Karamjong Region 2024 – 2025

Karamjong Region 2024 – 2025 : The Karamoja region in northeastern Uganda has undergone significant changes in the past two decades due to the number of connected process, including disarmament and improved security and iron sheet distribution, the erosion of pastoral-based production for many households, and the expansion of markets. These transformation has brought many new social, economic and environmental options for many young youth in Karamoja region with existing ecological, political and cultural problems including increased commoditization and monetization to have or not resulted in increased opportunities for the large population of both young men and women in the Karamoja region. This opportunities have focused on exploring the youth with experience and perspective on adapting saving modes to improve on their livelihoods standards and gender access to markets and decision making in all various aspects of markets. Through the development of village savings and loan associations in the region, many young men and women have invested their loan to improve their businesses, fulfill basis household needs, and also able to pay school fees bills for their children and also have access to better medical services . According to the study careered by the Karamoja Resilience Support Unit women are  more participating be in village savings and loan associations  than men,  and  majority of  men  use mobile money banking .  With most local community contributing less than Ugandan shilling (UGX) 2,000 per week.  According to the records, the main barrier for the youth participation were lack of surplus cash to save, the belief that VSLAs were for better- off people.

Disarmament among the karamojongs has significant in the development of Karamoja region in the past two decades. Due to end force engaged by the Ugandan disarmament exercise between 2006 and 2011 to end a culture of cattle raiding that had become increasingly destructive since automatic weapons became available during the Late President Amin’s regime, widespread access to arms and a prevalent gun culture contributed to the destructive periods of violence, and have held back locally-led peace and development initiatives.  The government led a disarmament campaign which strengthened their control over Karamoja, and created an opportunity for communities to build peace and participate in development.

Disarmament has brought in several benefits in the region, including saving money, reducing threats to refugees, women and children, alleviating threats to the environment, and cutting the incidence and effects of armed conflict .Disarmament is also about creating common understandings among the karamojongs, norms and laws to ensure that there are limits to how weapons are used for the benefit of all the people of Karamoja and Uganda and all. Efforts to control the weaponisation of new technologies like AI are fragmented. However, the UN hosts an existing disarmament framework that could bring these efforts together. The existing international disarmament framework of treaties and United Nations forums is being under-utilized when it could instead be the focal point for unifying efforts to control the threats posed by new technology.

Market expansion in the region for instance the improvement of the livelihoods of the people in the region by creating new job opportunities and increasing access to goods and services has increased economic growth and development in the region also the  development of tourism destination sites such as Kidepo valley national park, Karamoja cultural tours activities , local handcrafts industries among others has increased on the regions development and drive in to all the challenges facing the gender in the region. The adaptation within  livelihoods strategies among the karamojongs are  occurring in both in response to mostly household-level shocks that they experience to take advantage of growing economic opportunities in Karamoja diversification in to additional economic actives to obtain ids the major adaptation and frequently entails crossing traditional gendered division of labor by both men and women. This includes engaging women in livestock marketing and men taking roles such selling firewood and local brew.

This adaptations include the crossing of traditional gendered divisions of labor by both men and women, both out of necessity and in recognition of opportunities. Young people are innovating through the use of technology, through an expansion into services and catering, in the transportation and sale of alcohol, and through diversification within the livestock and cultivation sectors.   Young people in the region are taking advantage of new existing opportunities brought in the region in the response to emerging market based opportunities for example the current growth around the mobile phones selling including repair, resell and due of phone to expand business communication worldwide.

Due to the the household market engagement among the young of Karamoja region, , most households had farming related wealth and holds owned animals, the distribution of ownership in Karamoja is a traditional initiatives among the karamojongs. However, they are also covering with challenges to innovation and adaptations such as lack of capital to start a new activities of business, lack of credit, land basic inputs, presence of their local gendered social norms and expectations and absence of fees to reach educational goals and expectations.

In conclusion, youth in Karamoja are now adapted the way of alleviating poverty and now seeing adapting positive measures such as money saving and majority are now motivated to save, In noting range , the desires to save presents a huge area of opportunities among the young in the region . this programs and policies embarked in the region has generally  brought a future development in the region in various aspects and should focus on training  on leadership, financial management and embarking on business skills to all gender types in the region.