Local community participation in catchment restoration in Awoja, Uganda

Abstract

This action research examined the participation of the local community in catchment restoration in Awoja catchment, Kyoga Water Management Zone, in Eastern Uganda to obtain insights into the strategies that could be applied to improve participation in future catchment restoration projects. The research aimed to understand how the local community participated in catchment restoration, how the local community perceived were the factors that enabled their participation in catchment restoration activities, how the local community perceived were the factors that hindered their participation in catchment restoration activities, and how the level of local community participation in catchment restoration in Awoja Catchment was characterized, in the catchment restoration project of the Ministry of Water and Environment which was designed to be community-led. Data was gathered through surveys, interviews, focus group discussions, and documentary analysis. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling were used to select the respondents. Findings showed that local community participation varied across the different stages of the catchment restoration project. Local community participation was largely excluded in the design phase. Findings showed absence of community participation in the project’s design phase, moderate participation in monitoring, very minimal participation in the evaluation of the project, and high participation in the implementation phase. The study concluded that the overall participation of the local community was moderate, and suggested adherence to policy implementation, strengthened incentive mechanisms, capacity building and empowerment, strengthened monitoring and evaluation function, transparent and culturally responsive communication systems, and development of structured post-project transition strategies to improve the level of local community participation in catchment restoration.