fellows have learnt the lessons we picked from the second program, what they need to do and I think they have got a better understanding of the program, is to come up with policies relevant to combating the sustainable development challenges of the country, the need for partnerships and they should come up with policies that address the national objectives.”

Racheal Nabasirye  is  an IGE Cohort 2022 Fellow and a planner in the Directorate of Policy, Research and Innovation, NPA. She said, ”The IGE workshop was very insightful. I learnt a lot about the environment, how  we can make our economy green through the different sectors, agriculture, transport and I think we need to push it to the private sector as one of the major players as well as strengthen our institutions to further this course”.

Robert Chuchu, the Ag.Director Strategy at Kampala Capital City Authority and also an IGE Cohort 2022 Fellow said he found the training very interesting, engaging and worthwhile.

’The IGE programme has a lot to contribute to improve our country and as we bring together experts and building skills and capacities of the different civil servants, policy makers and other players in the development of our city, it is critical as we deliberate on issues that concern the environment and the green economy. Green economy is the future in every aspect because it is crosscutting in all our lives and we must be able to appreciate these principles and how to promote them”.

Jane Anyango, EfD-Mak Centre