Gov’t moves to improve the safety of wetland-dependent communities

Empowering Social and Environmental Safeguards (SES) focal persons is a critical move towards strengthening adaptation mechanisms, conservation experts, have said.

“We want to minimize the harm that could result from our project implementation interventions,” Mr. Tom Okello, the National Project Coordinator (NPC), said. This is important in strengthening measures to address increasing climate change impacts that are already making communities vulnerable.

Okello oversees the implementation of the USD 44 million Building Resilient Communities, Wetlands Ecosystems, and Associated Catchments in Uganda project funded by the Government of Uganda, the Green Climate Fund and the United Nations Development Programme and implemented by the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).

As part of the project execution, MWE is currently training 50 SES focal persons from the 12 implementing districts in the eastern region to enhance their efficacy in safeguards implementation. The participants were taken through the UNDP SES policy, project highlights on key SES aspects, Environment and Social Management Frameworks, Grievance Redress Mechanisms, and Incident reporting. This is geared towards ensuring the project outcomes don’t cause any harm.

Social and environmental safeguards are policies and procedures designed to minimize harm to people and the environment during project development. They aim to identify potential risks, implement measures to avoid or mitigate negative impacts and engage stakeholders. Essentially, they are a framework for responsible development that prioritizes environmental and social sustainability.