The European Union (EU) is making available grant financing to Uganda to the tune of EUR 152 million (UGX 624 billion) in new funding to support education for adolescent girls, reduce sexual and gender-based violence, promote sexual and reproductive health as well as develop strategies for sustainable development and management of forests in Uganda.
The grant-financing announcement was made during the occasion of the high-level visit to Uganda by Myriam Ferran, Deputy Director General of the EU’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships.
During her visit, Ms Ferran launched the new programme Gender for Development Uganda (G4DU), a EUR 112 million programme co-financed by the EU, Germany and Belgium, in partnership with the United Nations, to support education for adolescent girls, reduce gender-based violence and promote sexual and reproductive health.
“The action is essentially about girls and women, about empowering them and about protecting them from violence so that they can realise their full potential and contribute fully to Uganda’s development and the country’s vision to become a modern and prosperous country. There have recently been reports of child abuse, including in schools and as parents, we are all very much concerned. Through G4DU, the EU is concretely demonstrating its support and commitment to protecting children in Uganda,” said Deputy Director General Ferran.
During her visit, Deputy Director General Ferran also met Uganda’s Minister for Water and Environment Sam Cheptoris and congratulated Uganda for being amongst the first five countries in the world to sign a Forest Partnership Agreement with the EU at the COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. This commitment, she said, has unlocked EUR 40 million in EU financing to Uganda to contribute to the shared objectives to fight against climate change and protect biodiversity. The programme is co-funded by Italy and will look at forests in all its aspects, promoting governance of the sector, promoting value chains, strengthening protection and restoration and improving livelihoods.
“The Forest Partnership is a demonstration of common aspirations to enable forests to fulfil their economic, social, and environmental roles and a common responsibility posed to forests by human, social and development needs,” she said.
These programmes are part of a broader Team Europe approach, and concrete examples of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, which seeks to promote sustainable connectivity and infrastructure in Africa and has education and the environment as core priorities.