Uganda is among the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change in the world, being the 15^th most vulnerable and 49^th least prepared to adapt and recover from impacts of climate change.

Environmental economics from Makerere University and stakeholders from Environment and Natural Resources  agencies have expressed  the need for green financing  for sustainable development, Optimum utilization of natural resource, Adaptation to climate change impacts, Increased climate change  mitigation measure actions and Reduction in public expenditure on related natural disaster shocks.

The call was made was during the Annual Policy Day 2022 organized by the Environment for Development Initiative (EfD-Mak Centre) under the theme, “Green Financing and Capacity Gaps”.

The policy dialogue attracted over 100 participants from the academia, policy makers, experts and representatives from Uganda’s Ministries, departments and agencies, Civil Society Organisations, the private sector as well as members from the World Bank, the EfD network, and the  EfD Global hub led by  the EfD Global Director Prof. Gunnar Kohlin.

The Annual policy day was a wrap up of the EfD Annual conference  2022 hosted by Makerere University at the Speke resort Munyonyo on 22^nd-26^th September, 2022 where  participants had  fruitful engagements intended to find solutions to the most pressing environmental problems affecting the  continent.

The annual policy day was officially opened by the EfD-Mak Advisory Board Chair, who is also the Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Academic Affairs of Makerere University.

“The EfD-Mak Centre is proud to be part of the global network of environmental economics research centers working to solve the world’s most pressing environmental and development challenges through policy-relevant research, capacity development and policy engagement. Allow me, at this juncture, to sincerely thank our long term partner – Sida, as well as the EfD Global Hub for having established an EfD Centre at Makerere University”, Kakumba said.

Annual policy day and theme timely for centennial celebrations and climate change

Kakumba said, the Annual policy day is significant on two fronts in that it comes to fit in a series of activities and celebrations marking Makerere University’s 100 years of excellent services to humanity:-having opened its doors to only 14 students in 1922, Makerere University has grown to become one of the most prestigious Universities in Africa and the world over.

Secondly, Kakumba noted that the theme of the policy day, focusing on Green Financing and Capacity gaps, is quite timely especially during this time when climate change is seriously affecting different parts of the world, including Uganda as witnessed by the changed weather patterns.

“There is a great need for Government and development partners to finance resilience and adaptation activities or projects. However, I must note that resilience and adaptation are new areas. Hence, governments have not been deliberately allocating resources in their favor.

 Therefore, as Makerere University, we have a great task of building the capacity of government officials in these new areas of resilience and adaptation to climate change”, he said.

Kakumba reported that the university   held productive engagements with officials from the World Resources Institute (WRI) who are interested in supporting the university to kick-start the Resilience and Adaptation Mainstreaming Programme (RAMP). RAMP is proposed to be a long-term capacity building programme for MDAs to integrate climate risk considerations into their macroeconomics, fiscal, public financial management, procurement, and other processes and research.

In February 2022, Kakumba said, Makerere University signed a MoU with the University Network for Strengthening Macro financial Resilience to Climate and Environmental Change. The Network, whose Secretariat is hosted by SOAS, at the University of London, was established to build capacity in RAMP. This resilience and Adaptation Mainstreaming Programme will complement the inclusive Green Economy Programme for Senior Civil Servants and Policy Makers in Eastern Africa, which we are implementing in collaboration with the University of Gothenburg.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor thanked theEfD Global Hub for not only establishing an EfD-Mak Centre but also working very hard to ensure that all the aforementioned initiatives to the EfD-Mak Centre thrive.

“The EfD-Mak Centre has continuously received funding and equipment from EfD Global Hub to support its administrative and research activities. This has widely contributed towards strengthening the connection between the Centre’s researchers and academicians to policy makers and implementers.

We can now attest to a number of policy engagements that the Centre has conducted, some of which have already resulted in tangible policy reforms and good outcomes. I once again thank the Global Hub for its role towards changing this landscape where we can now collaborate effectively with government officials for research activities, policy discussions and uptake.” Kakumba commended.

Kakumba added that this Annual policy day  was in line with a series of policy engagements that the EfD-Mak Centre has implemented since inception.  He however, stressed that this  wasvery special because the EfD Global Hub Director and the EfD Network members were  here in person to contribute to the debate and discourse in the important area of Green Financing.

Green financing and capacity building huge tasks for the university

In his welcome remarks,the  Principal Makerere University College of Business and Management Sciences Assoc. Professor Eria Hisali welcomed participants to the EfD-Mak policy day  and in a special way welcomed the EfD Global Director Kohlin Gunnar to the EfD-Mak centre thanking him for choosing Uganda to host the EfD Annual meeting 2022 congratulating the network upon successful hosting.

