The region of Karamoja, located in the northeast of Uganda, is the poorest and least developed region in the country. Historically, Karamoja has been a pastoral area; crop production, which is less reliable there, has recently emerged as an important source of household food and income in some areas. Although Karamoja bears similarities to other pastoral regions in East Africa, few of its households are self-sufficient in terms of food and most rely on barter trading for much of their staple foods.The region suffers from severe environmental degradation, poor infrastructure, lack of social services, and limited opportunities to sell agricultural products.

In 2015, a resilience strategy for Karamoja has been developed in the framework of the Resilience Measurement Unit (RMU) established by the Uganda Office of Prime Minister, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, WFP, UNICEF and FAO. This Joint Resilience Strategy (JRS) represents a commitment and collaborative focus for UNICEF, FAO, and WFP’s efforts to build resilience in the Karamoja region. The overall goal of the JRS is to improve the food security and nutrition status of the region during the period from 2016 to 2020.

This analysis aims at providing guidance to policy makers, practitioners, UN agencies, NGO and other stakeholders on resilience, food security, shocks, and vulnerability. The analysis is largely based on the use of the FAO Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis (RIMA) tool.