Meeting in Ethiopia

Green economy program to be launched for East Africa

Environment for Development (EfD) and Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development (GMV) at the University of Gothenburg, collaborate in an extensive program for capacity development in five African countries. This innovative program, to be launched in January 2021, aims at strengthening government agencies in East Africa to transform towards an inclusive green economy (IGE).

“We are really thrilled about this program since it will substantially strengthen the interface between academia and government agencies to support the transition towards an inclusive green economy,” comments Gunnar Köhlin, Director, EfD.

The two-year Sida-financed IGE-program, which may be extended, will initially focus on five countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania.  

“These countries were chosen because they face severe challenges regarding pollution, natural resource depletion, and climate change,” says Anders Ekbom, Deputy Director of GMV and co-project leader of the IGE Program.

“Also, there is significant knowledge on inclusive green economy in their research institutions, but much more can be done in terms of strengthening research-policy interaction on policy design and implementation.”

EfD as well as GMV have a long history of working with capacity development in this region. This program, however, is more comprehensive than previous ones and it includes some new features.

For instance, by emphasizing inclusion, the program highlights the importance of broad stakeholder involvement and ensuring that green economy policies are not implemented at the expense of poor and vulnerable people.

Methods for peer-learning have also been developed to help participants benefit from networking and the sharing of knowledge and experiences from neighboring countries.

“We will work with advanced capacity-building methods to ensure that the knowledge will be directly applicable in the participants' daily work, for instance in government agencies,” explains Emelie César, one of the project leaders for the IGE program and senior policy analyst at GMV.

The program consists of five work packages:

  • Trainings-of-trainers, where the participants will get tools for training their colleagues
  • Cross-country peer-learning
  • Inclusive green economy in practice-projects
  • Inclusion: Social acceptance for IGE reforms
  • Program management, digital learning, and communication

The EfD centers in the participating countries will be partners in this program. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, and from the Swedish Tax Authority, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, and the World Resources Institute will also provide expertise.

By: Petra Hansson

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News | 15 December 2020