In the Karamoja subregion of Uganda, women pastoralists play a vital role in caring for their livestock, land, families, and communities.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lomoyang, Anna is a woman pastoralist, grassroots leader, and women's rights activist from the Napak district in the Karamoja subregion of Uganda. She is part of the Uganda Country Coalition of the Stand for Her Land initiative— a global movement that brings together ILC, civil society organizations, grassroots leaders, and advocates working to secure women’s rights to land and natural resources. In 2025, the Netherlands Embassy recognized her outstanding contributions to human rights promotion and protection — a testament to her tireless advocacy for her community.
In the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026) and the International Year of the Women Farmer (IYWF 2026), Anna and her community are attending the African Pastoralists Women Gathering in Kampala, Uganda to voice their demands. They are calling on international authorities and government leaders to commit to inclusive decision-making processes, improved education and healthcare for women and girls, and meaningful investment in economic empowerment for pastoralist communities.
These demands are rooted in lived reality. In the face of climate change, resource scarcity, and land conflict, pastoralist women in Napak must balance livestock management with the full weight of daily life — childcare, healthcare, and feeding their families.
Anna's days reflect this reality. Each morning, she rises to work alongside shepherds, milking her cows and goats before her children wake. She cleans the home, collects firewood and water, and prepares meals for the family before the school day begins. Throughout the day, she tends to her animals and visits women across her community — listening, discussing problems, and working toward solutions. By evening, she returns home to meet the shepherds and check on her herd.
In the traditional manyattas of Napak, Anna and her family depend on their livestock — cows, goats, and sheep — as their primary source of income, living and working alongside fellow pastoralist community members.
“We have good traditions in our culture where we share. Even your neighbor can help you do the work”
That spirit of solidarity runs deep. To help women in her community adapt and thrive, Anna has established women's groups that open doors to farming opportunities, land management support, and market access. Together, community members share the work of managing livestock, navigating climate change and drought, and organizing social and cultural activities that strengthen the fabric of community life.
But the challenges are significant — especially during the dry season. When water grows scarce across Karamoja, pastoralists are forced to move to other regions in search of pasture and water for their herds. Livelihoods are disrupted, conflicts arise, and for women like Anna, the burden only grows heavier. Household responsibilities do not pause: farming, harvesting, cooking, cleaning, and childcare continue regardless of the season.
“The whole work for the pastoralist women is in our hands. It is a big challenge, especially on the family welfare. You have to be everything. It reaches to other things, like limited access to resources. There’s no way you can go and look for a market to sell whatever you have grown because you are so taken up with the work at home in the family. Us, as women, we look for water, food, vegetables, firewood, healthcare"
Underlying all of these challenges is a fundamental issue: pastoralist women's rights to the land and resources they depend on are rarely recognized, documented, or protected.
Women must have a say in land management decisions. Because if they don’t know that the land belongs to them, they won’t have a right to own, to use the land.
FOUR CALLS TO ACTION
Anna is outlining four specific requests to the African Pastoralist Women's Gathering taking place in Kampala, Uganda from 15th - 21st March, 2026, where women leaders from across the continent are uniting to demand policy change in the framework of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists.
Inclusive decision making processes
Pastoralist women manage not only their land and animals, but also support their communities, families and households. As such, policymakers and governments must involve women in decisions related to land, livelihood, climate change, and community development
Economic empowerment for pastoralist women
Access to land, savings, credit services and training on business skills and financial management can empower pastoralist women to manage their own income, enabling their independence in all realms of their work.
International law and policy
International law must recognise and protect women pastoralists’ rights to land access, control, and resource management.
Improved education and healthcare for pastoralist communities
For women and young girls in the Napak community, healthcare centres are hard to reach, placing a burden on mothers who must travel far to receive support for their children. Education in the form of climate resilience and land management workshops are necessary, especially for rural, pastoralist communities.
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