Background – The Karamoja region in northeastern Uganda is one of the poorest areas of one of the least developed countries in the world. Around 1.3 million of its inhabitants, the Karamojong, live as seminomadic pastoralists in a very dry area roughly two-thirds the size of Switzerland (27,000m2). Sadly, the region is subject to high rates of infant mortality, malnutrition, illiteracy, and abject poverty. The schools do not equip local youths with the skills and knowledge they need to find employment. This prevents young Karamojong from diversifying their sources of income. As traditional cattle breeding becomes more and more difficult, these new sources of income are increasingly necessary.

Project – Operating in the Karamoja region districts of Abim, Nakapiripirit, and Moroto, the project enables young men and women to find or create employment and income opportunities. Swisscontact and its local partners are developing a model that matches the needs and conditions of the region. The core of the project is training in practical skills, which can include anything from strategies to improve subsistence farming practices to professional skills which are in demand in the local labor market.  An example of the former is a course on how to harvest and dry grass that grows in abundance during the rainy season to serve as livestock feed during the dry season. Another example is teaching students to grow a wider variety of vegetables through the use of simple irrigation systems, helping them improve their families’ diets and produce a surplus that can be sold at local markets.

No technical vocational training institutions currently exist in Karamoja, so offering courses in relevant vocational or entrepreneurship can help address the challenges the Karamojong have to cope with. Swisscontact is building up the capacity of local actors to provide such training to Karamojong communities. By 2012, 600 youths will have benefitted from new training opportunities, half of them women. The first steps to finding sustainable sources of income marks the beginning of poverty reduction in the Karamoja region.