The Renewable Energy Policy for Uganda

In general, this policy seeks to diversify the energy supply sources and technologies in the country.

One of the key policy principles (Clause 3.3(8)) is Stakeholder Participation and the Poor which encourages the participation of communities in renewable energy projects and indicates that these should take into account the needs of the poor. Furthermore, as a policy objective, the document seeks to mainstream gender and poverty issues in renewable energy development strategies to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of women and the poor in general.

It is important also to note that the policy establishes the Rural and Urban-Poor electrification Access Programme (Clause 4.2) that seek to improve already existing procedures within the regions where the cost of connection needs to be subsidized, and acknowledges that bringing electricity to rural and urban-poor population requires special packages to make connection and services affordable. However, an express mandate of the policy is that future projects should be extended to the urban poor –listing actions that the Government has to implement so that all poor people (including the ones in rural areas) are engaged in productive activities and may receive social services.