Women and youth renewable energy campaign, Uganda

Over the years, Uganda has invested trillions of dollars in the energy sector with the aim of increasing clean, affordable and reliable energy access to the people. Currently, the total installed capacity stands at 2098.2 megawatts with only 4% of the total installed capacity from solar energy. Despite the country’s many energy investments, Uganda has one of the lowest electrification rates in Africa, primarily due to an overreliance on biomass sources in the energy mix, constrained electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure, limited access to off-grid solutions, limited productive use of energy among others.

Over the years, YECA  and partners have been engaging Ugandan government and other development partners to increase investments in clean renewable energy with emphasis on off grid options; however, the country continues to invest in oil and gas sectors, which have undermined energy transition efforts to clean renewable energy sources.

The failure by the Ugandan government to promote and invest in clean renewable energy access which is low-carbon and climate-resilient has hindered opportunities for environmental sustainability, social equity and economic prosperity in the country. This has resulted into other several challenges such as health problems, high levels of poverty, cases of early pregnancies among girls, high rates of school drop-outs and others.

Therefore, the mobilised funds will support our  previous efforts to support women and youth to continue driving clean renewable energy agenda amidst oil projects. It is hoped that women and youth who constitute the biggest percentage of Uganda’s population and suffer most amidst oil activities and if continued to be supported, they will create massive pressure on government and companies to re-focus on the energy investment strategies with clean renewable access as the best energy option as opposed to other environmentally unfriendly sources of energy.