Uganda

Uganda and Belgium have been partners for 21 years. Currently, Enabel supports Uganda to implement some priorities of its 30-year National Development Plan and the United Nation’s 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

Education

Education is a priority of the bilateral development cooperation programme between the Belgium and Uganda. It takes the lion’s share of the ongoing country portfolio budget. The focus in this sector is on teacher education and Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

Enabel works with the Ministry of Education to implement the National Teachers’ Policy and Skilling Uganda strategy at central and grassroots levels. This includes institutional capacity building to enable selected education institutions to deliver quality education.

Boy sits behind a computer at a public library in Uganda.

Health

Enabel health projects are implemented with the Ministry of Health. They primarily aim to improve maternal and child health through the Results-based financing (RBF) scheme and targeted infrastructure support. RBF is a model where health facilities are rewarded with incentives based on their performance in terms of quantity and quality of services delivered.

There are currently two ongoing health projects: Enabling Health in Acholi and Leveraging Strategic Health Financing for Universal Health Coverage funded by USAID and Belgium.

Lab technicians work in a hospital in Uganda.

Environment

Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa, mainly arriving from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. In the North Western district of Yumbe, refugees outnumber their hosts. This is where the world’s second-largest refugee settlement called Bidibidi is located. As more people are sharing the same land, this has an important impact on the environment. Both refugees and host communities depend on trees as a primary source of energy for cooking, leading to cutting down of trees for wood fuel and the production of charcoal for sale.

Enabel with funding from the European Union is supporting refugee-hosting districts to develop environmental policies, guidelines, and tools aimed at protecting the environment.

Two women veterinarians taking care of cattle in Uganda. On man looks at them.

Social protection

According to International Labour Organisation, the informal sector employs 8 out of 10 Ugandans. The majority of these are people already vulnerable to poverty such as women and girls. Studies also reveal that the informal sector is characterised by a rampant violation of workers’ rights through low pay, lack of medical insurance, and work contracts. Informal sector workers also lack opportunities for dialogue with their employers about work conditions.

In response to this challenge, Enabel is implementing a social protection programme aimed at ensuring access to decent work, protection of labour rights, and facilitating tripartite dialogue between workers, employers, and labour unions.

Three young men working on a motorcycle in Uganda

Digitalisation for Development

Together with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and other partners, we are working on the Digital Uganda vision. This government initiative aims to empower citizens to achieve their goals through digital innovation as foreseen in the National Development Plan.

The Vision emphasises the electronic delivery of services by both public and private sector. Digitalisation is integrated into all projects, but some have a specific focus on this topic: WeHubit, AU – EU D4D Hub, and Africa European Digital Innovation Bridge Network all contribute to the Digital Uganda Vision.