Govt to help Kjong pastoralists settle down
THE Government believes that the pastoralists’ nomadic way of life cannot be maintained and, therefore, plans to assist the people in the arid land of Karamoja to settle down permanently, the First Lady and Karamoja affairs state minister, Mrs. Janet Museveni, has said
By Vision Reporter
THE Government believes that the pastoralists’ nomadic way of life cannot be maintained and, therefore, plans to assist the people in the arid land of Karamoja to settle down permanently, the First Lady and Karamoja affairs state minister, Mrs. Janet Museveni, has said
She was speaking in Kenya on July 23 at the launch of an initiative to bring accelerated development to pastoralist communities in the dry lands of six countries in eastern Africa.
The Dry Lands Initiative was launched by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Centre and east and southern Africa in partnership with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
“Among other priorities, the Government plans to bring water closer to their settlements so that they will no longer have to roam the land with their cattle in search of water and to introduce irrigation–assisted agriculture, which will lead not only to household food security but also to trade beyond the borders of Karamoja and Uganda,†Mrs. Museveni explained.
She said the Government had begun to provide services to Karamoja through initiatives like the Alternative Basic Education for Karamoja and the Karamoja Integrated Disarmament and Development Programme.
“It is our job, as the Government, to ensure that the communities in this region have every opportunity to meet their social and economic needs. In Karamoja specifically, these include access to water for domestic consumption and for production, access to nearby markets, improvement in local and cross-border security, availability of social services in health and education and improved veterinary services for livestock,†she observed.
Mrs. Museveni pledged to collaborate with the MDG Centre and COMESA to ensure that all the dry land areas of eastern Africa have the Government’s support required to facilitate accelerated economic development.
Through the initiative, it is hoped that the pastoralists will benefit from animal production, infrastructure, health, education and business projects in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan. The MDG Centre is also in talks with Eritrea.
The initiative was unveiled in January with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the MDG Centre and COMESA.
Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals, was one of the initiators of the project.
“Poverty levels are extraordinarily high in the dry lands of East Africa, and the people who endure that poverty lack access to the most basic services like education, primary health care, safe water and sanitation, veterinary care for their livestock, and security arising from the ravages of drought and other environmental shocks,†Sachs noted.
The director of the MDG Centre, Dr. Belay Begashaw, said: “With the right approaches, such as mobile technology and access to markets, we hope that pastoralists will be able to integrate into the mainstream economy and record progress on the Millennium Development Goals.â€
THE Government believes that the pastoralists’ nomadic way of life cannot be maintained and, therefore, plans to assist the people in the arid land of Karamoja to settle down permanently, the First Lady and Karamoja affairs state minister, Mrs. Janet Museveni, has said
She was speaking in Kenya on July 23 at the launch of an initiative to bring accelerated development to pastoralist communities in the dry lands of six countries in eastern Africa.
The Dry Lands Initiative was launched by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Centre and east and southern Africa in partnership with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
“Among other priorities, the Government plans to bring water closer to their settlements so that they will no longer have to roam the land with their cattle in search of water and to introduce irrigation–assisted agriculture, which will lead not only to household food security but also to trade beyond the borders of Karamoja and Uganda,†Mrs. Museveni explained.
She said the Government had begun to provide services to Karamoja through initiatives like the Alternative Basic Education for Karamoja and the Karamoja Integrated Disarmament and Development Programme.
“It is our job, as the Government, to ensure that the communities in this region have every opportunity to meet their social and economic needs. In Karamoja specifically, these include access to water for domestic consumption and for production, access to nearby markets, improvement in local and cross-border security, availability of social services in health and education and improved veterinary services for livestock,†she observed.
Mrs. Museveni pledged to collaborate with the MDG Centre and COMESA to ensure that all the dry land areas of eastern Africa have the Government’s support required to facilitate accelerated economic development.
Through the initiative, it is hoped that the pastoralists will benefit from animal production, infrastructure, health, education and business projects in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan. The MDG Centre is also in talks with Eritrea.
The initiative was unveiled in January with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the MDG Centre and COMESA.
Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals, was one of the initiators of the project.
“Poverty levels are extraordinarily high in the dry lands of East Africa, and the people who endure that poverty lack access to the most basic services like education, primary health care, safe water and sanitation, veterinary care for their livestock, and security arising from the ravages of drought and other environmental shocks,†Sachs noted.
The director of the MDG Centre, Dr. Belay Begashaw, said: “With the right approaches, such as mobile technology and access to markets, we hope that pastoralists will be able to integrate into the mainstream economy and record progress on the Millennium Development Goals.â€