Our Projects

Specific Objectives

The overall objective is to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of women-owned enterprises in the RHDs of Arua, Kamwenge, Isingiro and Kiryandongo. Specific objectives:

1. Train 200 women entrepreneurs in the technical and business skills needed to increase productivity and competitiveness
2. Provide hands-on coaching and mentorship in establishing management systems and controls to strengthen their enterprises
3. Link 200 women entrepreneurs to BDS platforms that can advance their businesses

Expected Outputs

1. 200 women trained in technical and business skills for increased productivity and competitiveness
2. 200 women provided hands-on coaching and mentorship in management systems and controls
3. 200 women linked to BDS platforms that can advance their businesses

Expected Outcomes

• Increased productivity and competitiveness
• Increased levels of revenues and profits
• Increased business growth and sustainability
• Increased employment for communities in the target districts
• Increased incomes and savings for communities in the target districts

Project Deliverables

1. Input into the program beneficiary vetting process
2. Training for 200 women in leather skilling, entrepreneurship and business management
3. A trainee handbook in English used by participants during training
4. A simple business plan produced by each participant to guide their business
5. DIT certificates issued at the end of the competency training
6. An end-of-project report describing activities implemented and lessons learnt

Target Beneficiaries

200 women entrepreneurs from Arua, Hoima, Kamwenge, Isingiro and Kiryandongo, with 50 selected from each of the 4 target districts. 75% are refugees hosted in the region and 25% are locals living and working in the RHDs.

Project duration: October 2018 – March 2023

Context

Uganda has one of the fastest growing populations in the world, with 78% of its people aged 30 years and below. At the same time, youth unemployment is among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most youth lack marketable skills, and access to vocational training is limited, compounded by limited private-sector involvement in curricula, delivery and certification. The outbreak of COVID-19 and its containment restrictions further hurt the economy, with a significant fall in SME productivity and job opportunities.

The Programme

Skill Up! Kampala is a program of Welthungerhilfe in cooperation with USSIA and Kiyita Family Alliance for Development (KIFAD), aiming to improve youth employability through enterprise-based skills training. The Programme is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Project Objective

Youth in Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso successfully use improved non-formal education and training opportunities and support offered by USSIA and its members to overcome unemployment and poverty.

Activities

• Develop capacity of training enterprises to provide high-quality, curriculum-based vocational training beyond the project’s duration
• Deliver market-relevant, curriculum-based vocational skills training through 60 USSIA member enterprises
• Deliver Life Skills and Entrepreneurship training for mindset, behavioral change and work readiness
• Support establishment of startups through provision of starter kits
• Mentorship and consultancy services through USSIA and partners
• Curricula and standardization for non-formal vocational skills training
• Organization of youth in Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs)
• Post-training support (mentoring, start-up kits, internships, business training)

Target Group

• 1,500 unemployed and underemployed youth from socioeconomically constrained backgrounds
• 60 non-formal vocational training small-scale enterprises

Focus Areas

1. Training enterprises qualified to competently conduct market-oriented training and internships
2. Consultancy services and business startup advice tailored to young people and young entrepreneurs
3. Strengthening micro and small enterprises’ role in training young people, through image and marketing work
4. Strengthened partner capacities
5. Increased population knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms, transmission and prevention

Stakeholders

• District Local Governments of Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso
• Ministry of Education and Sports (Directorate of Industrial Training)

The Government of Uganda (GoU) is committed to narrowing the gap between current and potential revenue performance, estimated at 20–26% against a revenue-to-GDP ratio of 12.9% in FY2018/19 — part of GoU’s policy to grow tax revenue as a share of GDP by at least 0.5% per annum. Uganda’s tax-to-GDP ratio (16.5%) lagged the 30-country African average by 3.6 percentage points, with taxes on goods and services (33%) the largest contributor and corporate/personal income tax the lowest (6% and 25% respectively).

A diagnostic study identified key obstacles to raising the tax-to-GDP ratio to 16–18%: widespread informality (nearly half of all economic activity), a weak fiscal-social contract affecting tax morale and compliance, and a tax policy process with insufficient analysis and stakeholder consultation.

Uganda’s computerized self-assessment system (SAS) shifted responsibility to taxpayers for registration, obtaining a TIN, assessing tax payable, and filing returns via the URA and URSB web portals — requiring taxpayers to be well-versed in both digital platforms and tax law, especially given voluntary compliance and audit risk.

P2P is strategically pillared on service design with an MSSI-centric approach, targeting formal and informal USSIA members and tax policy architects, contributing to DRM4D’s goal of increasing tax and non-tax revenue for public spending and service delivery.

