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Nkoma Farm

Empowerment of Women

Training workshops

Ankole cattle

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Pastoralism in Uganda

Uganda has a population of 23 million - about 5% are pastoralists, comprising around one million people. A similar portion of the population are agro-pastoralists, for whom livestock traditionally contribute significantly to livelihoods and incomes. Ugandan pastoralists are almost exclusively cattle herders. Pastoralists occupy the semi-arid “Cattle Corridor” that sweeps across Uganda in an arc from the Rwanda and Tanzania borders in the Southwest to the eastern border with Kenya. The four districts of Karamoja in the east are Uganda’s least developed. Although Uganda has experienced rapid development, with supportive government policies and important international development assistance since the 1990s, this has largely bye-passed Karamoja. In addition, the pastoralist communities of western Uganda have not benefited nearly as much as the agricultural communities amongst which they live.
In Uganda, as elsewhere, there has been a decline in mobility. Pastoralism is changing. Uganda, with strong government backing, has an outstanding record in promoting gender equality, increasing women’s social status and participation in public life. But in the pastoralist communities, women’s subordination remains acute – and this is reflected in very low literacy rates, high maternal mortality rates, and low levels of economic and political participation.

Development agencies have only recently begun to address gender inequality and women’s position in pastoralist society, having traditionally focused on animal health, environmental issues and conflict. PENHA sees women’s empowerment as central to development in pastoral communities. We believe that cultures evolve gradually, leaving aside the bad and keeping the good. PENHA aims to promote social change, working with men and women, in a culturally sensitive way and without undermining the culture as a whole.

PENHA-Uganda

PENHA-Uganda has a local board in Uganda, chaired by the Hon. Hope Mwesige MP, the Minister of Agriculture. Before entering government, Hope was a leading civil society activist and the Director of the Uganda Gender Resource Centre. A number of other prominent Ugandans also sit on the board,  including the Hon. Anifa Kawooya, woman MP for Ssembabule District.

PENHA-Uganda has an office in Kampala with a staff of five, complemented by longstanding associates, who provide expertise in specific areas. It also maintains a goat breeding centre at Nkoma Farm (see below), near the village of Mbirizi in Central/Western Uganda.

PENHA-Uganda has been an active participant in a number of Ugandan non-governmental organisation (NGO) networks, including the NGO Forum and COPACSO (the Coalition of Pastoral Civil Society Organisations). PENHA-Uganda works with local, national and international NGOs as well as with intergovernmental organisations, such as the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). The Natural Resources Institute (NRI) of the University of Greenwich in the UK has been an important partner in a number of research and training initiatives.

A fairly detailed summary of PENHA activities in Uganda can be dowloaded by clicking here (283 kb).

Ongoing/Recent Activities

Women's Economic Empowerment in the Pastoral Areas of the Horn of Africa

(Uganda component)

Programme: The aim is to empower pastoralist women economically by training them in business skills and increasing their access to information, business networks and credit. It is taking place in Somaliland and Sudan in addition to Uganda. Local staff have been recruited, a base line and mapping study has been conducted in Uganda's Cattle Corridor (Masaka and Ssembabule districts) by means of focus group discussions with pastoralist women, reviewing available secondary data and analysis and wide consultations with local officials, business people and development agencies. The report can be downloaded by clicking here (521 kb). A photo essay of pastoralist women in Uganda can also be downloaded by clicking here. (2,342 kb) Due its size, a fast internet link is necessary.

A workshop in business skills for pastoralist women from Uganda was held in Masaka in February this year. The training gave participants practical skills that they can use to improve their businesses as well as learning better ways of organizing and management groups.

Nkoma Farm – Agricultural Learning Centre

Time frame: June 2003 onwards

Funder: Open Gate;  The use of the farm has been donated by a local Ugandan farmer on a peppercorn rent.

Geographical Area: Western Uganda

Programme: The farm is being developed as an agricultural learning centre for pastoralists to help them diversify their agricultural skills. Additionally, it is intended that it should be available for running workshops and conferences by PENHA and other local bodies. PENHA has established an exotic goats breeding centre at Nkoma, which supports other projects.

