The top leadership of Development Finance Institutions in Africa will convene in Uganda from the 23rd to 24th of January 2024 to learn from the experience Uganda Development Bank (UDBL) in embracing the rigorous Sustainability Standards.
The benchmarking visit organized under the auspicious of the African Association of Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) in cooperation with the European Organization for Sustainable Development and hosted by UDB, will be hinged on embracing the Sustainability Standards to achieve world-class corporate governance to create social, economic, environmental impact, and tackle climate change.
According to Cyril Okoye, the Secretary General of AADFI, the 2-Day Executive Visit by the leadership of the African financial sector will be an opportunity for Uganda to demonstrate to the world its contribution to the global sustainable development agenda.
“UDB will showcase how it is complying with the Sustainability Standards latest version to ensure it plays a game-changing role in revolutionizing the agriculture sector, industrializing Uganda, and boosting the services sector,” he said.
Based on its success in implementing the Sustainability Standards Version 1.0 and the Bank’s progress in embracing the more rigorous, holistic, and cutting-edge Sustainability Standards Version 2.0, UDB has become a recognized focal point in the field of sustainable banking and finance space for financial institutions from around the world, including development finance institutions commercial banks, non-bank financial institutions, and microfinance banks.
“We will share with the visiting delegates our experiences in the implementation of Sustainability Standards. We will also address the issue of the growing risk of greenwashing that can not only cause reputational damage but also hinder investments in the sustainable development of the countries,” said Patricia Ojangole, the Managing Director of UDB.
“Some of the topics for discussion will include governance and management, digitalization, products, human capital, stakeholder engagement, risk, and climate change.”
UDB, which has been at the forefront of sustainable banking and finance over the last few years, is today considered by AADFI and the wider global community a leader in this space attracting the attention of investors, bankers, and other stakeholders around the world. The Bank and its Managing Director, has for three consecutive years, been awarded the Sustainability Leader of the Year at the global prestigious Karlsruhe Sustainability Awards held in Germany.
However, the Bank considers its current role as a welcoming beginning and is currently putting all its efforts into complying with the world’s most comprehensive Sustainability Standards Version 2.0. It is preparing itself to be a powerful force in fast-tracking Uganda’s sustainability journey to become a fully developed, industrialized, and climate-friendly country.
The Sustainability Standards & Certification Initiative (SSCI) delivers a holistic, robust, evolving, and locally sensitive set of standards to make value-driven financial institutions more resilient and profitable. It enables those institutions to create new income streams and thrive for the long term in an ever more volatile world. SSCI provides new opportunities for mobilizing funds to finance businesses and projects creating high social and environmental impact.
Implementation of SSCI at UDB
In 2018, UDB embarked on the adoption and implementation of the Sustainability Standards and Certification Initiative (SSCI) to position the Bank for sustained success and respond positively to the factors that shaped and disrupted its business and operating environment. The implementation of the standards commenced in April 2019 and in July 2020 after submission of the body of evidence supporting compliance with the standards, the Bank was awarded the SSCI Level 5 Certification, the highest level of certification.
Since then, the Bank has enjoyed numerous benefits which have included among others: Setting a new strategic direction and alignment with NDP III – as part of the SSCI process, the Bank defined its Purpose Statement (PS) and High Impact Goals (HIGs) premised on the national development priorities of Uganda and the Sustainable Development goals.
The Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) is an international organization created under the auspices of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 1975 with membership of over 80 Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), spread across the five sub-regions of the African continent. The AADFI Headquarters is in Abidjan, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.
The broad objectives of the AADFI include promoting cooperation for the financing of economic and social development in Africa; accelerating the process of economic integration in Africa; establishing among DFIs a systematic exchange of technical assistance; encouraging the implementation of studies on DFI issues, establish and advise framework for the successful operation of DFIs in Africa. As a means of achieving its objectives, AADFI implements projects and activities to nurture cooperation among DFIs, carry out regular capacity-building for professional skill development in development banking and finance operations, and institutional reforms and strengthening of DFIs in Africa.
Uganda Development Bank Limited (UDB) is the country’s national Development Finance Institution (DFI) with a mandate to accelerate socio-economic development in Uganda through sustainable financial interventions. Consistent with this mandate, the Bank supports projects within the private sector that demonstrate the potential to deliver high socio-economic value, in terms of job creation, improved production output, tax contribution, and foreign exchange generation, among other outcomes.
These projects fall within the key priority sectors of our economy and are in line with Uganda’s development priorities. Uganda Development Bank (UDB) aligns its sector priorities with National Development Plan III (NDP III), focusing on Primary Agriculture, Industry (to include agro-industrialization, manufacturing, knowledge-based industries, and extractives), and Services (health, tourism, and hospitality, education, science, technology, and innovation) and Infrastructure. Agriculture, agro-industry, and manufacturing constitute about 75 per cent of the Bank’s portfolio in alignment with the government focus under NDP III and Vision 2040.
