PSFU Training workshop on "Fundraising and Resource Mobilization" which was scheduled for 25^th – 27^th March, 2020 at Uganda Management Institute, Kampala has been postponed till further notice. This is due to the pandemic of COVID-19. 

The training aims to develop the knowledge and skills for effective mobilization of resources for enhancing organization for enhancing organization’s growth and development.

To register, follow the link here >> document REGISTRATION FORM Resource mobilization training form (407 KB)

We encourage you to stay safe & we will communicate a new date for the training.

The UNFCCC together with Ministry of water and environment ,UNDP – NDC support program, PSFU and other stakeholders are organizing the African Climate week scheduled from 20^th -24^th April 2020 in Uganda. This has been postponed till further notice to enable us fight Corona Virus pandemic.

Africa Climate Week is an opportunity to move forward on crucial climate action work at a national and regional level, taking regional priorities into consideration.

Africa Climate Week is taking place under the banner of “Partnering for transformation towards a low-carbon climate resilient and prosperous Africa: managing risks, seizing opportunities.”Africa Climate Week 2020 is inclusive and open to all stakeholders, as a ‘go-to’ hub to build partnerships and to showcase groundbreaking action in the region

The event is designed to mobilize and enhance the required partnerships and collaborative approaches, including:

• The urgent need to understand the risks and impacts of climate change and integrate this knowledge in planning at all levels and in all sectors;
• The urgency of delivering on existing commitments;and
• The urgency of giving all stakeholders clarity on the pathways and means of implementation for achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century and thus the objectives and long-term goals of the Convention and Paris Agreement

The event will also provide an opportunity for different businesses to exhibit their products and services.

To register kindly visit the UNFCCC website https://indico.un.org/event/32821/ by 19th April 2020

Strategizing for growth in 2020: a private sector perspective.

As the year ended and 2020 curves in, I keep wondering how better our economy can be nourished to further grow enterprises and help job creation especially for the youth. For Uganda to achieve the targeted (sustained) growth of 6.2% and position itself on the path towards middle income, this growth must be inclusive with full participation of the youth and women. Additionally it will call for well sequenced business climate reforms that can attract more local and foreign capital. Uganda’s binding constraint to growth today, is not so much to do with the availability of budgetary resources, laws or policies. These are in plenty.  Rather is to do with;

• How organized we are as a people are (or shall be) in politics and business
• How coordinated and efficient our institutions are – public and private
• Whether the laws we write are enforced for the betterment of society
• Whether every Ugandan is able to carefully account for resources, money and time at household, enterprise and public sector levels. 

Until we wake up to these seemingly obvious realities, Uganda may not grow to the targeted levels. We will always have to rely on someone else to finance us and determine our development path. Ugandans must be more organized to attract wealth and partnerships. 

Rich countries have carefully strategized to attract Foreign Direct Investments as these play a significant role as source of capital, provider of skills and technology learning as well as markets for our smaller businesses. Throughout this year Uganda must recommit to deliver an environment that continuously attract this such capital – the recent improved competitiveness ranking notwithstanding. 

This year we envisage a lot of politics as we prepare for next year’s election. The fear of the private sector, as has been before, is that investments may be deterred and markets shrunk further, and that this might curtail growth and employment targets. Leaders at all levels are henceforth challenged to mitigate this fear. Many young people are beginning to get immersed into politics at the expense of business in spite of the huge potential we have in agriculture and agribusiness, tourism and hospitality, small manufacturing etc. Our call to leaders therefore is to encourage, support and nurture these youths into business and entrepreneurship. Uganda has an unmatched potential in the young people as they are wiser, faster, more effective, better educated and innovative. We can only invest more in them and unveil the wide range opportunities to them, including providing fiscal incentives for them to start and grow businesses. It is this that will provide the sure and more stable future for this very young country.

The goodness of politics should be in how well it organizes the citizens and resources towards a sustainable future. Short of this politics is simply a curse. No investment can manifest in a torn apart country particularly where politics is turbulent. FDIs are critical for Africa’s development, and until we attract and retain them in stable conditions of politics, macroeconomics and democracy, development in Uganda and Africa will remain farfetched. 

To achieve this, the hindrances to businesses in Uganda (many of which are known) need to be addressed in a timely manner because poverty and joblessness which are the major causes of political instability can only be addressed by supporting business and entrepreneurship. 

To attract investments, our Governments in Africa ought to put a lot of emphasis on boosting effective demand, efficiency of policy implementation, law enforcement, opening and consolidating markets, promotion of partnerships and continued reduction in cost of doing business. Any effort to improve the business climate should be centered on three aspects; 

1. Improving  household incomes so we raise their purchasing power and reduce vulnerability,
2. Promoting job creation through enterprise growth
3. Improving the current account balance by promoting exports and substituting for unnecessary imports  

Meanwhile, one of Governments major resolutions this year should be to become more efficient in service delivery and curb wasteful expenditures. Specifically the private sector wants to see less allocations to consumption spending and more allocations to development and wealthy creating sectors. These sectors must be well coordinated to have meaningful impact on the economy. Again we will need sufficient and focussed leadership in this regard to help free up resources for development spending as we save the tax payer.

By: Gideon Badagawa, Executive Director, PSFU

The Skills Development Facility is part of the Uganda Skills Development Project (USDP) under Component 3 and is implemented by Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) on behalf of Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. It is a facility for support to employer-led short-term training and recognition of prior learning as well as increased access to internships for TVET students. The economic benefit of this type of training has proved to be substantial in terms of wage growth and labor productivity. The training, which is co-financed by the private sector through a matching grant contribution, will stimulate partnerships between firms, industry associations and training institutions.

The focus is on short-term, practical and technical training of employees (including business skills for the informal sector) ranging from few days to not more than six months. The actual executing of the training must not exceed one year. The Skills Development Facility mainly finance costs associated with development and delivery of the supported training activities. Acquisition of equipment will only be financed in rare cases where this is vital for the implementation of the approved activities. The Facility, initially focus on four sectors; Agriculture, Construction, Manufacturing and Auto mechanics, but other sectors may also be eligible for support. The Grants committee has evaluated & awarded various groups; companies across the Country grants to-date.

WINDOW ONE - Skills shortages in the formal sector with focus on medium and large firms, including increased access to internships;

• Seventy Eight (78) companies have been awarded grants to skill more than 10,000 employees & suppliers.
• Over 1,900 students have accessed internship with 20% of these are women & majority have been retained by host companies.

WINDOW TWO - Skills shortages experienced by self-employed, workers and apprentices in the informal (jua khali) sector, master craftsmen, micro and small enterprises and members of cooperatives;

• Over Three hundred and Fifty (353) organizations have been awarded grants to skill over 40,000 member organizations under the Manufacturing, construction and agriculture sectors

WINDOW THREE: Support to development of new innovative skills training programs;

• Over 7.1 billion Uganda Shillings has been awarded to learning institutions to support; skills training, innovative training, skills for production entrepreneurial production
• Over $170,000 has been awarded to create accreditation centres for certification in Manufacturing, construction and auto mechanics

  pdf Download the updated list of grantees awarded to-date here >> (606 KB)