49 research outputs found
Gender and Climate Change in Uganda: Effects of Policy and Institutional Frameworks
In order to obtain an enriched understanding of the
framing of gender issues in climate change related
policies in Uganda and to explore its impacts on climate
change adaptation at grassroots, the International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International
Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) analyzed the
influence of current policy and institutional frameworks on
gender and climate issues. The study evaluated the
institutional and political context under which policies
related to climate change are developed and
implemented in Uganda as well as examined the gender
approaches employed at different administrative levels of
the government
Role of Local Policies in Facilitating Adaptation of Smallholder Farming to Climate Change in Uganda
The research was funded by a USAID project entitled ‘Enhancing Climate Resilience of Agricultural Livelihoods’ that was implemented by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA in partnership with Makerere University Centre for Climate Research and Innovation (MUCCRI) and the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO). The CGIAR program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) provided additional support. Abstract Smallholder farming in Sub-Saharan Africa is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and supportive local policies and plans are needed guide climate resilient farming systems. This study explores how local policies are enabling adaptation of smallholder farming to the impacts of climate change in Uganda. A mixed methods approach was used including review of policies and other literature, field assessments conducted Eastern and Central regions of Uganda. Data was collected from smallholder farmers, government officials and non-state actors at district, sub-county and village levels. Findings reveal that whereas Uganda has an elaborate national climate change policy framework that prioritizes the mainstreaming of climate change in policies and practices at all levels of government, development policies and plans at the local levels have not yet adequately incorporated climate change, and the adaptation practices adopted by smallholder farmers to address the negative impacts of climate change are more reactionary, and are not guided or influenced by local adaptation policies. Effective local adaptation policy and practice is constrained by non-inclusive policy formulation processes, institutional and human resource gaps, climate finance and unreliable climate information and advisory services. We suggest the strengthening local adaptive capacity through inclusive local adaptation policy formulation and implementation, improved climate information services and strong local institutional framework to support smallholder farmers build resilience to climate change. Keywords: climate risks, vulnerability, local adaption policies, resilient agriculture, Uganda DOI: 10.7176/JEES/9-11-09 Publication date: November 30th 201
Barriers to successful climate change policy implementation in Uganda
A multi-level analysis has examined how policy processes within agriculture, forestry, natural resource- and land management in Uganda support or undermine climate change adaptive responses and policy implementation with a particular focus on the Nwoya and Rakai districts. This Info Note summarizes the findings
The role of rural producer organizations in enhancing market participation of smallholder farmers in Uganda : enabling and disabling factors
The study investigates the factors influencing the effectiveness of second-tier rural producer
organizations (RPOs) in linking their members to output markets in Uganda. The percentage of farmers
who sold some of their produce through the RPO was used as a proxy for effectiveness. Ordinary least
squares (OLS) regression analysis indicated that RPO effectiveness was positively related to the size of
a RPO and democratic leadership. On the other hand, the proportion of RPO leaders with leadership
training, enforcement of internal control practices, bulking distance and size of executive committee
had a significant negative effect on the effectiveness of such organizations. It was concluded that
improving the effectiveness of RPOs required the (i) use of numerous sub-committee instead of many
all-member meetings and smaller executive committees; (ii) dedication, respect and commitment by
leaders of RPOs when imparting skills learnt in order to boost members’ morale; (iii) devising reward
systems for leaders or putting in place stringent rules, such as leadership codes, to guide leader
behaviour so as to prevent conflict of interest and possible elite capture; and (iv) policies guiding
Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) lending conditions be reviewed to match rural producers’
economic status and seasonality of enterprises.The Uganda Agricultural Strategy Support
Programme of the International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI), Ford Foundation, Institute of International Education, the
Pan African Bean Research Alliance of the International
Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and Kilimo Trust,
through its INSPIRE project.http://www.academicjournals.org/AJARam201
Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management in Tanzania: A Gender Policy Review
More than twenty years have passed since the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, where gender mainstreaming was acknowledged as an indispensable global strategy for achieving gender equality. Since then, Tanzania has undoubtedly made efforts in mainstreaming gender in its national policies and strategies (MCDGC, 2012). However, to date some of its policies and strategies still remain gender blind or have not prioritized gender as an area for immediate action. This insufficient consideration to gender in some policy documents, coupled with limited enforcement of the policies that were drafted as gender sensitive, might hinder progress towards gender equality in the country. With climate change increasingly threatening rural livelihoods in Tanzania (Orindi and Murray 2005; Yanda et al. 2013), the need to incorporate gender considerations in the policies and programs dealing directly and indirectly with climate change issues becomes even more apparent. Indeed, if policies fail to acknowledge the different roles, opportunities, perspectives and challenges that women and men have in the face of climate change, the adaptation and mitigation measures proposed in the policies will likely fail or may even ultimately exacerbate gender inequalities (Ncube et al., 2011)
