Robert Ddamulira

About

Robert Ddamulira helps manage Mott’s environmental grantmaking in the Great Lakes One Water Initiative. He is also leading the ongoing conclusion of the Advancing Climate Change Solutions program area, including all energy access projects the Foundation supports in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

Ddamulira has been a practicing environmental professional since 2004 and has worked on energy and climate change issues in Africa for regional and global organizations, including the World Wide Fund for Nature, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental and natural resources management from Makerere University in Uganda. He earned his Ph.D. in energy and environmental policy at the University of Delaware. While there, he won a fellowship at the university’s Delaware Environmental Institute. He later launched GreenPesa, an environmental sustainability company with a focus on energy efficiency and sustainable forestry investments in the United States and Africa. Robert has also completed certificate programs in strategic philanthropy and impact investing from Harvard and Stanford Universities.

Before joining Mott, Ddamulira was a researcher for the Biden School’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware. He contributed to research on the evolving authority of local governments to act on large-scale environmental issues, such as climate change, renewable energy, and energy security. From 2018 to 2021, he served in various academic roles, including as an adjunct professor at the University of Delaware, where he taught an undergraduate course on energy and environmental policy, and as an assistant professor at the Au Sable Institute in Mancelona, Michigan, where he taught an undergraduate course on forest management. He currently serves as a trustee of Catholic Charities Genesee and Shiawassee Counties (CCGSC), Rural Initiative for Community Empowerment, West Nile, Uganda (RICE – WN), and The Nature Conservancy’s Pennsylvania and Delaware Chapter.

Ddamulira is a committed Christian who, at one time, wanted to become a Catholic priest. He is currently a member of the Catholic Third Order Lay Dominicans. He has written and co-authored articles on climate change, energy, food and forestry issues that have appeared in various scientific journals. He also authored a book titled “When the Green Movement Meets Jesus.” A self-described social entrepreneur, Ddamulira’s mission in life is to bring meaning and purpose to complex situations, particularly those facing youth.