Africa-Press – Uganda. A new project has been launched to help create employment, increase income, and improve gender-specific working conditions for about 5000 women in green and greening sectors.
The program named the Women Economic Empowerment for Green Transformation Project under the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (WEEG-UWEP)”transformation commissioned by Germany in partnership with the EU and Norway will be implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) together with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development.
It will support women enterprises in sustainable agriculture and agri-processing, the blue economy and aquaculture, renewable energy, circular economy and waste management, eco-tourism, transport and logistics, and construction
Speaking during the launch at Sheraton Hotel Kampala on Thursday, the Minister for Gender, Betty Amongi said the project will greatly help women entrepreneurs scale up their businesses.
“The aim is to create employment, raise incomes, and improve gender-specific working conditions — especially for women in rural areas. We know that when women enter traditionally male-dominated sectors, they perform just as well as men. This clearly demonstrates that with the right support — skills, financing, markets, and networks — women-owned enterprises can grow, diversify, and compete effectively,” Amongi said.
The minister said that despite implementing various economic empowerment programmes, women entrepreneurs in Uganda continue to face significant constraints.
She mentioned limited access to finance, limited access to markets, inadequate skills development and technology, social norms that foster economic dependence, and limited participation in high-value sectors, noting that the new project can help address these barriers.
“Project comes at a time when Uganda is prioritising interventions in key growth sectors to transition to middle-income status. The green transformation is not just an environmental agenda — it is an economic opportunity.”
Minister Amongi however noted that there is need to ensure women access market beyond their local communities, adopt climate-smart and green business practices, move from subsistence to commercial production; and participate in value chains that offer sustainable income.
“Through this project, we look forward to providing tailored training, individual business advisory services, coaching and mentorship, business development support activities e.g. formalization and access to market, and improved access to finance to help women’s enterprises grow in size, profitability, and sustainability,” she said.
“When we invest in women, we invest in families, communities, and the nation. Women’s economic empowerment is not charity — it is smart economics.”
The Employment Promotion for Women for the Green Transformation in Africa (WE4D) Uganda team leader, Michael Seng, noted that the project will provide tailored business development support, including training, coaching, and mentoring in areas such as business registration, compliance with quality standards, market access, and financing.
He added that in support of the enterprise support organizations the beneficiaries will benefit from the digital Business Development Services (BDS) system that will track business progress, identify growth opportunities, and strengthen capacity over time.
The Germany Ambassador to Uganda, Matthias Schauer said the two-year intervention will be executed within the WE4D programme.
“The intervention –will increase the competitiveness of women groups in Uganda. These women groups participate in the Women Entrepreneurship,”Schauer said.
She noted that the intervention will select 600 women groups of the UWEP programme, who have a strong green business case, with the objective to create employment, increase their income, and to improve gender-specific working conditions for these women.
“The team will achieve this by economically empowering these green women groups through training sessions, individualized business development advisory, – coaching and mentorship, and business development support activities e.g. formalization and access to market.”
The Germany Ambassador to Uganda said in total, 5,000 women will benefit from this intervention in Uganda.
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