[{"bbox": [98, 180, 271, 206], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Policy Framework"}, {"bbox": [96, 231, 1135, 950], "category": "Text", "text": "Energy is key for the country's development; therefore, it has a prominent place in the Uganda NDP III (2021-2025) and the Uganda Vision 2040. The Plan aims to increase access to electricity, improve reliability of the network through, among others, investing more in evacuation and transmission to areas where it can be used such as in industrial parks and in economic zones. The Plan considers access to energy as crucial for the country's industrialisation and urbanization, and therefore as a driver for socio-economic transformation. The Plan responds to the Government's commitment and ambition to reach the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular those related to universal energy access (SDG7), climate change (SDG13), decent work and economic growth (SDG8), resilient infrastructure and sustainable industrialization (SDG9), sustainable communities (SDG11), gender equality (SDG 5) and reduced inequalities (SDG10). Specifically, the Plan states in its chapter on human capital development that one of its objectives is to reduce vulnerability and gender inequality along the lifecycle. The NDP III intends to increase the national grid access rate to 60%, up from the current 19%, to reach an average consumption per year exceeding 550kWh and to reduce the cost of electricity to $0.05kWh for all categories of consumers. In terms of systematising the cost electricity, the Government has kick-started the reform of the electricity sector that should conclude with the merging of all the public companies operating in the electricity sector in a move to improve efficiency. In addition, the national electricity bill has been amended to facilitate direct selling agreements between energy producers and major consumers but also to reinforce the performance and financial independence of the regulator. Other important policy documents are the National Energy Policy, the National Electrification Strategy, the mini-grids regulation or the National Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement. Additional efforts to electrify the country are reflected in the Government's funding and implementation of the Electricity Connection Policy and the funding support to scale up the mini-grids. In 2021, Government has also developed the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, reinforcing its commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights in all business operations. The Plan calls for the promotion of social inclusion and the rights of individuals and groups in vulnerable and marginalised situations in private sector operations in the country, with special emphasis on women and people with disabilities, among others. Moreover, the action will be consistent with the principles of integrated water resource management, in particular with the Catchment Management Planning Guidelines from the Ministry of Water and Environment and commitments made by Uganda under the Nile Basin Initiative."}, {"bbox": [98, 975, 195, 1000], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## EU policy"}, {"bbox": [96, 1027, 1135, 1348], "category": "Text", "text": "Renewable energy is at the core of the EU Green Deal not only as a way to decarbonise the economy and improving energy security, sustainability and affordability but also as the way to promote the recovery from the Covid-19 induced economic crisis. Empowering women in the support to partner countries' efforts to improve access to clean energy is also stated in the Gender Action Plan III. Specifically, this action is aligned with the following thematic areas of engagement of GAP III: \"Addressing the challenges and harnessing the opportunities offered by the green transition and the digital transformation\" and \"Promoting economic and social rights and empowering girls and women\". Further deployment of renewable energy to sustain economic growth and jobs creation is part of the EU-Africa Alliance for Sustainable Investments and Jobs. Moreover, the EU Global Gateway strategy points towards energy infrastructure as a key element to increase productivity, connectivity and promote energy security across the African continent. In Uganda, access to energy is one of the key indicators selected to reflect the EU's cooperation impact within the MIP, in particular via interventions within the Priority Area 2 Promoting sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs."}, {"bbox": [85, 1387, 341, 1417], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [98, 1433, 1134, 1488], "category": "Text", "text": "Promoting sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs cannot be achieved in the absence of affordable, reliable, secure and sustainable energy. Therefore, the action is aiming to bring solutions to the following problems:"}, {"bbox": [98, 1513, 1134, 1620], "category": "List-item", "text": "- Low access rate to clean, sustainable and affordable energy in the country and therefore lack of opportunities to generate new income opportunities and jobs for a rapidly growing population, in particular for youth and women empowerment. 45% of the population is lacking access to energy of which 84% is in rural areas. In particular, women experience several problems linked to the lack of opportunities: 38.5% of women over 15"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1682, 1144, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 22"}]