UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative

Uganda

Please download the PEI Country fact sheet on Uganda (PDF)

Basic Facts about Uganda

• Phase I started in March 2005; first work plan was completed early 2007. 
• Phase II commenced in May 2007 and was scheduled to end December 2008. However, the programme was extended due to implementation delays until 2010 and closed in 2011.  
• The Government of Uganda, through the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), is responsible for the implementation and coordination of the project.
• The main national partners are: NEMA, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MFPED), and local government in the focus districts.
• Donors include Belgium and Norway. Funds are distributed through NEMA. UNDP Uganda is increasingly involved in the PEI in Uganda and recruited a Poverty-Environment Officer to support PEI implementation at NEMA.
• Total budget for Phase I (2005–2006) was USD 220,401. The budget for Phase II (2007–2010) amounts to USD 369,086.

The context of poverty-environment mainstreaming in Uganda

• The policy and legal framework for addressing environmental issues in Uganda has been evolving, particularly after its National Environment Action Plan (NEAP) process in 1990–1995.
• Thefirst Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) was developed in 1997. It was reviewed in 2000 and again in 2004.
• The 2004–2008 PEAP includes environment-related priority actions in all five pillars. However, the PEAP has failed to attract public and private-sector resources to implement programmes for sustainable development, and hence has not been able to reduce the serious environment and natural resource degradation in the country.
• In 2007 the GoU embarked on a major PEAP revision process, which led to the adoption of a new five-year National Development Plan (NDP) for Uganda.
• The focus of Phase II of the PEI in Uganda has been on mainstreaming environment into the PEAP revision process, with the aim of including poverty-environment linkages in the new NDP, which was endorsed by the Cabinet in December 2009.
• PEI has also supported environmental mainstreaming in the budgeting process and in the PEAP implementation at sectoral and district levels.

Main activities

Phase I:

• Review of the existing poverty reduction policies, plans and programmes and projects for their adequacy in addressing environmental concerns, identifying gaps, and suggesting recommendations for improved environmental mainstreaming 
• Country report on ecosystems, their services and linkages to human well-being  
• An integrated ecosystem assessment (using the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment methodology) in LakeKyogo catchment
• Training of civil society organizations on poverty-environment linkages
• Micro projects at the local level demonstrating the importance of poverty-environment linkages for poverty reduction and human well-being

Phase II:

• Engagement in the PEAP revision process, with a view to integrating environment into the new five-year NDP for Uganda, endorsed December 2009
• Engagement in the national budgeting process to achieve increased budgets for environmental interventions for various sectors and supporting health, agriculture, tourism, trade and industry sectors to integrate poverty-environmental concerns into sectoral policies and plans
• Facilitate formulation of district environment policies and integration of poverty-environment concerns into district development plans and related budgets in pilot districts 
• Support to local-level innovative activities demonstrating poverty-environment linkages and communication of best practices to influence policy and decision making
• Evaluation and identification of best practices and lessons learned from local-level activities
• Publicawareness-raising activities, e.g. TV and radio programmes
• Edit and publish the various reports and studies

What has been achieved to date?

• Reviews done under the PEI helped to highlight the gap between mainstreaming of environment in policies and the lack of implementation, especially at the subnational level.
• General awareness of poverty-environment linkages has been increased.
• Partnerships with CSOs and CBOs at local and national levels to raise awareness on poverty-environment linkages and the implementation of micro-level activities.
• Thirteen districts through their Local Council Five Chairmen, Councillors and Technical planning committees made commitments to address environmental issues by developing and implementing district environmental ordinances and by-laws.
• Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources have committed themselves to advocate for increase in budget allocations to the environment.
• MFPED included a clause in the Budget Call Circular for the fiscal year 2008/09 requiring all sectors to demonstrate how environmental sustainability issues are being addressed in their sector Budget Framework Papers.
• A manual on mainstreaming environmental issues into budget framework papers in the budget call circular was produced by NEMA.
• Environment and sustainable use of natural resources has been identified as one of the six main objectives and pillars/thematic areas of the new National Development Plan (NDP). NEMA, through PEI’s support,led the environment sector’s engagement in the NDP formulation process and succeeded in having poverty-environment linkages integrated into the new NDP. This has resulted in two main publications, “ENR and Climate Change, NDP Working Paper 7” and “Support to Mainstreaming Environmental Issues in the PEAP Revision Process.” Four subsector working papers have also been produced,on climate change, wetlands, forests, and wildlife, including policy briefs.
• A key study on "Economic instruments for promoting sustainable natural resource use, environmental sustainability and response to climate change" has generated important findings and key lessons to inform the formulation of the five-year NDP with a view to using economic instruments for environmental management and promoting pro-poor growth.
• A brief based on the Economic Instruments study, “Making a difference for the poor using economic instruments to promote sustainable natural resources use, environmental sustainability and response to climate change” has been developed and has been used to engage stakeholders in the Energy, Transport, Water and Sanitation, and Banking and Finance Sectors;
• Environmental concerns have been integrated into the District Development Plans, Budget Framework Papers and Policy Statements. District Environmental Policies have been formulated for the three focus districts and implemented through micro land use plans at village level.
• Evaluation and identification of lessons learned and best practices from micro projects.
• Poverty-environment linkages and best practices used for production of radio and TV programmes.
• The various reports and studies carried out by PEI Uganda have been published

Lessons learned

• There exists a large body of evidence on poverty-environmental issues in Uganda, including numerous guidelines on environmental mainstreaming. There could be a risk of duplication of studies and activities (“consultant culture”); however, implementation still lags behind.
• Active support of several partners, including MFPED, sector ministries, CSOs, UNDP Uganda and development partners in-country, is critical, but was insufficient in some cases.
• Uganda has a reasonably good policy, legal and institutional framework for environmental mainstreaming moreover, there are limited budget allocations for environment at sector and local level.
• Links to on-going national, sector and local policy making processes such as the PEAP revision, NDP development, District Plans and the MDA budget process have provided useful early entry points.
• The need for stronger coordination and harmonization of activities by the GoU in the environment and natural resources sector, which is poorly represented in the Joint Water and Environment Sector working group.
• The activities of the programme should be well integrated in the strategies and day-to-day activities of the implementing institutions to foster national ownership and enhance implementation and effectiveness.

Way forward

• All PEI Uganda activities in the current project document have been finalized and implemented. 
• Due to the current funding situation, it is not possible to fund any new activities in PEI Uganda.