Hisali thanked the board of the EfD-Mak Centre chaired by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Affairs  for the continued guidance on the strategic direction of the centre, noting that this was a manifestation that the centre was institutionalized in the university structures.

The Principal appreciated the EfD -Mak centre for its contribution of the visibility of the college and the university at large pledging continued support to the centre activities and urged the centre to take advantage of the infrastructure at the college to conduct activities;

Hisali reported that the college has established a number of facilities that the centre can take advantage of including working paper series, rolled out the policy laboratories at the college that bring together policy makers, implementers, the private sector development partners and researchers to regularly discuss policy related issues.

He expressed hope that the next annual policy day would be handled under the auspices of the policy laboratory noting that the advantage is that it brings together different actors  in one place and they contribute to the discussion which increases uptake.

The policy laboratory he said,was also handling a special assignment on behalf of government on the Parish Development Model. He also said the college received notification from Uganda National Council for Science and Technology on the clearance of the college’s institutional review board for purposes of accreditation and going forward whoever wants to go for field activities is welcome to use the college research and ethics committee.

“We are all are alive to the dangers that changes in the environment affects sustainable growth and the future planning. I salute the center for holding the dialogue because the discussions held are not only important  but also hybrid providing insights into the problems being faced and what needs to be done in the perspective of financing and capacity gaps that exist..

Green financing as we know, lies at the future of our growth, the future of our existence as human beings both for the current and future generations to come and therefore deserves all the attention;This is important n our context as developing countries because much of our activities in our setting directly depends on nature but also facing a lot of pressure from the ever increasing population”, Hisali stated.

Hisali challenged participants to look at a number of issues including the categorization of the target groups for green financing factions, the most appropriate instruments for the different target groups, the framework for auditing progress and impacts of these interventions and the need  to discuss the optimal balance between what needs to be done by the private sector, governments, public sector and other actors.

“With regard to capacity building I also want to agree that we need to build capacity at all levels right from the capacity to domesticate what is enshrined in international conventions into our domestic plans and activities.

 But we also need to think about capacity through which we can equip the grassroots actors, the green financing actions are not stopping at the macro national level. These actions have to go up to the grassroot”

Hisali stressed that the issues of capacity gaps was  a huge task  and asked participants to deliberate  and focus on  where to start from to create the impact being  looking for, how  the EfD-Mak Centre can partner with other actors in this space to speed up the capacity building efforts, how to take advantage of  the location at the university and mainstream the capacity building initiatives into the curriculum of some of the academic programs and which programs would it be and where to start from.

Other insights according to Prof. Hisali were the need to ask how to take advantage of the internship and outreach activities of the university to build capacity at the grass root level, how to equip these interns to deliver the right message to the grass root actors and whether there is hope for increasing the frequency of the short course capacity building initiatives.

The EfD Global foot print

The Director Global Hub Prof.  Gunnar Köhlin said the hub has international researchers and academic institutions involved in research projects with the EfD Centers in the Global South, Africa, Asia and the America and EfD Partners in the Global North. In Africa, it operates in Makerere University, university of Dar es salaam and university of  Nigeria, Ghana and other countries

“EfD is based on the frustration that there is so much knowledge in universities and that it so hard to get traction of that research and there is so much gaps to make that happen.

In research and policy interaction the hub provides funds for tailor research results for target groups, creates platforms for interactions and co-production of knowledge.

Under Institutional development, funds are availed for infrastructure and staff investments, mutual learning within the network”, Gunnar explained.

Under research collaboration, Prof. Gunnar said the hub provides Research fund and collaborative research, organizes collaborative research and policy relevant topics and capacity building for different actors.

“The first most fundamental is the need to build capacity of academics in universities but they should also  provide the relevant information and build capacity for other actors in their respective societies for these people to work. Provision of information and capacity building is not enough but must work hard to influence policy by organizing collaborative programs,” Gunnar added

He said funds are  provided for PhD specialization courses, PhD Program in Climate Economics At the University of Gothenburg and then PhD and MSc program support to the network centres

Prof Gunnar explained that they have implemented a program, Inclusive Green Economy for senior civil servants and policy makers, a capacity development program connecting societal needs with research capacity in five areas of transformation namely Sustainable energy transition, Low carbon transition, Biodiversity transition, Circularity transition, Financing and managing IGE transition

The network has had a number of publications categorized by SDG with highest number on SDG 17 (331) and SDG 15(291)Other programs sponsored include; Blue Resources for Development (BlueRforD), Emission Princing for Development (EPFD), Inclusive Green Economy, Natural Capital Collaboration (Natcap), Sustainable Energy Transition (SETI), Women in Environmental Economics

The Annual Policy Day 2022 very Special

The Director EfD-Mak Centre Prof. Edward Bbaale thanked the participants for honoring the invitation to attend this special policy day;

Bbaale recognised the Director EfD-Global network Prof.  Gunnar Kohlin and other network members for coming to Makerere for the first time to engage in the discussion making it very special adding that the centre had previously held policy dialogues with national stakeholders.