Overall objective: to widen the tax base among MSSIs and improve tax compliance while ensuring improved tax administration and policy reform through quality dialogue with government, pursued over 24 months through three objectives: (1) strengthen capacities of at least 300 informal MSSIs for increased registration, (2) strengthen capacities of at least 800 formal MSSIs for improved compliance, and (3) strengthen policy dialogue.

Three Strategic Approaches

1) Capacity Building Support — increasing the tax-to-GDP ratio by improving tax knowledge and proficiency among youth- and women-owned MSSIs, since tax knowledge is a significant predictor of compliance. USSIA also builds its own capacity for advocacy to raise the voice and quality of participation of its membership in tax policy processes.

2) Information and Assistance Services — leveraging USSIA’s governance structure for group and individual tax information and assistance, including digital self-help tutorials and online business registration support, conducted jointly with URA.

3) Advocacy and Dialogue — organizing advocacy so that tax policy reform reflects business community input, since sound tax policy directly affects business costs, investment returns and government accountability, while dialogue builds trust and increases democratic participation.

SWITCH Africa Green is a 3-year initiative that started in 2015 to support 6 African countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda) in transitioning to a private-sector-led, inclusive green economy based on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns. In Uganda, the project supported the formulation of sound policy and regulatory frameworks, incentive structures and tax measures, and market-based instruments in targeted sectors, while equipping MSMEs to apply SCP practices and informing consumers of the benefits of sustainable, resource-efficient products.

Project Objectives

• Support policy makers with scientific information and tools — policies, regulatory frameworks, incentives, tax and market-based instruments — that promote private-sector-led inclusive green growth
• Support the private sector to identify opportunities for green business development and markets (domestic and export) for sustainably produced goods and services
• Facilitate knowledge development and dissemination of lessons learned and good practices nationally and through regional/Africa-wide networks, to increase understanding and uptake of Green Economy and SCP ideas

Who financed it? SWITCH Africa Green was funded by the European Union (EU) and jointly implemented by UNDP and UNEP.

From March 2017 to June 2019, USSIA implemented the USAID/UKAID-funded project “Promoting Private Sector Participation in Local Governments” in the central-region districts of Kiboga, Mityana and Mukono, envisioning two core objectives:

1. Improve institutional and management capacities for at least 12 targeted private-sector enterprises in Mukono, Kiboga and Mityana for improved service delivery and operating environment by December 2019
2. Strengthen linkages and partnerships for at least 12 targeted enterprises in the same districts, for the same outcome by December 2019

The project included eighteen milestones, of which sixteen were directly programmatic — seven supporting Objective 1 and nine supporting Objective 2, each with associated activities and deliverables.

In February 2019, the project design was extended to incorporate five additional add-on activities supporting expected Outcome 2, with an extended end date.

The 2018 Global Gender Gap Index Report ranked Uganda 55th out of 149 countries under “Economic Participation & Opportunity,” behind Rwanda (30th) and Kenya (37th), with Tanzania ranked 77th.

Uganda’s Vision 2040 aims to transform the country from a predominantly peasant, low-income economy to a competitive, upper-middle-income status with per capita income averaging USD 9,500 by 2040. National Development Plan II prioritizes investment in Agriculture, Tourism, and Minerals, Oil and Gas — with agriculture emphasizing 12 enterprises including Coffee, Tea, Maize, Rice, Cassava, Beans, Fish, Beef, Milk, Citrus and Bananas.

Analysis of Uganda’s Meat Industry

Livestock accounted for about 4.3% of national GDP in 2018, with total meat value at USD 4,303 million; more than 60% of rural households derive their livelihoods from livestock. In 2018, Uganda’s livestock population comprised 12.1 million cattle, 15.6 million goats, 4.4 million sheep, 4.5 million pigs and 48.3 million poultry. Annual meat production in 2017 was estimated at 453,541MT (beef 211,358MT, goat’s meat/mutton 39,990MT, pork 24,197MT, poultry 65,481MT) against demand of 530,134MT — a net deficit of 76,593MT, driven by population growth, urbanization and rising purchasing power.

Food Quality Systems: A Cost-Benefit View

Quality system standards that support transactions within and between enterprises in the agro-food value chain are key to efficiency gains and competitiveness. Information asymmetry between buyers and sellers regarding quality and safety raises transaction costs, creating incentives for adopting quality assurance systems. Traceability, transparency, product liability and safety controls are embedded in most quality systems, and research has shown the benefits of adopting them — improved productivity, management and customer relations — typically outweigh implementation costs.

Developing Uganda’s Beef Sector

The European Union identified the beef sector opportunity within its National Indicative Plan for Uganda and, through the 11th European Development Fund, funded a 5-year project implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) — “Developing a Market Oriented and Environmentally Sustainable Beef Meat Industry in Uganda” (MOBIP) — implemented in the Central and South-Western Cattle Corridor, in Disease Control Zones 1 & 2.