Business & Management

Uganda’s IGE Fellows (2023) Inaugurated: -Challenged to Analyse the Underpinnings of Biomass Dependence in Uganda

Published

3 years ago

July 27, 2023

Centre Director, Principal, Dean and representaives from government ministries and agencies and IGE fellows , pose for a group photo.

Uganda’s Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) 2023 Cohort has been inaugurated at Makerere University at a function that was presided over by the Principal College of Business and Management Sciences Associate Prof. Eria Hisali.

The ceremony held on 26th July 2023, was witnessed by the Dean School of Economics Associate Professor, Ibrahim Okumu and the Director EfD-Mak Centre Prof. Edward Bbaale.
This is the second Uganda’s IGE Cohort composed of six fellows that were appointed by the Permanent Secretaries from Government ministries and Agencies in response to the letter from the EfD-Mak centre and the Swedish Ambassador to Uganda.

Two fellows were appointed from each ministry and one agency. They are; Eng. Ssekitoleko Simon Peter (Assistant Commissioner) and Tony Joshua Mwesigwa (Economist) from Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development; Mr. Kandwanaho Jonan ( Senior Planner Chemical Industries) and Kebirunge Elizabeth (Planner, Natural Resources and Environment) from the National Planning Authority; Mr. Paul Byamugisha (Senior Climate Finance Officer) and Ms. Flavia Namagembe (Climate Finance Officer) from the newly established Climate Change Financing Unit , Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

Presiding over the inauguration, Prof. Eria Hisali welcomed the IGE fellows and thanked them for taking interest in the EfD activities adding that the university looks forward to an enduring relationship.

The Principal, Prof. Eria Hisali welcomed the IGE Fellows on behalf of university management

As part of the inaugural activities, a policy dialogue on, “The Dangers of Biomass Utilisation and Adoption to Renewable Clean Energy in Uganda”, was held.

Reports according to Prof. Hisali suggest that up to 90% of Uganda’s energy is based on utilisation of biomass while in the rural areas, up to 100% of the energy used is from biomass.
Continuing on that path especially certain biomass like charcoal, the Principal urged that is not only unsustainable, but also an existential threat that fits into environmental degradation seen in climate change.

Prof. Hisali also reported that the livelihood for the bulk of Ugandan people derives directly from nature hence, any threat from environment to the climate becomes a big challenge that all must take interest in addressing.

“The question then we should be asking as we discuss biomass is, “Do we all -those in government, civil society and the people in the rural and urban centres understand the dangers of biomass reliance the same way. Or is it rather the case that once you see food on your table, it does not matter what has gone into the preliminary processes?”

Hisali contends that the different stakeholders are at different levels of appreciation of the extent of the problem at hand. He called for the need to harmonise all stakeholder’s appreciation of the problem.

“Once we have the harmonisation, then, we can begin discussing issues of adoption. In the process of building a harmonised understanding, we should also try to find out what is mediating the behaviour that we see because what we see is a behavioural decision making issue. Is it poverty..? because even when we make very good recommendations on adoption of clean and renewable energy in Uganda, without taking first in consideration what is mediating these decision making, then it will be like any other discussion”. He added

He advised colleagues in the EfD-Mak Centre to graduate to preparing background papers that give a proper context and anchor while commissioning studies.

Fellows Challenged to Diagnose and Understand the Underpinnings of Biomass Dependence in Uganda in order offer correct innovative energy options

Assoc. Professor Ibrahim Okumu making his welcoming remarks

Hisali informed the IGE fellows that discussion for the day gives them a sense of the challenges ahead and to which they must contribute solutions.

Whereas the fellows will be coming to the university, the Professor warned that the centre will not take an entirely academic approach but rather to have an engagement that is practical and one that speaks to the realities of the challenges seen by all in the environment.

“You are privileged that you are doing practical work and having knowledge of the problems faced in Uganda… be as practical as possible and share your experiences as the only way to understanding the extend of the problem and what is causing it to correctly figure out correct measures to address these problems”, Hisali advised.

The Dean School of Economics Assoc. Prof. Ibrahim Okumu hailed the EfD Mak secretariat for continuing with the research agenda of the Makerere university and sustaining the visibility of university within the space of matters concerning the environment.

