Commitment to SDGs

GAT3WAY and The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

GAT3WAY LTD aims to contribute to 5 Global Goals for Sustainable Development in the following ways.

GOAL 1: No Poverty

Around 10 million people living below the poverty line in Uganda, amounting to 21.4% of the population in 2018. ¹
There was an increase in Uganda in the poverty rate between 2012 and 2016, based on multiple factors. One reason was the decline in agriculture productivity due to lack of investments in the sector. ²

GAT3WAY aims to support poverty elimination in Uganda by fostering greater economic growth through expansion of inward capital investments, allied to opening and servicing existing export markets. It structures trade and investment agreements to provide up-skilling of Ugandans, thus advancing Ugandan-based industrialization to provide inclusive and sustainable jobs in addition to promoting equality.

GAT3WAY ensures within its portfolio of clients, that adequate consideration is geared towards pro-poor and gender-sensitive development areas.

Multiple studies have shown that countries that conduct more trade experience higher levels of growth. Trade encourages long-term investment and can empower marginalised groups, reducing inequality and poverty. It also generates higher standards of living through greater productivity and increased real income.

GOAL 2: Zero Hunger

29% of under 5-year olds in Uganda are undernourished resulting in growth stunting. ³
Anaemia affects 53% of under 5 years olds and 32% of adult women in Uganda. ⁴
Food storage facilities are so inadequate in Uganda that approximately 30 percent of food stored is lost. ⁵
Uganda has hosted more refugees than any other African country with 3 million refugeesin 2017, primarily from South Sudan and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. The additional mouths to feed have severely strained Uganda’s food resources. ⁵
Malnutrition costs Uganda $899 million per year, in other words, 5.6 percent of its national income. ⁶
Between 2004 to 2009, around 110,220 children died of malnutrition. A large part of this problem is that 82 percent of cases of child malnutrition in Uganda go untreated, accounting for 15 percent of child mortality cases in the country. ⁷

GAT3WAY aims to attract investments into agriculture to increase the capacity for agricultural productivity and sustainable food production as these systems are necessary to help alleviate the perils of hunger.

GAT3WAY aims to provide the Ugandan market with access to knowledge, markets and opportunities for value addition. The import of modern technologies will tackle supply chain inefficiencies and lengthy delays at borders which leave perishable food rotting whilst awaiting clearance, this takes place while many global countries suffer from food insecurity.

GAT3WAY’s intervention targets the development of sustainable food production systems that increase productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women.

GOAL 5: Gender Equality

Uganda in 2016 became the first country in Africa to have the private sector adopt the gender equality seal certification programme by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). ⁸
Gender pay disparity is at 41% in Uganda which is double that of the world and unacceptably high. ⁹
In agriculture, it is estimated that closing the gender gap would increase Uganda’s GDP USD 67 million per year. ¹⁰

GAT3WAY is committed to adhering to gender equality policies in its organization aiming for full parity in staff composition.

It also aims to ensure pro-gender strategies are implemented by its clients that engage in trade and investments in Uganda.

GAT3WAY selects social projects based on a number of developmental criteria, one of which is its contribution to reducing gender disparities.

GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

In 2017, 9.2% of Ugandans are classified as unemployed, with rate being higher in urban areas at 14.4% with the highest being in capital city of Kampala. ¹¹
Some forms of employment are unstable and account as underutilization. The more reflective figure for the rate of underutilization is 38.1%. ¹¹
Median monthly salary for those in full-time employment is UGX 168,000 (approx. USD 45) ¹¹
Of the 15.1 million men and women of working age in gainful employment, around 36% are involved in subsistence agriculture. ¹¹
Educational levels are a major contributor to economic growth. The net enrolment rate for primary school and secondary school is 80% and 28% respectively. The literacy rate is 73.5%. ¹¹

GAT3WAY aims to be a significant contributor to poverty eradication by being a trade and investment facilitator for international investors and businesses.

GAT3WAY believes that sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs that stimulate the economy while not harming the environment. Increased commitments to trade, banking and agriculture infrastructure will help increase productivity and reduce unemployment levels through technological upgrading and innovation.

GAT3WAY aims to support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation. To support diversification from agriculture, it seeks to attract investment opportunities in the sustainable tourism sector that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products.

GOAL 9. Industry, Innovation and infrastructure

National Government strategy is to focus on infrastructure bottlenecks by building hydropower plants, a modern road network, and railways. ¹²
Forecast growth is expected to rise, as result of planned development of the oil sector and the accompanying increase in infrastructure investments, to 6.5% by FY 2019/20 and above 7.0% when oil production begins. ¹³
Debt per GDP is expected to rise to 46% by 2020, doubling the debt ratio in 2009. ¹⁴
Projected decline in debt ratio after the medium term will be due to lower borrowing following the completion of key infrastructure projects, as well as higher GDP growth as the economy becomes more productive. ¹⁵
Analysts estimates first oil to be available by end of 2020. ¹⁵

GAT3WAY seeks to be Uganda’s leading private company to facilitate inward investment into key infrastructure priorities set out in the National Vision 2040 and the 5-Year development plans.

GAT3WAY plays an important role in easing the administrative challenges by facilitating business processes for international clients. By capitalizing on its strong knowledge and experience of Ugandan authorities’ policies and procedures, it can substantially reduce operational delays. Two-fold benefits for the international partners that are encouraged to invest in Uganda are the social and economic benefits via the infrastructure projects that are realizing soon, these will lower costs and improve the government’s debt position.

Sources:

Uganda National Household Survey 2016/2017 Report.
PWC report, Uganda Economic Outlook 2018 (pwc.com/ug)
UNICEF: “Accelerating investments in nutrition for sustainable development in Uganda”; (retrieved 15 Mar 2018)
2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey by UBOS (dhsprogram.com)
The Borgen Project borgenproject.org
UNICEF: “Scaling up high impact nutrition intervention”; unicef.org (retrieved 5^th Dec 2019)
The New Humanitarian; “The high cost of hunger in Uganda”; 20^th Jun 2013
UNDP: Uganda’s private sector adopts the Gender Equality Seal…”; 19^th Aug 2019; www.ug.undp.org
New Vision report “40 Ugandan companies signed to end gender disparity at work”; 22 Jun 2018
Joint UN Women, UNDP, UNEP, PEI and World Bank: “The cost of gender gap in agricultural productivity”; 2015
Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2018. (ubos.org) and the Ugandan National Household Survey 2016/2017 findings
Uganda’s National Vision 2040; “A transformed Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country within 30 years”.
PWC report, Uganda Economic Outlook 2018 (pwc.com/ug)
IMF Country Report 19/125: Uganda; issued in May 2019.
PWC report, Uganda Economic Outlook 2018 (pwc.com/ug)

Imagery Courtesy of ( https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment )