Africa, Italy, Europe: the dialogue with Robinah Nabbanja, Prime Minister of Uganda on cooperation and sustainable development

From the European Union's Global Gateway to the Mattei Plan, the need to build new partnerships between African and European countries is increasingly evident on the national and international scene. In the light of this new trend, AVSI's first meeting at Rimini will discuss "SAY Skilling in Agripreneurship for increased Youth employment," a project that supported 18,000 young people, aged 18 to 30, to find employment in the agricultural sector and 6,500 students aged 13 to 18 to receive specific courses on agriculture, the driving sector of the Ugandan economy.

The dialogue, moderated by Giampaolo Silvestri - Secretary General of AVSI, involved: Robinah Nabbanja, Prime Minister of Uganda; Stefano Gatti, Italian General Director of Development Cooperation; Frederieke Quispel, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Uganda; John Makoha, AVSI Country Representative in Uganda; Stephen Tumukugize, a young agripreneur involved in the SAY project; and Renzo Piraccini, Macfrut President.

I convey greetings from His Excellency, Gen Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of the Republic of Uganda, and the people of Uganda.

On behalf of Government of the Republic of Uganda, allow me to commend the role of Government of Italy in Uganda’s Socio-Economic development.

I appreciate AVSI for inviting me to participate in this 45^th edition of the Rimini meeting. AVSI has been operating in Uganda, since 1984.

We  are  happy with the work of AVSI in Uganda. AVSI manages 29 projects that directly benefit a number of people.  I am informed that AVSI invests approximately 20.7 Million Euros annually and this significantly contributes to Uganda’s development. AVSI projects span in 80 districts of Uganda out of 146 districts.

I thank AVSI for complementing Government of Uganda’s development efforts.  We look forward for further collaboration in   skilling the youth but also in other areas that touch people’s lives.

According to the recent 2024 census by the National Bureau of Statistics, Uganda has 45.9 million people with an annual growth rate of 3.7%. Of this, youth aged between 18 to 35, are 10.4 million the equivalent of 23%. We also recognize that children aged between 0 to 17 are 23.1 million which is 50.5%.  By 2050, Uganda’s population is projected to be more than 100 million people.

Uganda has more than one million young people, who are educated, entering the job market each year and this presents the challenge of youth unemployment and under employment.

Government of Uganda supported by her development partners including the Italian Government and AVSI, is committed to addressing this challenge through skilling and supporting youth-led enterprises to pilot innovative ideas.

Government has set up Regional Presidential industrial skilling hubs, Industrial parks, and Innovation hubs to impart practical skills to the youth for self-employment. The innovation hubs serve as catalysts for home grown digital solutions and aim to accelerate entrepreneurship and digital employment across the country.

Uganda has 8 operational industrial parks and aim to increase these to 25 regional industrial parks to enhance industrial value chains for our agricultural and mineral raw materials. This will create 5 million direct industrial jobs predominantly for the youth. Each park will have a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) section where the youth will acquire industrial relevant skills.

In 2020 Government of Uganda with support from development partners, established a Youth4Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship program which has created 7,500 Small and Medium Enterprises and equipped them with skills and tools for their trade. The program has also supported 582 creative enterprises in areas of visual and performing arts, fashion design, writing and publishing, digital media, film and animation; and beauty therapy. This program has generated over 16,000 decent jobs and livelihood opportunities.

In addition to the above initiatives the Government of Uganda implements other Special programs including the Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga and the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP), Youth lively hood (YLP) and the  Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women (GROW).

The PDM is a revolutionary initiative that takes services closer to the people. By bringing development to the parish level (the second lowest administrative level within Uganda Local Government system), we empower communities to identify their own development needs and implement solutions. The essence of the PDM is to decentralize service delivery, ensuring that no Ugandan is left behind. This model addresses the unique challenges of each parish, making it a critical vehicle for achieving our Vision 2040. The Parish Development model avails affordable agricultural financing to Ugandans still in subsistence economy, for socio-economic transformation.

Each year 1 million households are supported with USD 270 to purchase agricultural inputs for increased production, productivity, and profitability.  30% of PDM funds go to the youth, 30% to the women,10% Persons with disabilities (PWDs), 10% to the elderly and the rest to men aged between 35-59.

