Bujagali Advisory Support

completed

The project will support the development of a strategic framework to help Bujagali Energy Limited (BEL) manage social risks and deliver socio-economic benefits to the host communities. 1. Local context and community perceptions The project will facilitate a diagnostic of the local context and the implementation of the community scorecard, to establish a baseline for improving on BEL’s Community Investment Strategy. IFC will: (i) undertake training of community representatives, local authorities and BEL’s representatives on the relevance and use of the community scorecard; (ii) support the implementation of the community scorecard, with an involvement of both women and men in the communities; and (iii) facilitate the adoption of the community scorecard, a participatory tool, by BEL and its host communities in the implementation of future social and community programs. 2. Community investment strategy The project will also facilitate a multi-step process to design and validate a new strategic framework for investing in host communities using a gender-responsive approach that will ensure that benefits are equally distributed: (i) Assessing the current operating context to create support, buy-in and shared accountability among BEL’s staff and to enhance internal alignment; (ii) Updating the company’s stakeholder engagement processes to understand how the landscape has changed over time and the present social and political dynamics between the various stakeholders and the impact on the relations with BEL; (iii) Setting parameters for the new inclusive community development strategy, to define the company’s strategic priorities, identify key selection criteria for new programs to share benefits with the local communities and manage stakeholder expectations more effectively; (iv) Refining implementation mechanisms, monitoring and evaluation, to consider and select key elements of the delivery mechanism, strengths and weaknesses of each, the inherent risks, etc.; (v) Validating the new strategic framework for community investment, with all BEL’s key stakeholders including women groups to review and finalize the strategic framework; and (vi) Implementing a pilot community investment project, to further develop the capacity of BEL’s community investment team in implementation and demonstrate short-term positive impacts in the community.