The Inclusive Green Economy program presented an unusual opportunity for knowledge sharing by bringing together groups with different backgrounds and skills. People in different stages of their careers and with very different experiences found that they had great discussions and could learn a lot from each other.
This training session was a voluntary extra session within an M.Sc. course at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg called Environmental Policy Instruments. It was designed for the IGE Fellows of 2021, that is, the first group of senior civil servants in East Africa who participated in the Inclusive Green Economy Program (IGE).
Brought different perspectives
Other participants in this session were university students from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, the Policy Engagement Specialists from the IGE program, and senior experts in the field: Thomas Sterner, Richard Mulwa, and Gunnar Köhlin, all representing Environment for Development.
“This was a very valuable session,” remarks Ronald Kaggwa, one of the participating IGE Fellows. He works at Uganda’s National Planning Authority as a Manager for production, trade, and tourism planning.
“The students brought their academic perspective, what they are learning in class. We brought the practical reality to the table and talked about how their theories can be applied in reality. We had very valuable discussions,” he says.
Valuable and timely program
In addition to discussions, the participants also had the possibility to mail their questions in advance to the senior experts, who addressed them in the session.
Since Ronald Kaggwa has the responsibility for coordinating the country’s green growth strategy, he has found the IGE program very valuable in many aspects.
“We are developing and implementing plans to achieve the Uganda Vision 2040. It envisages a social transformation from a peasant to a modern and prosperous upper-middle-income country while ensuring inclusive green growth, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and protecting our biodiversity. So the IGE program was very timely for us.”
The IGE in practice program has kicked off its second year with the IGE Fellows of 2022. This new group of civil servants will also get the opportunity to attend similar workshops as this pilot training session.
By: Petra Hansson