The border between Kenya and Uganda means very little to the agro pastoralist communities living in the Karamoja-Pokot-Turkana area. In the dry season, as resources are scarce, pastoralists are forced to migrate to access enough resources for their cattle to survive.
Drought is a common issue that affects communities living on both sides of the Uganda-Kenyan border. Conflict and insecurity have restricted access to those areas thus leading to the overgrazing of accessible pastures. “Cattle raiding” is the main source of conflict in the Karamoja cluster and is fueled by persisting poverty, food insecurity and water scarcity. The need to address cross-border dynamics and to include conflict prevention activities in all types of intervention has become increasingly relevant.
As the frequency of raids and general insecurity increases and small arms remain widely available, communities are encouraged to engage in dialogue and negotiation with their neighbours to limit potential tensions but also increase resilience to drought and other disasters. Resource sharing agreements are increasingly relevant to pastoral mobility, and represent an essential legal basis for mobile livelihood systems.
ACTED promotes inter-community experience sharing exchanges between those communities through meetings and exchange visits. A number of outcomes are expected from these meetings including the reduction in the number of cattle raids between communities, increased trade between communities and an increased number of community meetings being held by local leaders to solve intercommunity conflicts. With ACTED’s support in facilitating inter-community meetings, two resource sharing agreements have been signed to date: the first was reached between the Pokot and Turkana in 2011 and the other was signed between the Pokot and Karimojong in April 2012.
In these agreements, communities agree to share and better manage specific grazing areas and/or water points, to engage in farming and to refrain from raiding neighbouring communities on this particular land. Redress mechanisms for cattle raiders or uncooperative members are clearly defined by the communities. Yet the signing of such an agreement is a lengthy process that requires commitment and trust from each side.
Using a participatory approach, communities are mobilised and sensitised, and establish a working group responsible for drawing resource maps showing boundaries, existing resources, seasonal grazing areas, water points and conflict-prone areas. Mapping of dry season grazing land is of particular importance as it gives a sound basis on which access rights can be negotiated between communities, thereby, in time, reducing the risk of conflict and opening additional land for grazing to the beneficiary population.
Basic resource sharing agreements are only a first step in achieving long-term and sustainable community managed disaster risk reduction and ACTED is working on extending this initiative to achieve cross-border inter-community natural resource management agreements and plans among Pokot, Turkana and Karimojong.
