April 8-11, 2026 (NAIVASHA, Kenya) ICPALD convened a writeshop, with experts, to identify, characterize and draft specific tools and guides for the practitioners Participatory Rangeland Management (PRM) manual. The tools and guides are key to the manual’s implementation, especially in honing skills of current and future extension workers in the IGAD Member States, for improved uptake of PRM approaches.
The session’s opening remarks were made by the ICPALD Director, Dr. Dereje Wakjira. He recapped key points from the previous PRM Meeting held in Entebbe and expressed appreciation for ILRI’s collaboration with ICPALD in jointly developing the manual. Dr. Wakjira outlined the meeting objectives, including the use of simplified tools for resource mapping, identifying manual users to prevent social tensions or conflicts, and fostering institutions that are acceptable to both the formal and informal sectors.
Dr. Guyo, Head of Dryland Development at ICPALD, noted that the meeting was to build on prior discussions and strengthen collaborative efforts inorder to:
- Expand the initial stock take of available tools and guide developed during the Entebbe meeting, prioritize and select specific tools and guides.
- Describe and characterize (e.g. purpose, application etc) the prioritized tools and guides.
- Refine outputs based on the feedback received.
In attendance were selected stakeholders engaged in hands-on rangeland management from both national and sub-national levels, representatives of CSOs and regional entities including IGAD. The participants were drawn from the previous Entebbe meeting, having been the team that identified the tools and guides.
This writeshop was supported by European Union (EU) programme designed to strengthen the resilience of pastoralists in Eastern Africa, under the initiative “Pastoralism and Livestock Adaptation to Climate Change in Eastern Africa Programme (PLACE)”.
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Background
In May 2024, ICPALD developed and released a Participatory Rangeland Management (PRM) manual for use in the IGAD region. The manual serves as a guide for community-led processes aimed at improving rangeland management and governance, supported by facilitators and technical advisors, ultimately promoting sustainable use and maintaining biodiversity. The stages and the steps of PRM manual require complementary guides and tools as applied by practitioners in the field execution and experience. ICPALD organized a regional technical meeting to harmonize and contextualize PRM related complementary guides and toolkits developed by different entities inorder to provide further support to PRM implementation in the IGAD region.
The regional workshop took place on 23rd – 25th April 2025 in Entebbe, Uganda, with the aim of harmonizing the cascading of PRM approach and practices in the IGAD Member States. The meeting brought together 26 participants engaged in rangeland management from both national and sub-national levels, representatives of CSOs and regional entities including IGAD. The participants through group work identified PRM related complementary guides and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools used in PRM implementation with respect to the PRM stages. One of the emphasized recommendations was on collaboration through co-production and joint implementation by partners, to synchronize and complement efforts in mainstreaming PRM and minimize conflicting and counterproductive approaches.
