Irish Aid engagement in Karamoja builds on an existing programme of support to education there which dates from 2004.  In addition to education, Irish Aid will support a number of new and innovative initiatives that include social protection for the most vulnerable and a programme to improve peoples’ livelihoods which will be implemented by civil society organisations.

Post Primary Education and Training: In 2003, the Ministry of Education and Sports and Irish Aid developed a four-part programme to support secondary education in Karamoja.  This includes: (1) a bursary scheme, (2) supply of instructional materials, furniture, computers and laboratory equipment, (3) capacity building for local educational authorities, and (4) infrastructure development.  The programme commenced in 2004 and on completion a total of €16 million will have been spent on upgrading 13 institutions in the region. Rehabilitation and construction at two final schools in the north western corner of the region will be completed in 2010. 

Over the lifetime of the Irish Aid Country Strategy Paper (2010 to 2014), we will continue to provide support to the bursary scheme: 750 children have benefited from this very successful scheme to date which provides vulnerable Karamojong children, particularly girls, access to secondary education.  The scheme covers school fees, transport costs and other essential items.  It is proposed to expand the scheme during the current country strategy to 1,000 bursaries.

Social Protection: The Government of Uganda has begun implementing a major social protection intervention for the poorest and most vulnerable in the country.  The Government aims to embed this as a core element of the national planning and budgeting processes. This will include the development of a national policy, building institutional capacity to deliver national social protection services and a pilot programme to provide cash transfers to poor people in eight districts.  Irish Aid will finance the pilot programme in two of these districts which are in Karamoja, Moroto and Nakapiripirit. The programme is jointly funded by Irish Aid and UKaid and will be managed by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD). Case study of a beneficiary-Lucia Nake (PDF 1954kb)

Livelihoods Project: This intervention, which will be implemented through Civil Society Organisations, will focus on one of the key challenges in Karamoja which relates to tackling the failure of policy to provide a viable development path for the pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities in the region. The programme will take the opportunity of tackling these challenges for Karamoja in a region-wide response that covers all districts, bringing together advocacy and policy work from the grassroots to national levels, with a wide range of economic activities for pastoralist communities alongside innovative approaches, thinking and learning to tackle a set of problems that reinforce and strengthen each other. 

Support to the Peace, Recovery and Development Programme (PRDP): The PRDP is a framework which captures all funding to the north of Uganda provided through government and development partners. The programme aims to close the gap in living standards between the North and the rest of Uganda by providing additional resources for capital projects such as schools, clinics, water and sanitation facilities and roads. The policy priority for Irish Aid in the delivery of this programme will be to monitor the utilisation and impact of the additional donor resources to Karamoja, especially in the districts of Moroto and Nakapiripirit.

Research: Irish Aid will fund a study to consider the ways in which customary mediation mechanisms amongst the Karamojong are responding to the profound and widespread changes that are occurring such as the shift away from traditional pastoral way of life and the radically changed security environment due to the on-going disarmament campaign. This will help fill a gap in knowledge and will assist policy makers to design more effective and relevant strategies for Karamoja.  The study will be conducted by the Feinstein Group.

Capacity building of Local Governments: In order to deliver results from the above interventions, Irish Aid will depend heavily upon the capacity of its local government partners, particularly those in Moroto and Nakapiripirit.  Capacity building support will be provided to train officials in undertaking their functions more effectively.  A number of critical areas have been identified such as Planning, Human Resource, Finance, Audit and Administration, including skills in Gender and Equity Budgeting.

Irish Aid support at national level impacts on Karamoja, in particular through the Justice Law and Order Sector programme which is helping to provide legal aid,  construct and equip justice institutions and improve district coordination, and the HIV and AIDS programme which is helping to scale up prevention care and support activities there as well as improve coordination.