Heifer, Mott, Hilton Foundation To Scale Solar Energy For Uganda’s Farmers

Heifer International, the Mott Foundation, and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation have announced a partnership to enhance access to solar energy services in Uganda’s agricultural value chains.

The project, named the Distributed Renewable Energy Ecosystem Model (DREEM) HUB, is a three-year multistakeholder initiative (2024-2026) aimed at mobilizing a diverse network of partners to deliver skilled workforce and entrepreneurship development services, sustainable financing and ecosystem coordination and support.

This will empower 1,500 farmers and provide solar skills, jobs, and entrepreneurship development opportunities to 1,000 underserved youth and women entrepreneurs across the value chain of four dairy farmer cooperatives in the Nakaseke District; thereby fostering sustainable incomes, providing access to safe water, and strengthening resilience to climate change impacts.

The project will also establish a self-sustaining DREEM Hub in Uganda to continue advancing the use of solar energy beyond the project period.

“Heifer, with the support of the Ugandan Government and the Mott Foundation, will establish the DREEM hub as a platform to enhance the implementation of existing policy mechanisms for increasing the adoption and utilization of renewable energy, thereby promoting scalability and replicability within and beyond the sector,” said Surita Sandosham, Heifer International’s President and CEO.

With expected investment of $3 million, the DREEM HUB project will focus on greening the dairy value chain—from production and processing to the distribution of dairy products—by demonstrating the use of solar energy at the farmer, cooperative, and processor levels.

“We are committed to creating opportunities for farmers to enhance their income while protecting the environment. This is our shared goal with the Mott Foundation: to care for the earth by promoting sustainable farming practices,” affirmed William Matovu, Heifer International Uganda Country Director.

The DREEM HUB project aims to empower farmers, underserved women, and youth to adopt climate-smart agriculture through the use of solar energy services. This initiative will result in sustainable incomes, safe water supply, and increased resilience of smallholder farmers and other value chain actors to climate change impacts and shocks.

As part of the greater DREEM Hub work, Heifer International will use funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to support the dairy sector in increasing access to safe water for both household drinking and dairy use.

Heifer International will use the funding from the Mott Foundation to develop the DREEM Hub as a self-sustaining multi-stakeholder platform that encourages public-private sector investments and partnerships for productive energy use in the dairy value chain. Collaborating with a range of actors, Heifer aims to strengthen Uganda’s renewable energy ecosystem for the dairy sector, promoting scalability and replicability beyond dairy farming.