Title: Upscaling sustainable land management in Lamwo district, Uganda

Lamwo district in northern Uganda is recovering after the civil war that lasted for over 22 years and affected the livelihoods of the people. The government of Uganda and some donors have supported rehabilitation of the district by initiating programmes like the Peace Recovery and Development Plan among others, targeting agriculture as the main economic activity in the district. There are several land management activities being practiced that could be upscaled to different parts of the district. A survey was conducted in the Lamwo district and a selected group of people interviewed on involvement of all stakeholders in planning, monitoring and dissemination, knowledge transfer, gender and policy, as they are the key decision makers within the community. The group was selected to reflect the community composition including farmers, farmer’s groups leaders, clan leaders, local council chairpersons, subcounty officials, district and NGO representatives. The results of the survey revealed that there is active participation of the communities in planning and implementation of programmes. But there is lack of monitoring of the impact of the activities on society and the environment. This makes it difficult to assess the sustainability of different activities. Also, since the lack of monitoring does not confirm the success or the lack of different activities, the communities lose trust in the programmes being implemented. To improve the sustainability of current activities the following is recommended: active participation of stakeholders, gender sensitive planning and implementation, strengthening of the local structures, establishment of demonstration farms and forming model homesteads, establishment of a database for all the positive land management practices within the district, and improvement in monitoring and documentation.