The Uganda Development Bank (EDB) in partnership with European Union (EU) has allocated funds in form of a grant attached to a loan (also known as ‘facility’) to enable the sector soar through the hardship of COVID19. The facility seeks to stimulate businesses operating in the tourism sector, which has been heavily impacted by COVID-19 by providing a grant and soft loan with flexible terms aligned to the current needs of the sector. A total approximate pool of UGX 61.8 Billion (UGX 40Bn UDB loan plus UGX 21.8Bn EU Grant) has been set aside for this intervention. The EU grant is subject to the signing of an agreement between EU and UDB.
The agreed tourism intervention fund is in line with the activities developed in the framework of the project GreenTU funded by the Switch Africa Green Programme and, more precisely, with
• Output 1 – Improved sustainability and resource efficiency of the Tourist Accommodation Sector in Uganda and compliance with internationally recognised EMS ISO14001,
• Output 2 – Promoted green commercialisation and consumption by implementing sustainability certification in the MSMEs of the Tourism Sector in Uganda, and
• Output 4 – Increased awareness and commitment of governmental institutions and financing bodies in SCP practices and Sustainable Tourism’s benefits.
A call for applications is currently opened and the deadline to apply has been extended to October 30th at 5 pm.
The call defines the eligibility criteria to be fulfilled by any applicant and the eligible expenditures under the facility that can be financed. At this regard, it must be highlighted that the certification costs of ISO 14001:2015 and Travelife are eligible. Therefore, for those companies involved in the project GreenTU that have been working in:
• the implementation of an environmental management system according to the standard ISO 14001:2015, and/or
• the implementation of the tourism sustainability certification Travelife at their facilities,
this call for applications constitutes an excellent opportunity to finance the certification costs of the ISO 14001:2015 and/or Travelife, what would be the culmination of the hard work done during the last 2 years.
All the information about this call for applications is available at https://www.udbl.co.ug/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/UDB-CALL-FOR-APPLICATIONS-TOURISM-INTERVENTION-FUND.pdf.
