Sweden to invest Shs 520 billion in education

Sweden through its recently adopted five-year strategy for bilateral development cooperation with Uganda has committed to invest $142 million (Shs 520bn) in Uganda from 2025 to 2029. The strategy outlines how Sweden aims to contribute to Uganda’s development efforts, including improving health for the most vulnerable, strengthening resilience to climate change, promoting democracy and good governance and strengthening sustainable trade that creates jobs, opportunities and inclusive economic growth. During a recent visit to Uganda, Benjamin Dousa, Sweden’s minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, said gender equality is a cornerstone of Swedish foreign policy and a key area of their development strategy with Uganda, noting that Uganda and Sweden share a strong interest in advancing the economic empowerment of women. “I had the chance to witness at Kalerwe market how women are transitioning from small-scale vendors to responsible for running viable and sustainable enterprises through a project led by UN Women and funded by Sweden. We will continue to support activities that contribute to a stronger business climate promoting entrepreneurship and self- sufficiency, particularly for women and young people,” he said. He further noted how he was pleased to see the potential of Swedish technology and innovations and Swedish companies partnering up to advance trade and economic development in Uganda, noting that Swedish companies have great expertise in sectors like ICT, digitization, infrastructure and energy citing how these have helped to develop economic infrastructures in the neighbouring countries of Kenya and Tanzania and, therefore, they would like to do it in Uganda as well. “Some large Swedish companies are present in Uganda since decades and are important partners in contributing to Uganda’s socio-economic development. I hope we can find ways to advance further the trade between our countries and Uganda’s economic development while making use of synergies between development cooperation, trade and private sector-led growth.” Dousa also commended the role Uganda is playing by providing a safe haven to more refugees than any other country on the continent and being a leader when it comes to defining sustainable solutions for protracted refugee situations. He assured that Sweden will continue to partner with Uganda in this endeavor by focusing activities on refugees and host communities and supporting development-led and self-reliance-focused models. Meanwhile, Vincent Bagiire, the ministry of Foreign Affairs permanent secretary, said Uganda has greatly benefited from Sweden’s support in health, education, trade and environment conservation.