Driving factors behind Uganda’s rural pastoral communities’ social-economic status; a comparison between Karamoja region and Ankole region

In several nations throughout the world, nomadic pastoralists comprise a wide important group but are quite often considered an ethnic minority. They are estimated to constitute over 200 mil-lion people globally, with an economic role that is often neglected despite their unique importan-ce to sustainable development and the ecosystem. They turn deserts and rangelands, where crops cannot grow, into foodproducing zones. They are great stewards of the environment des-pite living in challenging circumstances and struggling with the impacts of climate change, conf-licts, and social rejection. This study aimed to analyze the social-economic status of Karamoja, Uganda’s largest pastoral region that has consistently stood out as the least developed region in Uganda. The region is naturally endowed with a variety of minerals such as marble, limestone, gold, etc. This has attracted both local and international artisanal and small-scale miners into the region although their contribution to the region’s development seems negligible. Three major rural development aspects i.e., social, ecological, and economic dimensions were assessed and compared to the Ankole region, one of Uganda’s rural pastoral regions that has over time regis-tered progress in livestock production and regional development. Based on this comparison, si-milarities and differences were identified and used to build the foundation for the development of a SWOT analysis. The region’s major strengths are high adaptability levels to climate shocks and communal land ownership. The greatest challenges to the region are cattle rustling, poor infra-structural development, and extremely dry weather conditions. For sustainable development to be realized in the region, there is a need to enhance security to stop cattle rustling and develop-ment of well-focused policy intervention measures strengthening climate change mitigation and coping strategies.