“Today we are speaking on an issue of Biomass that is central to the existence to mankind and a threat to livelihood. We have had the loss of forest cover which is a threat to the ecosystem that forests serve”, The Dean noted.

The EfD-Mak centre according to Dr. Okumu is committed to engaging with government through the IGE fellows to speak on matters of debate regarding the environment.
“Our interest in engaging the IGE Fellows is to ensure that we can visibly and with real impact have our foothold into policy space and indeed IGE fellows are our foot soldiers in that policy space.
I hope that through the capacity building that you will pick up through this process will impact your policy engagement”, He said.

Mr. Peter Babyenda presenting the background paper

Presenting the background paper, the IGE Engagement Specialist Mr. Peter Babyenda said the reliance on biomass energy is a key global challenge toward environmental protection and reversing climate change effects.

Globally, Babyenda said, over 3 billion people rely on biomass energy to meet their energy requirements while in SSA, over 900 million people mainly rely on biomass fuels for cooking.

“In Uganda , over 85 percent of the population uses firewood and 13 percent use charcoal for cooking.

An additional 2.3 million tons of tree biomass is consumed in brick making and by educational institutions, among others”. Mr. Babyenda report.

Please click on the attachment for details on Biomass utilisation in Uganda below:

Presentaion_on_Biomass_Policy_Dialogue_2023 Download

Related Topics:Africa featured Research Uganda

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Business & Management

Cementing the Mak-UNISA partnership: Prof. Sarah Ssali meets Dr. Sizile Makola

Published

4 days ago

April 15, 2026

Ritah Namisango

L-R: Associate Prof. Godfrey Akileng, Dean,School of Business, Visiting Scholar-Dr. Sizile Makola, DVCAA-Prof. Sarah Ssali, Ms. Agnes Sansa-PhD Student during the meeting on 13th April 2026.

On 13^th April 2026, Prof. Sarah Ssali, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) of Makerere University, hosted Dr. Sizile Makola, a Visiting Scholar and Senior Lecturer from the University of South Africa (UNISA).

Makerere University and the University of South Africa committed to partnership and collaboration through a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Consequently, Dr. Makola, a researcher and an expert in human resource and business management is scheduled to spend two weeks at Makerere University, interacting with the leadership at different levels, researchers, students, as well as staff in the Department of Marketing and Management, School of Business under the College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS).

Additionally, the visit accords Dr. Makola the golden opportunity to finalise her comparative studies with members of staff from the Department of Marketing and Management on behalf of Makerere University for the Ugandan context.

The meeting between the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) and Dr. Sizile Makola was attended by Associate Professor Godfrey Akileng-the Dean, School of Business, and Ms. Agnes Sansa from the Department of Marketing and Management.

Welcoming the Visiting Scholar, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) urged Dr. Makola to solidify the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both universities through academic exchanges and deepening scholarship on African-centred leadership.

Prof. Ssali shared a brief trajectory that has shaped Uganda’s workspace. She mentioned the critical role of three pillars that have fundamentally influenced the human resource development landscape in Uganda namely: Cultural practices, Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP), and Spirituality/Religion. She also acknowledged the distinct historical differences between Uganda and South Africa.

Dr. Makola’s discussion with the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) also featured the ongoing comparative study that Dr. Sizile Makola and Ms. Agnes Sansa are conducting in relation to how organizational and human resource management conditions shape the recognition and conversion of women leadership resilience in Uganda and South Africa.

The study is titled: Ubuntu/Obuntu Bulamu, Emotional Capital and Women’s Leadership Resilience: A Comparative Study Across Public and Private Sectors in South Africa and Uganda.

Impressed by the ongoing study, Prof. Ssali implored the visiting faculty-Dr. Sizile Makola to share with her the findings in due course.

Prof. Ssali expressed the readiness of the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) to work with the different units within Makerere University, and the University of South Africa, to support programmes aimed at strengthening collaboration, partnership, research, and internationalization.

On 10^th April 2026, Dr. Makola delivered a captivating guest lecture titled,Re-Imagining Human Resource Management in Africa, targeting undergraduate and postgraduate students pursuing human resource management courses at Makerere University.

