The National Charcoal Dialogue of Uganda, held in May 2019, involved major stakeholders along the charcoal value chain, including governments (ministries, departments and agencies), development partners, researchers and academicians, environmentalists, media, private biomass companies.

The workshop aimed at validating the field findings of a study on charcoal business (carried out by Office of the President) and coming up with action focused recommendations to generally contribute to policy development.

The recommendations agreed upon during the workshop include:

- Setting up a regulatory body for biomass energy to handle issues of charcoal and firewood
- Gazetting the formulated charcoal ordinances and rolling-them out in all districts in the country
- Establishing and finalizing the standards on charcoal and briquettes
- Harmonizing different policies and interventions in different MDAs
- Establishing a special enforcement/police unit for biomass energy, toughening punitive measures against the illegal/unlicensed charcoal producers especially from protected areas
- Involving the leadership of the charcoal producers’ association in the sensitization and awareness creation campaigns
- Making it mandatory for major biomass consumers such as schools to use energy efficient technologies
- Translating laws and standards into local languages
- Investing in waste recycling/ waste-to-energy solutions
- Finalization of the charcoal guidelines to address the issue of impounded charcoal from unlicensed charcoal producers among others