The Role of Policy in Facilitating Adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture in Uganda
This study aimed at understanding the influence of policy frameworks on climate change
adaptation in Uganda. It combined literature review on existing natural resource management
policies, focus group discussions with farming communities and interviews with key
informants across various policy implementation levels. Findings reveal that even when
farmers are exposed to appropriate adaptation practices, adoption is still constrained by
limited enforcement of policies and regulations. Various reasons constrain enforcement;
policies are formulated through top–down approaches, NGOs and local governments are
minimally involved while local communities are largely excluded. There is either lack of or
existence of non-functional implementation structures prescribed by the policies. Coupled
with unclear roles among actors, weak links between different administration levels, limited
human and financial resources and political interference, the ability of smallholders to adopt
climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is thus constrained. Due to lack of knowledge of what the
policies provide for, smallholders are not able to demand their rights. There is need for more
focused follow-up research on specific issues raised in this report
Towards gender responsive policy formulation and budgeting in the agricultural sector: Opportunities and challenges in Uganda
Achieving economic growth while reducing poverty in an equitable manner demands that governments in Sub-Saharan Africa commit actions and resources to address gender inequalities, even more so under a changing climate which is expected to widen social inequalities (Dankelman, 2012). Internationally, the UN asserts that achieving gender equality, development and peace must be supported by explicit budgetary allocation to targeted activities to ensure gender equality at all scales (OSAGI, 2001).
Over the past two decades, Uganda has advanced gender equality and empowerment of women. Uganda’s commitment to promote gender equality and equity was confirmed by enacting the National Gender Policy (1997, revised in 2007). Other components of the political and legal efforts to tackle gender inequality include (i) the 1995 Constitution of Uganda in articles 32 (3 & 4); (ii) the Equal Opportunities Act (2007); (iii) the Public Finance Management Act (2015); and (iv) the National Development Plan II (2015/16-2019/20). However, despite all these initiatives, effective gender mainstreaming as a strategy for addressing gender inequalities remains a big challenge, as manifested by Uganda’s Gender Inequality Index of 0.538, ranking 122 out of 155 countries in the 2014 index (UNDP, 2015)
Gender responsive policy formulation and budgeting in Tanzania: do plans and budgets match?
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has been ratified by more countries than any other UN convention (Gabizon, 2016). The United Republic of Tanzania is one such country that hopes to fully utilize its human resources, both men and women, for socio-economic development. It is recognized that the continued marginalization of women constitutes a major obstacle to rapid socio-economic development of the country (MCDGC, 2005). The United Republic of Tanzania–through the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children–has prioritized gender equality through different instruments: the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania was amended in 2005 to increase women’s participation in the National Parliament and Local Authorities; the Women and Gender Development Policy of 2000 puts more emphasis on women in development, and the National Strategy for Gender Development was intended to promote gender equality and equity. Despite these developments, challenges still remain, as demonstrated by Tanzania’s low ranking (123rd out of 149 countries) on the 2013 Gender Inequality Index (UNDP, 2015)
Rapid Rural Appraisal Report of Northern Uganda
A rapid rural appraisal (RRA) was carried out by the CIAT-IITA team in northern Uganda between 18th February and 1st March 2014. The RRA aimed to assess within and between district variations in farming systems and agricultural management practices in order to guide strategic agricultural investments and projects. The RRA used key-informant interviews, participatory workshops, transect walks, village and farm visits, as well as gender-disaggregated methods to gather information on important agriculture- related features and constraints faced by farmers
Scenario-guided policy planning in Uganda
Using socio-economic scenarios in policy formulation allows for an anticipatory approach to governance processes and the formulation of policies/plans that take into account future uncertainty To fully benefit from the dividends of scenario planning in the Ugandan context, there is need to build the scenario-guided planning capacity of both public and private sectors. There is need for follow up and continuous engagement with government officials responsible after the review process to enable inclusion of recommendations generated into the final policy documents. In some cases, the abstract nature of national policy statements limits the level of detail, hence detailed scenario guided recommendations and information may not easily fit in the existing policy formats. The approach is new and requires extra awareness creation not only for the government officers who draft policies but also for other major policy actors such as the political leadership who approve the policies