"The life of the Karimojong depend on animals. If their animals die, they will also die!". This statement was made by Mr. John Lorot, the Chairman L.C.5 Nakapiripirit District while stressing a point on the need to prioritise and strengthen animal disease control in the sub-region. This was during a broad stakeholder consultation meeting, the first one of its kind that brought Karamoja district leaders at various levels (CAOs, RDCs, Chairmen); Members of Parliament, officials from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM); District Veterinary Officers; The Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries; the Minister of State for Animal Industry and other officials from their ministry; FAO; NGOs notably Dan Church Aid and C&D; Makerere University Vet School and the Uganda Veterinary Association.
I have never seen such a meeting for any region of this country in which central and local government leaders, NGOs, legislators and technical experts sit in one room and soberly yet candidly discuss the direction of livestock farming in the region. Moreover they left with a common position on broad strategies some of which included: improvement of production through breed improvement; appropriate choice of agricultural priorities for the region, enhancing security of stock; community education on zoonotic diseases and methods of their control; enhanced livestock disease surveillance and control; involvement of all levels of stakeholders in the implementation of the electronic branding process; the need to improve numbers of veterinary professionals in the region, among others.
This meeting was organized by C&D within the Dan Church Aid (DCA)-led consortium with ECHO funds. This consortium works on, among others, livestock-related issues in the Karamoja sub-region. The leadership of Dan Church Aid is commendable. The consortium has, over the years, convened quarterly meetings in Moroto in Karamoja to plan livestock production and livestock health. The difference between those meetings and the Karamoja National Stakeholders meeting which was held on 24 September 2012 at Serena Lake Victoria Hotel in Kajansi is that the Moroto meetings did not involve Members of Parliament and Ministers (but all the other categories participated).
The Minister of State for Animal Industry, Hon. Col. (Rtd) Bright Rwamirama, could not hide his excitement about the Karamoja leaders' wish for breed improvement and promised his ministry's commitment to provide all the support possible for this to happen.
While this initiative is excellent, it could still be improved by considering the following:
- For purposes of sustainability, the district leaders and their technical teams should get themselves in the driving seat of this initiative, only getting the much needed initial support from the central government and NGOs.
- There must be active involvement of kraal-level leaders in these joint activities as this also helps with buy-in of new initiatives, ownership of projects/programmes and importantly sustainability of development efforts.
Because of its benefits, other regions ought to emulate this effort that will definitely yield positive results. The OPM could initially implement/pilot this through offices of its various State Ministers.
The benefits of this wider stakeholder involvement include but are not limited to the following: prompt information sharing; provides opportunity for joint envisioning, goal setting, planning and implementation of development projects; encourages accountability and transparency; builds trust among stakeholders and eliminates unproductive conflicts among stakeholders.
With adoption and consistent implementation of the right strategies, the vision of Karamoja becoming a big source of high quality animals and high value animal products for the country and regional markets will surely come to pass. I think Henry Ford's words provide useful guidance in this situation: "Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success". Kudos to the Karamoja leaders (political, technical and development partners) for this initiative but if it is to achieve some success continuing to work together will be key. Ayakau kapei erai ngikup (unity is strength).
(A very slightly modified version of this article was published in the New Vision Newspaper of 7th May 2013)
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