For more details, click here.

The Ankole Long-Horned Cattle

With financial support from HIVOS, PENHA-Uganda, in collaboration with the League for Pastoral Peoples and Indigenous Livestock Development (LPP) and the Local Livestock for Empowerment of Rural People (LIFE) Network, carried out a study documenting the situation with respect to Ankole Long-Horned Cattle. To read about the launch of the report, see the description of the meeting by clicking here (1,062 kb). The report itself can be downloaded in English by clicking here (1,477 kb) or in Runyankore by clicking here (1,403 kb).

This study was as a result of PENHA’s participation in a workshop on “Managing Animal Genetic Resources in Africa - Strategies, Priorities, Livestock Keepers’ Rights, and the Way Forward”, held in Ethiopia in May, 2007. During the workshop, we were made aware that Ankole Long-Horned Cattle are among the breeds threatened with extinction.

For more details, click here.

This programme is based at Nkoma Farm where PENHA established a goat breeding centre, enabling us to distribute high quality cross-bred goats to women’s groups in several districts.

Time frame: June 2003 to the present

Funder: Initially Cordaid (the Netherlands) and since then by a variety of donors, including the Harbinson Trust, Eva Reckitt Trust, Open Gate and individual donors.

Geographical Area: Western Uganda

Programme: The main purpose is the distribution of goats to women's groups. This is to provide a measure of economic independence for pastoralist women. PENHA has introduced exotic goats which produce more meat and milk for cross-breeding with local goats. The goats in question have been imported from South Africa and are circulated around pastoralist women’s groups and used at the Farm for breeding purposes. In 2008, the stock stood at about 200 exotic goats (25%, 50% and 75% Boer-Mubende crosses) with four pure South African Boer goats. Over 2007 and 2008, around 300 goats were distributed to more than 30 women’s groups in the Masaka, Ssembabule, Nyabushozi and Kabale districts. The aim is to establish a breeding stock of 20 goats and two bucks per group. One buck with ten does can expect to produce a litter of 14 kids about twice a year. The kids are sold for their meat - and the crossbred kids will get up to twice the price to be expected from a local kid.

The programme includes training in both the care of goats as well as the basic business management needed to run this kind of micro-enterprise.

Training Workshops in Animal Husbandry for Farmer Field Schools

Time Frame: December 2008, January 2009

Funder: Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)

Geographic Area: Lango, Acholi and Teso region

Activity: The six training sessions were for a total of 204 participants of which 50 were women. They were for three days each and covered a range of animals (goats, sheep, cattle and pigs in addition to chickens and turkey). The training covers both practical aspects of keeping and caring for the animals as well as the planning of what is in effect a small business. The participants were required to produce an outline action plan for the production and exploitation of their animals. In the evaluation of the training, there was clear appreciation of the workshop. Most valued by participants was what had been learnt about the keeping of the animals, in particular, animal health and disease management and treatment. Participants will manage livestock at local centres and provide extension services to local farmers.

In these traditionally agro-pastoral areas, since the 1980s, local livestock holdings have been decimated by Lords Resistance Army guerrillas and raids by the neighbouring Karimojong pastoralist community. Restoring lost animal husbandry skills and restocking with new livestock are central to rebuilding local livelihoods.

For more details, click here

Follow-up Meetings on Animal Husbandry Training Workshops

Time Frame: March-April 2009

Funder: Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)

Geographic Area: Lango, Acholi and Teso region

Activity: This took the form of a Training of Trainers follow-up workshop (29 people participated, with one woman only) and field monitoring visits to those who had participated in the original training sessions. 38 men and 17 women were visited in ten districts. The former trainees were at a variety of stages in implementing what they had learnt from the training. A significant number were passing on what they had learnt to others in their community. Others were developing their action plans fairly satisfactorily, while some had hardly started. Pens and coops for the animals and birds had in most cases been built. The visits also in some cases highlighted problems with government services at the grassroots.

