According to the National Housing and Census Report of 2024 of the estimated total population of 45,905,412 Ugandans, 51% of these are women and this shows the numerical strength of women in Uganda and this ratio cascades into local communities of Isingiro district where women far outnumber men.
Quantitatively, the implication here is that women can, if well sensitized, become important agents for the protection of the environment or the reverse is possible given their population size and the prominent role they play in society.
In Uganda, agriculture supports the livelihoods of 73% of the households, and of the 7.4 million households, over 65% are female-headed. Indeed in the communities of Ruborogota, Kabugu and Rwakakwenda in Kabuyanda, Isingiro district where Advocates for Equal Justice Initiative conducted outreaches, women do contribute over 75% of the Agricultural workforce or labour.
Hence, any efforts aimed at revolutionizing farming practices to climate smart farming practices that enhance productivity while protecting the environment must involve women or the girl child.
The importance of good farming practices especially in Isingiro cannot be taken lightly and this is because Isingiro district has always been very vulnerable to chronic drought with its bare hills and rangelands with the district grappling with severe droughts for several years that cause significant food shortages and famine.
Hence, the role of women, who are dominant forces in agriculture in communities in Isingiro district, in promoting agriculture while emphasizing the protection of environment is very critical.
Thanks to the support from Global Greengrants Fund, the other key observation of our outreach team was that women in these rural communities conduct practices that are detrimental to the environment.
For example, at household level, women are involved in charcoal making which involves mass cutting of trees as a source of energy. Others are involved in bush burning both as a preliminary way of preparing land for agriculture or harvesting firewood for cooking.
Most of these women come from households that cannot afford alternative sources of energy like solar and most of them are far off the national grid for Hydro Electricity Power.
Hence, any interventions aimed at stopping such backward practices must target women and the girl child in these communities.
Women are also leaders as heads of female- headed households but also in communities up to the district level. Hence they have a pivotal role to play in educating local people on the importance of environmental conservation.
This is a bottom- up role that starts right at household level up to the parish, sub-county up to the district level. And since women are the ones most affected by the vagaries of climate change, it is easier to make them good agents of environmental protection.
The Government of Uganda is working on a World Bank-supported project in a place called Kabuyanda in the drought-prone Isingiro district called Irrigation for Climate Resilience Project to provide farmers in the project areas with access to irrigation and other agricultural services, and to establish management arrangements for irrigation service delivery.
This project will be vital in providing the much needed water for irrigation in Isingiro areas which will in turn boast food security and help better protect the environment.
However, as part of a holistic approach to protecting the environment, Government and local leaders in communities of Isingiro must design gender-specific programs that speak to the particular roles of both women and men in communities. Women, for example, because of their prominent role in farming, food security, sourcing for energy for household use, are very critical in the protection of the environment.
Hence interventions aimed at empowering women with tailored skills and education on safe, sustainable and environmentally- friendly social and economic practices that boast the wellbeing of communities while safeguarding the environment and part of this is the adoption of climate smart farming practices that have been proven to be affordable, promote productivity while safeguarding the environment.
The writer Stuart Oramire is a Lawyer and the Executive Director of Advocates for Equal Justice Initiative
stuartoramire@gmail.com / stuart@adveji.org
