The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the Karamoja Peace and Technology University (KAPATU) project have held a high-level brainstorming session to explore strategic areas of collaboration aimed at transforming Karamoja and the wider Ateker region through resilient, inclusive, and sustainable agri-food systems.
The session was held as an exploratory and non-financial dialogue, focused on identifying shared priorities, institutional complementarities, and long-term partnership opportunities aligned with FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022–2031 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In that session, KAPATU was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor-Academic Affairs, Prof. Annette Kezaabu, and the Dean of the School of Law, Prof. Emmanuel Kasimbazi.
The discussions reframed Karamoja not as a peripheral or humanitarian space, but as a strategic Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) context whose challenges and opportunities mirror those across Africa’s drylands.
KAPATU was presented as a purpose-built public university mandated to anchor peacebuilding, Applied science, technology, and transformative education in Karamoja.
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KAPATU’s multi-faculty structure, spanning agriculture, health sciences, engineering and technology, education, peace and diplomacy, and law, was highlighted as a strong platform for institutionalising development gains through skills development, research, innovation, and community engagement.
Areas of convergence discussed included One Health and livestock disease surveillance, nutrition-sensitive food systems, digital agriculture and market systems, and biodiversity and the bio economy. Others included sustainable wildlife management, gender and youth inclusion, resilience building in fragile contexts, and the use of legal analysis and evidence-based information as a catalyst for policy change and institutional reform; closely aligned to FAO’s Four Betters: Better Production, Better Nutrition, Better Environment, and Better Life.
As a key outcome of the meeting, KAPATU was formally referred to by the FAO Uganda Country Office for further technical discussions on potential collaboration pathways, priority entry points, and appropriate partnership modalities.
The session concluded with a shared understanding that sustainable transformation in Karamoja requires moving from fragmented projects to integrated, institution-anchored systems, and that continued dialogue between FAO and KAPATU provides a strong foundation for future collaborations.
ABOUT KAPATU
KAPATU is a Nucleus National Public University established jointly by the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Kotido and Moroto, the Catholic Lawyers Society International (CLASI), headed by its president, Counsel Severino Twinobusingye, and the government of Uganda. Its main campus is situated at Losilang, Kotido municipality (Karamoja). The initiative aims to foster peace and sustainable development in the region through education.
It was conceived in 2014 but actualised on 29th April, 2023, in a colourful ceremony at Nsambya presided over by the Vice President of Uganda, H.E. Maj. Jessica Rose Epel Alupo, who represented H.E. the President. The KAPATU project is being overseen by a Strategic Leadership Committee comprising President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Chair/Founding Chancellor), Vice President Jessica Rose Epel Alupo (Founding Deputy Chancellor), and First Lady, also Minister for Education and Sports, Maama Janet Kataha Museveni.
The government has, in the FY2025/26, allocated Shs180bn for the university’s establishment following a special cabinet sitting on 16th December 2024, chaired by H.E. the President and also attended by H.E. the Vice President.