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Uganda's climate money is missing its best investment: The rural woman
Uganda needs US$28.1 billion in climate finance by 2030, yet rural women risk being left out because they lack land titles and access to funding, writes Dr Juliet Kabasiita Kiiza (PhD)
Dr Juliet Kabasiita Kiiza (PhD). (Courtesy)
By: Admin ., Journalist @New Vision
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OPINION
By Dr Juliet Kabasiita Kiiza (PhD)
Across rural Uganda, climate change is being fought by women long before any budget is passed. It means walking further for water as dry seasons lengthen, saving seed for the next dry spell and drying food before it spoils. Yet these women are among the least able to reach the money meant to support them.
Land is the first barrier. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics found that only about 30 percent of women in farming households own or hold rights over the land they farm, against 52 percent of men. Without land, which lenders usually ask for as security, a woman struggles to borrow for a water tank, better seed or a solar dryer.
Government's own programmes show what happens when women do get money. Women make up more than half of the nearly 3.6 million people who have received Parish Development Model funds, according to the Ministry of Finance. Where government has lent to women directly, they have also paid back more. Auditor General figures for 2022/23 show the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme had recovered Shs74 billion of the Shs127.3 billion it lent, nearly 60 percent, while the Youth Livelihood Programme had recovered only about a quarter of Shs175.4 billion.
But the same programmes show how the system holds women back. A 2024 survey by the Economic Policy Research Centre found women waited about nine and a half months for their PDM money, against about eight for men. Women put the largest share of their money into food crops and only about 5 percent into higher-earning coffee. Women are showing up and paying back. The system is slowing them down and keeping them small.
Climate finance risks repeating that pattern. Uganda's updated climate plan estimates that US$28.1 billion will be needed by 2030, with only 15 percent expected from domestic sources. Funders look for “bankable” projects such as large solar plants and major infrastructure, which Uganda needs. A woman with one acre, a savings group record and no land title does not fit that model.
That is a costly mistake. A study by UN Women, UNDP, UNEP and the World Bank estimated in 2015 that closing the gap in farm productivity between women and men could add about US$67 million a year to Uganda's economy and lift about 119,000 people out of poverty. For government, that means stronger rural markets, a wider tax base and less spending on emergency relief. For the private sector, it means new customers for banks, seed companies and produce buyers.
But the same programmes show how the system holds women back. A 2024 survey by the Economic Policy Research Centre found women waited about nine and a half months for their PDM money, against about eight for men. Women put the largest share of their money into food crops and only about 5 percent into higher-earning coffee. Women are showing up and paying back. The system is slowing them down and keeping them small.
Climate finance risks repeating that pattern. Uganda's updated climate plan estimates that US$28.1 billion will be needed by 2030, with only 15 percent expected from domestic sources. Funders look for “bankable” projects such as large solar plants and major infrastructure, which Uganda needs. A woman with one acre, a savings group record and no land title does not fit that model.
That is a costly mistake. A study by UN Women, UNDP, UNEP and the World Bank estimated in 2015 that closing the gap in farm productivity between women and men could add about US$67 million a year to Uganda's economy and lift about 119,000 people out of poverty. For government, that means stronger rural markets, a wider tax base and less spending on emergency relief. For the private sector, it means new customers for banks, seed companies and produce buyers.
Kenya offers a lesson. Its Financing Locally-Led Climate Action programme sends climate money down to counties and wards, where communities help choose projects. But a civil society review found many women, youth and people with disabilities left out where committees excluded them. Sending money closer to the people is not enough. Women must be at the table where it is shared.
So who should act? The Ministry of Finance, which already issues a Certificate of Gender and Equity for sector budgets, should publish every year how much climate finance reaches women and rural districts. The Ministry of Water and Environment should channel part of the money it wins from the Adaptation Fund and Green Climate Fund through PDM structures, women's groups and SACCOs, and ensure women sit on the committees that decide. Banks, including the Uganda Development Bank, should accept savings records and group guarantees where a woman has no land title. Women's groups could then grow businesses that pay season after season, from rainwater harvesting and drought-tolerant seed to tree planting that, once verified, earns carbon credit income year after year.
Women are more than half of PDM's beneficiaries. Where they borrow directly, they repay more. Yet they wait longer, own less land, and no one is counting how much climate money reaches them. The question is no longer whether rural women belong in Uganda's climate finance plans. It is how much longer Uganda can afford not to invest in them.
The writer is a Climate Change and Green Economy Specialist
So who should act? The Ministry of Finance, which already issues a Certificate of Gender and Equity for sector budgets, should publish every year how much climate finance reaches women and rural districts. The Ministry of Water and Environment should channel part of the money it wins from the Adaptation Fund and Green Climate Fund through PDM structures, women's groups and SACCOs, and ensure women sit on the committees that decide. Banks, including the Uganda Development Bank, should accept savings records and group guarantees where a woman has no land title. Women's groups could then grow businesses that pay season after season, from rainwater harvesting and drought-tolerant seed to tree planting that, once verified, earns carbon credit income year after year.
Women are more than half of PDM's beneficiaries. Where they borrow directly, they repay more. Yet they wait longer, own less land, and no one is counting how much climate money reaches them. The question is no longer whether rural women belong in Uganda's climate finance plans. It is how much longer Uganda can afford not to invest in them.
The writer is a Climate Change and Green Economy Specialist