International DAAD Alumni Expert Seminar "Enhancing Water Security and Adaptive Capacities in Vulnerable Catchments in East Africa"

 

This first seminar out of a series of two was held at Moroto, Uganda from July 11 to July 21, 2016.

20 German Alumni out of the East African Region participated in the seminar, representing Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. In addition, ten post-graduate students, lecturers of the IWM program at Makerere University, and local stakeholders out of the project area took part as well.
Two lecturers of the CICD, University of Siegen, and ITT Cologne formed the German group.

The group met at Kampala. The journey to Moroto took one full day, mostly on rough roads. After an introduction and a geographical overview of the project area given by the post-graduate students and their lecturers, an external expert from international Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) presented the on-going project work in Karamoja region. ITT explained new techniques and development in the Geoinformatics sector, highlighted and shared geographic data available on the internet;and introduced a low-cost and easy to maintain hydro-meteorological network capable to derive automatically the main components of the hydrologic cycle.
Alumni took  the chance to highlight on specific challenges and on-going research work within their countires and institutions.
The representative of the GIZ - Climate Change Adaptation Project based at Moroto took part for one day in the seminar. Alumni used this contact for an intense discussion on challenges of practical implementation of resource management projects. The group was invited to the GIOZ project office and to the Nakichumet Learning Centre, Napak District. A new constructed dam site close to the learning centre was visited as well.
A representative of the Kyoga Water Management Zone from the office at Mbale described the issues of implementing a management plan for the whole zone.
On two excursion days, the group went out to two sub-catchment areas, Lokere und Lokok.
Interviews and group discussions with the local society (elders, women and youth) as well as with local leaders and social workers gave the foundation for further group work back in Moroto. Findings were discussed with the district authorities at Moroto.
A compiled version of the results is available for download

Implementing Partners:
Centre For International Capacity Development (CICD), University of Siegen – Germany
Institute For Technology And Resources Management In The Tropics and Subtropics (ITT) at Technische Hochschule Köln – Germany
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, (CAES), Makerere University  – Uganda

For any further questions please contact:

Majaliwa Jackson Mwanjalolo
Makerere University
majaliwam(at)gmail.com