It is evident that when the drought hits, it is women’s lives that are most affected and disrupted, particularly in Africa. This is because women play a fundamental role in providing the necessities such as food and water during drought challenges. Women are therefore inextricably linked to both the destruction, conservation of the natural environment and building drought resilience.
GWPEA carried out a mapping exercise of existing business cases to support the role of women including the vulnerable groups in building the drought resilience under the IDMP program from 25th to 30th September 2022. The Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) in the Horn of Africa promotes drought resilience of countries, communities, and ecosystems in the region. It is part of the global IDMP Programme that the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) launched in Geneva in March 2013 at the High-level Meeting on National Drought Policy (HMNDP). A key element from the exercise was to support stakeholders at all levels by providing policy and management guidance and by sharing scientific information, knowledge, and best practices for Integrated Drought Management.
Four Existing business case studies supporting the role of women in building drought resilience in Karamoja region were identified. These Included; Surviving the drought crisis: Kangole women empowerment groups; Women Take Lead In Enhancing Food Security: The Mother Care Group Model; Women as key players in settlement community-based development Initiatives; Empowering women with skills in construction of energy saving technologies and planting of wood lots under EURECCCA; One innovative and replicable business case study “ surviving the drought crisis: Kangole Women Empowerment Group Led Initiative” was identified for further analysis and potential development with a possibility of being disseminated widely in the next phase.
Awareness creation on the involvement of women including the vulnerable groups in building the drought resilience was conducted.
The activity was implemented in a consultative and participatory manner and in collaboration with relevant government Ministries, selected local governments and Uganda Water Partnership- The target area was Karamoja Region. The audience comprised of key government officials from Ministry of Water, and Environment; Office of Prime Minister Karamoja Office, Kyoga Water Management Zone; Local Government Representatives (District Agriculture Officers, District Natural Resource Officers, District Community Development Officers, Commercial Officers.) and CSOs including private sector and grassroot women representatives working in the area of building women’s resilience to drought.
The GWPEA team also conducted Key Informant interviews with key respondents in the target institutions to gain insights and in-depth understanding of subject matter. A writeshop of key technical team was organized to analyze the information collected and write the business case study.