The ultimate objective of PDM is to create self-financing, Savings, and Credit Co-operative Societies in each of the 10,594 parishes in the country managed by the citizens themselves.

Emyooga Program is another Government credit facility  managed at constituency level and targets existing homesteads with already established but struggling  enterprises. Every year the Government provides USD 150,000 to each of the 353 constituency cooperatives societies.

Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP) is another Government facility at district level targeting women entrepreneurs whose business are struggling. This facility was created in 2015, and supports women with interest free credit, training, and mentorship. The program gives up to 25 million (7,000 USD) Uganda shillings per group of up to 15 people.

The Youth Livelihood Program started in the year 2013 is also a flagship initiative of Government of Uganda aimed at addressing the challenges of unemployment and poverty among young people in Uganda. This program is at District level and targets sub-counties.

The GROW (Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women) is another Government programs that extends credit of  between 4 million (USD1080) to 400 million shillings (USD108108) for women entrepreneurs and women led enterprises. GROW helps PDM facilities who have graduated from subsistence to viable commercial enterprises.

These initiatives are strategically designed to strengthen the capacity of youth, women, persons with disabilities, the elderly,  and the general public to actively participate in the climate-smart value supply chain process and also strengthen public and private sector partnerships and mechanisms for compliance with the EU Deforestation-Free Regulations and thus ensuring that Ugandan coffee is not locked out of the export market.

In conclusion, all the above interventions are possible, because Uganda is one of the most peaceful and stable countries in Africa, with good infrastructure including tarmac roads, electricity, and internet connectivity. In addition to the above we are focused on providing employment opportunities and wealth creation for social economic transformation.

Government of Uganda hereby requests for continued collaboration and partnerships with the Government of Italy, AVSI, and the Private Sector, as outlined in the Mattei Plan for Africa of 2024, in financing, training and technological transfer as well as value addition to our raw materials, into enable Uganda and other African Countries to attain sustainable Socio- Economic Growth and Development.

Finally, I invite you to pursue a number investment opportunities in Uganda. Our Legal and Institutional framework has been adapted to make it competitive with an Enabling Environment for Investment.

I thank you all for listening to me.

I am Stephen the CEO Darling Coffee in Mbale the Eastern region of Uganda. My grandfather was a coffee farmer this is where I drew my inspiration from. He educated us through his coffee enterprise. I am a graduate with a bachelors in accounting and finance. 

After School I worked as an accountant in a coffee company where I got to learn about the SAY Project. I picked interest and enrolled in AVSI Foundation Skilling in Agripreneurship for increased Youth Employment (SAY) project funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands where I improved my knowledge in coffee quality management, barista skills, and agribusiness at Ubora Specialty Coffe a partner of the SAY project. Armed with a novel expertise, I partnered Pricilla Nagudi also a SAY youth and together we founded Darling Coffee Limited. 

We offer value addition, quality management, farmer group training, and consultancy services. Between 2022 and 2024, we trained 38 youth in coffee quality, processing, barista and marketing. We work with a network of 200 farmers, half of whom are young people. We also package our products in various sizes, catering to individual consumers, kiosks, supermarkets, and restaurants. To promote domestic coffee consumption, we began serving coffee at events, offering customized coffee gift packs and coffee in the bar – which is rare in Uganda.

Through the SAY project I have participated in several trade exhibitions in Uganda and Kenya which have opened us to a wider network to increase our sales. The SAY project skilling and support gave us the confidence to apply for several opportunities – we won the SAY agribusiness challenge fund grant which set a foundation for us to access bigger opportunities. In 2023 we won USD 20,000 from the Hi-Innovators award of the Uganda National Social Security Fund which helped us to expand our business.

We plan to grow a coffee academy and skill over 500 young people, establish 3 primary processing facilities around Mt. Elgon region in Eastern Uganda by 2027, and establish an export market of at least 38,000 Kgs of specialty green coffee beans by 2026.

The dialogue on cooperation continued on Wednesday, August 21 with the event “The new strategy of Italian cooperation in Africa. the partnership with Uganda” attended by Uganda's Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, Director General of Development Cooperation Stefano Gatti AVSI Secretary General Giampaolo Silvestri, and CUAMM Director Dante Carraro. Bernhard Scholz, president of Fondazione Meeting, moderated the event.