Why Uganda's future depends on women

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OPINION

By Aisha Mutesi

As the climate crisis intensifies, the world is awakening to a truth long acknowledged but rarely acted upon: that women are not just victims of climate change; they are powerful agents of change. Across Uganda, women’s traditional roles as food producers, water collectors, caregivers, and managers of natural resources place them at the frontline of environmental change. Yet, despite carrying the heaviest burden of climate impacts, their potential as leaders and innovators remains underutilised.

In most rural households, women are the anchors of survival. When droughts dry up wells or floods wash away crops, it is women who walk longer distances to fetch water, find alternative food sources, and care for affected families. These everyday struggles make women deeply aware of how environmental shifts affect community well-being. This knowledge, drawn from lived experience, should make them central actors in climate planning and decision-making, not peripheral participants.

The global community has already recognised the vital link between gender and climate. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established the Gender Action Plan to promote women’s leadership in climate policy and finance. The Paris Agreement also calls for gender-responsive approaches, while the African Union’s Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2018–2028) explicitly identifies women as key agents in building climate resilience. These frameworks affirm a shared understanding: climate solutions that ignore women are incomplete.

Uganda has taken some positive steps. The National Climate Change Policy and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) acknowledge the importance of gender-responsive interventions. However, these commitments remain largely on paper. Implementation has been slow, and women still occupy limited roles in climate institutions and financial programs. The gap between recognition and real action is widening, and closing it requires political will, deliberate funding, and inclusive governance.

Empowering women in climate action means moving beyond symbolic participation. It means investing directly in women-led climate solutions from clean energy enterprises and agroforestry cooperatives to community water management systems. Government agencies and development partners should establish dedicated funding streams that directly support women’s organisations, rather than channelling funds through intermediaries. Expanding access to climate finance through women’s savings groups and micro-credit associations would allow rural innovators to scale their efforts and build stronger local economies.

Capacity building is equally critical. Women must be trained not just as beneficiaries but as technical leaders in renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, and data-driven adaptation planning. When women gain technical and financial skills, their communities gain resilience. Imagine a Uganda where female engineers design solar grids, women farmers use climate information to guide planting, and women entrepreneurs drive green business solutions. This is not a dream; it is a practical pathway toward sustainability.

At the community level, inclusive action must involve men and traditional leaders. Gender-responsive climate adaptation works best when households share decision-making and when cultural norms evolve to recognise women’s equal role in managing resources. Development practitioners and CSOs should therefore integrate social transformation and gender dialogue into environmental programs.

For international partners such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Global Environment Facility (GEF), and bilateral donors, Uganda’s next climate funding cycle should prioritise projects that demonstrate measurable impacts on women’s empowerment. Gender indicators should no longer be a “tick-box” exercise but a measure of success and accountability.

Uganda stands at a crossroads. With droughts in the cattle corridor, floods in the Elgon region, and rising energy insecurity, resilience must begin where vulnerability is highest in households and communities led by women. By putting women at the heart of climate action, Uganda can accelerate its progress toward sustainable development, economic inclusivity, and climate justice.

Empowering women in climate action is not just a gender issue; it is a smart investment in our collective survival. As policymakers, development partners, and international agencies deliberate on the next phase of climate programming, they must ask one question: how many women will this empower, and how many will it leave behind?

Because the future of climate resilience will be written not in boardrooms alone, but in the fields, homes, and innovations of women who have always been the quiet custodians of our planet.

The writer is a Masters Student of Makerere University Business School