Participatory policy development for integrated watershed management in Uganda's highlands

Samenvatting

Soil erosion is a serious problem in the densely populated Uganda highlands and previous interventions were ineffective. This study, on the Ngenge watershed, Mount Elgon, was aimed at developing policy for the implementation of a new strategy for solving the problem, Integrated Watershed Management (IWM). For policy development, a user-friendly method for assessing erosion risk - using rainfall, slope and NDVI - enabled identifying priority areas for interventions, and a stakeholder analysis enabled identifying key stakeholders who participated in multilevel workshops for deliberating on appropriate interventions. In these workshops social learning was stimulated through constructing scenarios and developing action and work plans which are to inform policy. There was general satisfaction with the workshop processes and the participation of the stakeholders. However, considering IWM as a policy strategy, it was realized that it cannot be ‘rolled out’ but needs to be geared to specific biophysical and social context factors.