600 Women's Groups in Uganda to Benefit from Green Transformation Project

• 600 village-level women's groups in Uganda will be covered under Green Transformation Project (WEEG)
• The project aims to enhance women-owned businesses and sustainable business lines
• WEEG is being carried out within the umbrella of the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP)

Up to 600 village-level women’s groups across Uganda will benefit from the new Women’s Economic Empowerment for the Green Transformation Project (WEEG), an initiative under the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP) aimed at strengthening women-led enterprises in environmentally friendly sectors.

The groups form part of the 22,779 entities that have been funded by UWEP to increase incomes, generate jobs, and promote sustainable business activities among rural women. The WEEG project is set to reach more than 5,000 women across the country directly.

During the launch, Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development Betty Amongi commended women who are converting agricultural waste and by-products into marketable products—like charcoal briquettes from trash, banana wine, shoes from used tires, and herbal products from vegetables.

"You support rural women just a little bit with capital, and they use it far better than us in offices," she stated. "If you empower a woman, the gains remain at the household level and benefit the entire family. That is good economics."

The project is under the overall Women's Employment Promotion for the Green Transformation of Africa (WE4D) programme sponsored by Germany in collaboration with the EU and Norway and executed by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ).

The programme deals with sustainable agriculture, agro-processing, renewable energy, waste management, eco-tourism, and green building.

Angela Nakafeero, the Commissioner of Gender and Women Affairs, stated that the program aligned with Uganda’s Vision 2040, which focuses on providing women empowerment and sustainable development, and said that Uganda has one of the highest proportions of women-owned businesses in Africa.

Though, these women businesses are predominantly smaller in scale as they are unable to access finance, technology and markets, the new business will attempt to bridge these gaps through training, mentorship and access to finance.

Betty urged government institutions, private sector organizations, and community leaders to invest in up-scaling green business. "Investing in women means investing in families, in communities, and in the nation," she underscored. "Women's economic empowerment is not charity; it is smart economics."

Rural women entrepreneurs, with proper assistance, are capable of breaking out of local markets, integrating into regional and global value chains, and transforming grassroots innovations into national growth drivers.