Women are struggling to survive along Lake Albert

Tuesday, October 15th, 2024 | By

For years, fishing provided for Constance Nyamisana’s family, but restrictive regulations have crippled her livelihood. Nyamisana, now in her 80’s, has lived in Kaiso fishing village on Lake Albert’s shores.  She says her husband; a fisherman would wake before dawn to set out onto the lake. The daily catch would feed their family and provide income to send their children to school. She said her role was to vend fish along the lake which has since reduced due to restrictions to conserve the Lake.

In 2018, the government imposed fishing restrictions to conserve Lake Albert’s dwindling fish stocks. While well-intentioned, the regulations devastated Nyamisana’s community.

Nyamisana is among the many women who are now facing numerous challenges resulting from the restrictions including loss of livelihood, food insecurity and high school dropout which have led to increased gender based violence.

Sylvia Kemigisa, the Chairperson for Kaiso Women Empowerment Agency said the increasing cases of gender based violence prompted them to establish a safe space with support from National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE). The space, according to Kemigisa is helping the police to handle minor cases of gender based violence through mediation, counseling and peace building.

She notes that most of the cases reported are largely affecting women due to loss of livelihood and food insecurity.

Kemigisa says despite these hardships, they remain determined as they have started exploring other alternative sources of income like kitchen gardening, selling handmade crafts and pushing for more inclusive fishing regulations.

Nyamisana, who already has a small garden of egg plants, said the alternative sources of livelihoods are promising. She says she gets market from her community and is able to get enough food for his family.

She calls upon the government to consider the livelihoods of communities in implementing the restrictions.