A World Bank-funded project designed to empower women entrepreneurs across Uganda, popularly known as ‘GROW’, is facing significant challenges, with a new report revealing that a massive Shs41.22 billion in funding remains unspent.
The Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) project, a five-year initiative worth US$217 million funded by the World Bank and coordinated under the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda (PSFU) through the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, is struggling with low fund absorption due to implementation delays.
Dr. Aisha Ruth Biyinzika Kasolo is the Chief Coordinator of the GROW project, and with her over 20 years of working experience, she has been involved in designing and implementing a number of multilateral projects for the World Bank, European Union, African Development Bank and other institutions.
In his latest report, the Auditor General, Mr Edward Okwakol, revealed that since the project’s effective start on January 20, 2023, only Shs10.96 billion (21%) of the disbursed Shs52.18 billion has been utilised. The remaining funds, according to the Auditor General, are sitting idle on project bank accounts, failing to reach the thousands of women it was meant to benefit.
The GROW project, implemented by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD), is designed to provide entrepreneurial services to over 60,000 female-owned businesses, including 3,000 refugee-owned enterprises. Its ambitious scope also aims to benefit 280,000 women and 1.6 million indirect beneficiaries. However, a slow start has hindered its progress. The report attributes the low absorption of funds to several critical delays, some of which include:
- Lack of Preparedness: Manuals and a curriculum for the project’s training programs were not developed on time.
- Staffing Shortfalls: The Ministry had not yet recruited the necessary staff to implement the project effectively.
- Delayed Beneficiary Engagement: The training and sensitisation of women entrepreneurs, a core component of the project, had not yet begun by the time of compiling the report.
However, the Ministry’s Accounting Officer explained that the curriculum development has now been finalised and that the training and sensitisation of beneficiaries was scheduled to begin in February 2025.
The Auditor General urged the Accounting Officer to expedite the training and sensitisation programs. He noted that the prompt and effective utilisation of the funds is crucial to ensuring that women entrepreneurs, including those in host and refugee communities, can receive the support they need to grow their businesses.
The report serves as a critical call to action, highlighting the urgent need for the Ministry to overcome these bureaucratic hurdles and deliver on its promise to empower women, drive economic growth, and ensure the project’s success. Our efforts to reach Dr. Kasolo for a comment about this matter were futile by the time of publishing the story.
Relatedly, PSFU has commended Centenary Bank as the top-performing GROW partner . While meeting the Bank Executives, PSF leadership together with the officials from the World Bank learnt that to date, Centenary Bank has disbursed 1,097 loans worth UGX 24.7Bn with a 92% recovery rate. The Bank Executives used the opportunity to discuss major challenges like limited collateral for women and misconceptions about fund access. They also shared lessons on strengthening the bank’s credit risk framework with safeguards on child labour, GBV, and environmental risks.