Bbaale appreciated the local stakeholders from government ministries, departments and agencies,senior civil servants and policy makers from Uganda for reserving time amidst their tight schedules to attend.

“I also appreciate the panelists . You have started a discourse in the area of green financing which the center will follow up and came up with research projects to create evidence to guide government on policy changes.

There is need for capacity building in the area of green financing in terms of research and training. We need to pay attention to Climate parameters and macro-economic modelling issues and also pay attention in and outside  the university on tailored short courses for government and other officials”.

Prof. Bbaale hailed Makerere University management for offering space for the dialogue and the local organising committee for the job well done.

Panelists speak on green financing

The Natural Resources officer Wakiso district Ms. Rebecca Sabaganzi,said Green financing seems to be very far and advocating for it seems  far.

“The ENR sector has not been a priority in government programs and budget but this has been slowly and progressively having impact on us and we have been forced to act. There are several policy statements that push us to act but the actual implementation is the issue.

In local governments, however much you advocate for green financing, it’s the councilor’s allowance that come first. Because of the increasing number of policy makers amidst the limited budgeting, advocacy for green financing is not prioritized.

The facilitation to enable meaningful engagements and green financing are limited by budget as government priority is in other sectors such as roads, health and education,”. She said

World Bank representative Victoria Plutshack, Energy Access Project at Duke university observed that  Climate Finance’s Adaptation is problematic and  not meeting needs of the low and medium income countries.

Victoria noted that Climate investments targeting adaptation have been especially lacking because of, in part, a lack of data and clarity regarding the potential impact of these investments.

“Data-driven financial mechanisms that quantify and monetize adaptation impacts are needed to mobilize climate finance and prioritize development for greatest impact.

There is domestic financing available but is predominantly available in higher income countries and where the private sector play a significant role.

In sub-Saharan Africa, we see climate financing by private companies. Sub-Saharan Africa receives about 100 million dollars from multinational agencies and about 18million dollars from the private sector. In terms of progress it is abit slow but hope that with the proposals and problems  faced today the situation will be better,”she said.

Dr. Sam Mugume Koojo from the Ministry of Finance highlighted major challenges facing green financing in Uganda.

“ Challenges of green financing include; Lack of expertise and knowledge in green financing by financial institutions in Uganda. Green financing is not clearly integrated in financial regulatory policies of the country while investments in the green financing areas are not very attractive to private sector. The central bank has not fully internalized the concept,  emphasis is mostly on the risk side” He said.

He said the major areas for green financing include: Renewable energy and energy efficiency, Pollution prevention and control, Biodiversity conservation, Circular and blue economy initiatives and Sustainable use of natural resources and land.

He said government has come up with  Toolkits for Greening the Financial Sector including  the Green finance road map tool, the National task force, Climate and Environ Risk assessment,  Disclosure and Reporting, Greening FIs and  Corporate green bonds.

Dr. Ronald Kaggwa from the National Planning Authority Uganda reported that  the authority   develops indicators and NDPIII has a results framework based on three pillars  namely;. environment and natural resource, industry and also based on governance.

To harmonise the indicators Kaggwa said they issue planning guidelines at the central level and local government showing results, measurements and what level and targets to achieve.

The authority he added has also the green growth indicators developed.Those guidelines give a good framework on which these indicators are anchored. MDAs are also requested to develop planning frameworks which must be aligned to the NDPIII and Vision 2040 while all sectors contribute to the attainment of the national vision.

“There is a section on monetary framework which has a targets of attaining the broader NDP targets and vision 2040. It  is the private sector outside the planning horizon but are influenced through taxation and other financial instruments  but are not captured in the planning matrix “ Kaggwa said.

The planning is based on government programs and sector programs are tuned towards attaining common results to allow harmonization of projects and institutional goals working together asa team.

NDPIII also addresses that through program based planning which have targets such as the  human capital development and all sectors like health, education, gender contribute to it to harmonise the budgets.

Jane Anyango is the Communication Officer, EfD-Mak Centre Uganda.