Photo by Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area Urban Development Program.
We strongly believe that Uganda can enhance the efficiency of its public investments and attract more private investments by integrating more environment and social sustainability aspects into project design and implementation. But how could we transform this vision into reality if the country does not yet have a workforce of Environmental and Social (E&S) sustainability experts? We build a cohort of such experts!
To achieve lasting impact, we struck a partnership: the World Bank joined forces with the Makerere University of Uganda to create curricula around mainstreaming E&S in public investments. The initiative will have a long-term effect on the country, as well as positive spill-over effects on the entire region, as it dramatically expands Uganda’s investment potential and creates a supply of E&S expertise for the local and regional job market.
Why E&S Matter?
Having worked in Uganda, we know this country is a cultural melting pot with diverse music, art, and crafts, and more than 50 indigenous languages. Matching its cultural diversity, it is rich in natural resources which include fertile land, ample rainfall, thriving wildlife, and mineral deposits. We know Uganda has every opportunity to become one of Africa’s leaders in sustainable development and job creation if it pursues economic progress while still preserving its natural capital.
Yet, working in Uganda, we discovered that a crucial component for fulfilling this vision was missing. A study conducted by the World Bank jointly with local partners identified significant skill gaps and limited capacity that did not allow Uganda to mainstream E&S in either public or private investments. What’s more, the lack of integration of E&S issues would often negatively impact the projects’ outcomes, and ultimately – the entire country’s development path.
Following the World Bank Group’s knowledge strategy which calls to “leverage external partners to formulate solutions that maximize reach, scale, and impact” and “expand knowledge networks in Africa for hands-on learning,” we initiated a multi-stakeholder partnership to streamline E&S capacity, build the needed skills, and amplify local talent in Uganda. Through extensive consultations and open dialog, we realized there was a clear common vision among the stakeholders: the E&S risks need to become not just one of the considerations, but a critical component of the project economic analysis and assessment. In turn, this would build a new understanding of the E&S importance among Uganda’s rising policy makers, public servants and private investors.
Collective Impact: Collaborating between Academia, Policy Makers, and the World Bank
Working in Uganda, we often hear locals say, "No country is better than its education system." Well, we found this to be true for professional education as well. Luckily, we could lean on the country’s well-established and reputable academic institutions, one of them being Makerere University. With support from the local policymakers, the World Bank partnered with Makerere University to develop a short-course curricula of environmental, social, and climate-focused courses, as well as “train the trainer” curriculum, which aims to quickly scale up the E&S capacity building.
We soon realized that this multi-disciplinary partnership required a close collaboration between different colleges within the university, including the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Engineering Design Art and Technology, College of Business and Management Sciences, and Public Investment Management Centre of Excellence.
At the same time, we worked closely with Uganda’s Ministry of Finance that understood the urgency of further integration of the E&S into the country’s public investment project appraisal process – a pressing need identified through studies and project implementation experience.
Creating Better Jobs, Improving Lives
During the pilot phrase, we saw more than 350 professionals graduating from the program at both central and local government level, including alumni with engineering, procurement, economic and investment backgrounds in addition to environmental and social specialists.
We were particularly happy to see the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area Urban Development Program (GKMA-UDP ) benefit from the new Makerere curricula: a total of 115 of its staff members, including community development specialists, environmental specialists, engineers, and procurement professionals, participated in the pilot course. All these alumni agree on one thing: capacity building is crucial for the success of the project. By combining academic knowledge with peer learning and real-world application, the course fostered a broader perspective and a shared understanding of the project's impact. This led to a renewed focus on E&S work creating more and better roles for the E&S specialists, as well as amplifying job opportunities for the local E&S safeguard supervision firms.
Following the initial success of this model, the “neighboring” government of South Sudan reached out us to replicate the initiative, which demonstrates a positive regional spillover effect even at this early stage. There are arrangements underway to train staff from the South Sudan Ministry of Environment and Forestry. But the positive externalities don’t end here: we see potential for the private sector to also benefit from the readily available E&S expertise, making Uganda a more attractive destination for international investors.
All in all, we learned that it takes a proverbial village to create a comprehensive, locally-minded, and practical E&S curricula, but the benefits for the country’s E&S capacity, the quality of its public investments, and the region are well worth it.
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