Emphasizing the need to integrate indigenous knowledge and organizational practice, Dr. Makola argued that researchers should theorize from African contexts, treat indigenous knowledge as a source of theory, use methodologies capturing moral, communal, and context-bound dimensions of work, and build concepts from African languages, values, and institutional histories.

She stressed the need for African-centered human resource management thinking, rather than just adding local case studies to Western frameworks. Dr. Makola’s argument was informed by limitations of Western human resource management frameworks, which assume autonomous individuals, formal institutions, and technical organizations, which are separate from family and community.

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Business & Management

Call For Applications: Student Mobility – University of Padova, Italy (Oct 2026-Jan 2027)

Published

6 days ago

April 14, 2026

Mak Editor

Group Photo of the trainers and trainees that took part in the workshop on multivariate statistics and time series analysis, held 11th-20th June 2024 between the School of Statistics and Planning, CoBAMS and University of Padova, Italy. Makerere University School of Statistics and Planning-University of Padova, Italy dynamic workshop on multivariate statistics and time series analysis, 11th to 20th June 2024, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

Arising from an existing Memorandum of Understanding (until September 2028) between University of Padova, Italy (UniPd) and Makerere University (Mak), the two institutions partnered and will jointly implement the Bilateral Agreement for the mobility for students between 2026 and 2027. At Mak, the Departmental Flow Coordinator is Symon Peter Wandiembe (PhD) and the project Principal Investigator and Contact Person is Saint Kizito Omala (PhD), both of Department of Statistical Methods and Actuarial Science (DSMAS).

In this regard, the Department of Statistical Methods and Actuarial Science wishes to announce opportunities for student mobility to the Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padova, Italy for the Winter Semester, October 2026 – January 2027.

The selection process shall entail five-steps:

Step 1: Submission of documents by candidates for nomination, with an internal deadline of April 20^th, 2026, 05.00 p.m. (EAT) to allow for time to process nomination applications;
Step 2: Meeting of the Nomination Committee to review documents received from applicants;
Step 3: Submitting the list of nominated candidates, by April 30^th, 2026, to the International Projects and Mobility Office of the University of Padua, Italy;
Step 4: Eligibility check and communication to successful candidates by the International Projects and Mobility Office of the University of Padua, Italy; and
Step 5: Application for the Mobility opportunity by successful candidates.

Please see download for detailed call.

Inquiry

S.K. Omala via +256 772 491545 before April 20^th, 2026.

Advert Bilateral UniPd_Mak_Agreement_for Student Mobility Download

Business & Management

Mak CoBAMS Hosts UNISA’s Dr. Sizile Makola

Published

2 weeks ago

April 8, 2026

Ritah Namisango

L-R: Dr. Zaina Nakabuye, Dr. Jude Mugarura, Dr. Agnes Sansa, Dr. Sizile Makola, Prof Edward Bbaale and Dr. Anthony Tibaingana at the 8th April 2026 meeting in the Office of the Principal. Principal of the College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), Prof. Edward Bbaale welcomes Dr. Sizile Makola, a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management from the University of South Africa (UNISA), to the College and Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa, 8th April 2026.

On Wednesday 8^th April 2026 the Principal of the College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), Prof. Edward Bbaale received and welcomed, Dr. Sizile Makola, a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management from the University of South Africa (UNISA), to the College and Makerere University.

The interaction meeting held in the Office of the Principal brought onboard the following members of staff from the Department of Marketing and Management, School of Business: Dr. Jude Mugarura, Dr. Zaina Nakabuye, Dr. Agnes Sansa, and Dr. Anthony Tibaingana.

Dr.Sizile Makola is visiting Makerere University for two (2) weeks to cement the MoU between Makerere University and UNISA and to finalise her comparative studies with staff from the department of marketing and management on behalf of Makerere University for the Ugandan context.

Dr. Makola is scheduled to deliver an interactive guest lecture to undergraduate and postgraduate human resource management students on Friday 10^th April 2026 from 2:00pm to 4:00pm in the School of Business, Conference Hall.