Uganda , August 15, 2025 – The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) with financial support from the Embassy of Sweden in Addis Ababa successfully convened a regional workshop from 11th to 15th August, 2025 in Entebbe, Uganda. The workshop focused on finalizing a gender responsive and conflict sensitive guideline for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms in the Karamoja Cluster.
This milestone event brought together multidisciplinary thematic experts from Kenya’s National Land Commission and Uganda’s Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Alternative Dispute Resolution Judiciary, the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Local Government. The primary goal was to analyze, synthesize and validate field data collected from both countries, ensuring the ADR guideline reflects the lived realities of communities, aligns with national legal frameworks and responds to the unique cross border dynamics of the Karamoja region.
Adopting a hackathon methodology, the workshop ensured collaborative approach for developing context-specific and practical guidelines for practitioners handling land disputes through ADR and customary approaches. .
This dynamic approach was aimed at institutionalizing learning from grassroots practices by embedding real case stories that demonstrate the effectiveness of community-led land dispute resolution.
The final Alternative Dispute Resolution Guideline for Karamoja Cluster is scheduled for validation by the end of September 2025. Once validated and launched, it will serve as a foundational tool for dispute resolution actors in gender-responsive ADR practices contributing to the harmonization of land dispute resolution mechanisms in cross border areas between Kenya and Uganda. The guide will also promote regional integration through availing harmonized dispute resolution approaches that strengthen peaceful coexistence and legal cooperation among the communities in the Karamoja cluster and beyond.
