First Lady hails initiative for Karamoja
THE First Lady and Karamoja affairs state minister, Janet Museveni, has commended the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Centre for East and Southern Africa for starting the Dry Lands Initiative.
By Vision Reporter
THE First Lady and Karamoja affairs state minister, Janet Museveni, has commended the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Centre for East and Southern Africa for starting the Dry Lands Initiative.
The initiative is designed to address challenges faced by people living in arid and semi-arid areas.
It will be implemented in Uganda, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan.
“Karamoja is one area in Uganda which needs such interventions that demonstrate how an area that was once hit by drought can be revitalised,†Mrs. Museveni said.
She was meeting officials from the MDG centre based in Kenya at State House Entebbe yesterday.
The officials, led by their director, Dr. Belay Ejigu Begashaw, met the First Lady to solicit for government support for the initiative. It will be launched in Uganda on July 23.
A State House statement quoted Mrs. Museveni as saying that the Government, through various programmes, was ensuring that the people of Karamoja stop depending on food aid, send their children to school, and get clean water for domestic use and livestock.
“To have a model village is what we now need to demonstrate that Karamoja can also be transformed like other areas in Uganda which were like it before,†Mrs. Museveni said.
She requested for a special programme on tree planting in Karamoja to reverse the environment resource loss.
Begashaw explained that the Dry Lands Initiative was a result of a partnership with the Common Markets for East and Central Africa, adding that it intends to reach about 60 million people living in the dry lands of Africa.
He said the initiative will address water, people and animal diseases, extreme poverty and hunger, lack of infrastructure, environmental degradation and scale up investment in sustainable development.
Currently, the Millennium Development Goals Centre provides technical assistance and financial support to 11 Millennium Villages in East and Southern Africa, including Ruhiira, a cluster of eight villages, in Isingiro district, Anyara in Kaberamaido, Nyende in Mpigi and one in Kumi.
THE First Lady and Karamoja affairs state minister, Janet Museveni, has commended the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Centre for East and Southern Africa for starting the Dry Lands Initiative.
The initiative is designed to address challenges faced by people living in arid and semi-arid areas.
It will be implemented in Uganda, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan.
“Karamoja is one area in Uganda which needs such interventions that demonstrate how an area that was once hit by drought can be revitalised,†Mrs. Museveni said.
She was meeting officials from the MDG centre based in Kenya at State House Entebbe yesterday.
The officials, led by their director, Dr. Belay Ejigu Begashaw, met the First Lady to solicit for government support for the initiative. It will be launched in Uganda on July 23.
A State House statement quoted Mrs. Museveni as saying that the Government, through various programmes, was ensuring that the people of Karamoja stop depending on food aid, send their children to school, and get clean water for domestic use and livestock.
“To have a model village is what we now need to demonstrate that Karamoja can also be transformed like other areas in Uganda which were like it before,†Mrs. Museveni said.
She requested for a special programme on tree planting in Karamoja to reverse the environment resource loss.
Begashaw explained that the Dry Lands Initiative was a result of a partnership with the Common Markets for East and Central Africa, adding that it intends to reach about 60 million people living in the dry lands of Africa.
He said the initiative will address water, people and animal diseases, extreme poverty and hunger, lack of infrastructure, environmental degradation and scale up investment in sustainable development.
Currently, the Millennium Development Goals Centre provides technical assistance and financial support to 11 Millennium Villages in East and Southern Africa, including Ruhiira, a cluster of eight villages, in Isingiro district, Anyara in Kaberamaido, Nyende in Mpigi and one in Kumi.