Production of a "Training Guide in Animal Husbandry"

Time Frame: 2009

Funder: Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)

Activity: This document is based on the experience of PENHA in the many training exercises it has carried out. It is a very practical guide with information on both the subject of the training (animal husbandry) as well as how to run a workshop and give the training in the most effective ways. A copy can be downloaded by clicking here (276 kb).

Conflict Mapping and Analysis in Uganda

In December 2008, PENHA on behalf of the RBC Management Network organised a three day training on Conflict Analysis and Mapping in Kasese District. The immediate objective of the training was to generate information for bridging the RBC knowledge gap on the Basongora – Queen Elizabeth National Park Conflicts, which then could be used for policy advocacy.

Members of the national RBC network were trained on how to use and apply the conflict mapping tools that had been earlier developed. The tools were further piloted/tested in Queen Elizabeth National Park among the Basongola pastoralists of Kasese district, who have been in conflict with the Queen Elizabeth National park authorities and are now in conflict with crop farmers. The assignment was to apply the conflict mapping tools in identifying the various players, history and context of the conflict. The causes of disputes and conflicts in such systems were examined and innovative approaches to prevention, management and resolution highlighted. Also explored were the implications for conflict management of policies and programmes of decentralisation and the empowerment of local decision makers.

Emmanuel Kyagaba (centre right) and team members consulting with Basongora pastoralists in Kasese

The Wehr’s Conflict Map and the Hocker-Wilmot Conflict Assessment Guide are helpful in generating information about conflict situations and especially identifying the players. In the course of testing the tools, it emerged that while some parties are mentioned, their roles remained unclear. A mention was made of some emerging traditional institutions such the Obusinga, but their involvement in the conflict has not been clarified. Another local institution, whose involvement in resolving land conflicts would be vital, are the land tribunals, but these did not feature in the discussions. The Queen Elizabeth National Park conflict nexus has several parties playing primary roles in the conflict, which calls for strengthening institutions and structures for managing the conflicts.

For further reports on the RBC (Resource Based Conflict) process, see under "Horn of Africa" section of this website or click here.

Work on Parliamentary Pastoralist Groups

Back in 1999, PENHA-Uganda participated in the inaugural meeting of Uganda’s Pastoralist Parliamentary Group (PPG), led by the then MP for Nyabushozi, Hon. Elly Karuhanga. Subsequently, PENHA provided support for the PPG, providing materials and documentation on the issues and helping the group to outline principles and develop policy stances.

In 2004, PENHA-Uganda collaborated with NRI (University of Greenwich) on a study of pastoralist parliamentary groups across the region. This study can be downloaded by clicking here (95 kb) The study examined the effectiveness of the PPGs in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda, and concluded that, though highly imperfect, they could be effective vehicles for advancing the interests of pastoralists and were deserving of external support, particularly if pastoralist communities were equipped with expanded access to information and the tools needed to question and prod their representatives. An update on the situation in Uganda is in preparation. PENHA-Uganda continues to work with pastoral-area MPs.

Previous PENHA Uganda activities:

• Provision of cattle dips for Rwandan refugees in the 1990s.
• African Partnership Workshop (covering the Horn of Africa as a whole, but held in Uganda) Dec 1999
• Several workshops covering natural resource management, gender awareness, basic business skills, etc. were held for delegates from women’s groups, small pastoralist civil society groups, etc. (2000 – 2003).
• Support for milk cooling equipment in Rwemiyage in partnership with the Brentwood United Reformed Church.
  

Working with Local Partners

PENHA-Uganda has provided capacity building support to a number of local agencies and continues to do so through “co-working”. PENHA-Uganda freely provides advice and information on development issues in the pastoral areas.

Current Local Partners

PENHA Uganda Office:

PENHA Uganda
P. O. Box 34077
Kampala
Uganda
TEl: 00 256 414 235256
e-mail: penha@infocom.co.ug  penhauganda@hotmail.com

Other relevant documents:

Related Link:

Uganda Country Studies

Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)

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