Karamoja trails is a community based organization, registered in Moroto, Karamoja formed to support children education and Holiday sport games, preserve cultural heritage, Empower youth with skills for stable sustainable livelihoods, Talent identification and development, promote prevalence and propagation of indigenous tree species to restore Karamoja vegetation
Karamoja trails project emphasizes sharing and exchange of knowledge, cultural narrative/experiences, capacity building in both practical skills and the creation of community driven educational resources. The project is unique in its approach to children education, cultural heritage preservation and skills empowerment within the remote disadvantaged communities of karamoja.
The organization was mooted and started by Anyakun Paul. The idea was implemented on a voluntary concept in Moroto district in 2017 and recently started officially in 2018 with Cultural heritage sensitization, protection of threatened indigenous tree species and education support to 5 children from the remote disadvantaged communities
Because of the demand and rise of different services by the affected disadvantaged community members, A special community of different professionals with diverse knowledge in matters related to community development, child support, Cultural promoters, social development and skills participated in a needs assessment survey.
The Community Based Organization exists to help the community and children to cope with different issues at the society level. We strive to support to the Karimojong disadvantaged communities with access to grass roots stable livelihoods and preserve the positive aspects of our culture. Considering the aspect of service delivery. The project is intended to adopt different development initiatives that can contribute to the sustainable livelihoods of our local communities and reduce poverty level in Karamoja
Our Projects
This is one of the most important project components. It strives to provide nutritional supplement to the affected school going children and people living with disability. It is also used as a bond and a mobilization tool to help the project achieve its obligation and objectives.
In this department educational issues/matters are taken very seriously. The department periodically conducts community surveillance to make sure that the school going age is in and going to school. It caters for preschool primary school, High school, and other vocational training. Inter collaborative and intra collaborative episodes are encouraged. 15 Children of different communities have benefited in terms of school fees, scholastic materials and generally educational support for the all of this 2019. Through the help of a few individuals who have always tried and worked had to make sure children from these remote communities get access to Education though food insecurity remains an issue till date
According to our findings, we realized that our communities also have art crafts skills especially youth and those living with disability. Hence skills can be intensified by providing them with the necessary materials. This crafts are popularly known both in locally trading centers and east Africa in general and it could reduce and solved unemployment hence the a sustainable business livelihoods and it will help them support their own daily home meals and children if a financial chance is granted to procure materials
To utilize the local talents, a traditional dancing troop is to be introduced and trained in all different multicultural dances of Uganda where different expert are hired to train these youth on different traditional dances such that they are able to use it as a stable sustainable livelihood together with crafts it will be a good combination
Cultural Heritage is an expression of the ways of living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation, including customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values.
As part of human activity Cultural Heritage produces tangible representations of the value systems, beliefs, traditions and lifestyles. As an essential part of culture as a whole, Cultural Heritage, contains these visible and tangible traces from antiquity to the recent past. Therefore since our communities still value culture, we are also on the move to promote the positive aspects of our cultures and its diversities not forgetting the living nature (trees). We work with different stake holders: secondary schools, primary schools, local communities, local governments, Local village chiefs and NGOs to both achieve the continues goal of preserving our cultural heritage and the activities conducted are:
Using indigenous species, including threatened species, in forest restoration initiatives can bring added benefits such as supporting conservation efforts, benefiting biodiversity and adding socioeconomic value by supplying food and medicine to local communities. Restoration projects also have the potential to restore water supply, a vital need in many areas.
At present the majority of tree planting in Uganda focuses on non native species. This project aims to promote the benefits of incorporating indigenous species into planting schemes to a wide audience to ensure these added benefits are not overlooked. The following activities are conducted:
Identification of indigenous herbal medicines
Pruning of all indigenous tree species
1. For the project to remain on the positive path of support and sustainability, the future plan is to support, develop and add value to the existing local skills (Making local crafts that can be sold within and outside the centers, training a traditional dance troop of the local traditional Karimojong warriors. This will enable them to assess the good service delivery if they get resources.
2. This will be within a stipulated time frame of 6 years starting from the year 2019-2024 while the other terms can be reflected with a medium short term.
3. Since the primary beneficiaries are community members. The need for continued community capacity building cannot be isolated. The current partners need to understand societal concept regarding the above. More volunteers need to be brought to the project to ** with the project values and principles.
By 2011, insecurity caused by cattle raids in the Northeastern region of Uganda officially ended. The Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF) combed the villages and recovered about 40,000 AK47 machine guns from the Nomadic warriors. The successful removal of fire arms from the hands of the Karimojong restored peace in to the region and this has attracted people from different walks of lives. Until today people in Karamoja are enjoying peace and security with no related incidences recorded
You can participate simply by visiting our site, viewing our videos, Liking our content on Facebook, following karamojatrails.org on Twitter (@karamojatrails.org) and Instagram and sharing our stories with friends. No registration is required.
Yes! If you’d like to help Karamoja trails, support programs that are part of the targeted objectives, you may donate by check or bank transfer
It is possible to make donations to Join Karamoja trails by personal check. To donate by check, simply contact Karamoja trail’s donor support team at +256777871877 or email us on karamojatrails.org@gmail.com and we will guide you through the process.
All funds that are donated to the karamoja program go into children’s Education, Food for school ongoing children and those living with disability, skills empowerment, children’s holiday sports activity, cultural Heritage preservation and talent development fund projects in Karamoja region,
Karamoja trail’s staff team is made up of diverse, qualified and experienced individuals and volunteers committed to making a difference in the lives of the disadvantaged rural communities. Our staff comes from various villages and clans of Karamoja. Skills range from sports, talent development and identification, cultural preservation, protection of threatened indigenous tree species
Karamoja trails is funded and supported by a few individuals through their ongoing support we have been able to grow and continue supporting our community in changing lives. We would like to thank our funders that contribute so generously to our work and make change happen.