By Jacob Okwii, Communications Officer – Mt. Elgon Project

How practical gender learning is helping frontline officers connect household aspirations, inclusion and sustainable landscape management

A dream can start with a house

A house. A productive coffee garden. Food security for the family. A better future for children.

These may sound like ordinary household dreams. But during a recent Gender Action Learning System (GALS) training under NEMA’s Mt. Elgon Project, they became the starting point for a bigger conversation about gender, livelihoods, decision-making and environmental restoration.

What happens when landscape restoration begins not only with a tree, but with a household vision?

For the NEMA’s Mt. Elgon Project, the answer is clear: lasting restoration must put the people who depend on the landscape at the centre of decisions about its future.

Why gender matters to restoration

The Promoting Integrated Landscape Management Approach for Conservation of the Mount Elgon Ecosystem in Eastern Uganda seeks to enhance ecosystem conservation while supporting rural livelihoods and food security and transitioning the landscape towards a sustainable, biodiverse and climate-resilient future. The project supports sustainable coffee and staple crop systems, including maize, beans, bananas and Irish potatoes, alongside stronger supply and value chains.

Achieving this ambition requires more than planting trees, improving production and protecting natural resources. It also means asking: Who participates? Who makes decisions? Who has access to land, information and opportunities? Who provides the labour? And who benefits?

These questions matter because women and men do not always have equal influence over household and community decisions. Women may contribute significant labour to farming and household activities while having less control over land, income and other resources. Unpaid care responsibilities can also limit their participation in meetings, training and community planning.

The Mt. Elgon Project’s Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and Action Plan provides a framework for integrating gender into project planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting. The challenge and the opportunity is to translate that framework into practical action where restoration is ultimately owned: within households and communities.

Learning by doing

From 10-14 August 2026, 61 frontline officers; 31 Agricultural Officers and 30 Community Development Officers, including 43 men and 18 women; from nine districts and 31 project implementation sub-counties participated in training on Gender Mainstreaming in Integrated Landscape Management using the GALS methodology.

The officers are a critical link between project interventions and communities. They work with farmers, farmer groups, households and local leaders, provide extension and community development support, mobilise communities and translate technical information into practical action.

The training therefore focused on doing, not simply learning about GALS. Participants practiced five key tools: the Vision, Vision Journey, Gender Balance Tree/Happy Family Tree, Challenge Action Tree and Social Empowerment Map.

Through these exercises, issues that can remain hidden in everyday life became easier to discuss: Who controls household resources? Who makes decisions about land and income? Who provides labour? Who has access to opportunities and project support? Who participates in community decisions? And who may be left behind?

From vision to action

One of the most engaging exercises was the development of SMART Vision Journeys. Participants imagined where their households and communities wanted to be in the short, medium and long term, then considered the actions and barriers along the way.

The visions included productive coffee gardens, modern homes, food security through maize and Irish potatoes, and improved household wellbeing.

These aspirations may appear personal, but they are closely connected to landscape outcomes. A family seeking better incomes may invest in sustainable coffee production. A household seeking food security may improve crop and soil management. A family seeking greater resilience may diversify livelihoods or adopt climate-smart practices. A household planting trees must make decisions about land, labour, maintenance and future benefits.

GALS helps shift the conversation from “What should the community do?” to “What future does the household want, what is preventing it, and how can women and men work together to overcome those barriers?”

That is where gender mainstreaming becomes practical.

Taking the learning to communities

The strongest measure of the training will not be what happened in the training room, but what happens afterwards.

For Chelangat Musamiru, a Community Development Officer from Chepterech Sub-county in Kapchorwa District, the training provided practical knowledge on vision journeys, mindset change and participatory approaches.

“I plan to organise trainings on gender mainstreaming across the sub-county. This will ensure that men and women participate in the integrated land management project interventions.”

Cheukut Martha Cheptoek, an Agricultural Officer from Munarya Sub-county in Kapchorwa District, appreciated GALS as a practical way of addressing gender, financial and social barriers.

“The GALS methodology is a participatory approach that can help households to deal with gender, financial and social barriers.”

She also sees the value of applying the approach across sectors, noting: “We need to ensure that the GALS approach is applied on all sectors so that no one is left behind.”

Wamboka Jeff Peter, a Community Development Officer from Bugitimwa Sub-county in Sironko District, emphasised the importance of mobilisation and dialogue. He plans to deepen his understanding of GALS and help communities understand and participate in the approach.

“I shall ensure that I read more about the GALS, effectively mobilise communities to fully understand and participate in the project.”

Together, these commitments reflect the multiplier effect the training is designed to create: knowledge moving from trained officers to farmer groups, households and communities.

From household decisions to landscape outcomes

A tree planted on a farm requires decisions about where it will be planted, who provides labour, who maintains it and who benefits from its products. Improved coffee production similarly involves decisions about land, inputs, labour, extension services, marketing and income.

Gender-responsive Integrated Landscape Management therefore asks practical questions about who uses resources, who controls them, who provides labour, who participates in decisions, who receives project support and who controls the benefits.

This moves the focus beyond simply counting how many women or men attend an activity. It asks whether participation is meaningful and whether people have a genuine voice in decisions that affect their livelihoods and environment.

The work ahead

The training has strengthened the capacity of frontline officers to facilitate gender-responsive conversations, support household visioning, mobilise communities inclusively and integrate gender considerations into landscape management.

But training is only the beginning. The next step is application through farmer groups, household engagement and community mobilisation, supported by follow-up, coaching, monitoring and learning. Documenting emerging lessons will be important in showing what changes and what further support is needed.

The challenges facing Mt. Elgon have not disappeared. Communities continue to face economic pressures, changing climatic conditions, competing demands on land and natural resources, and barriers to adopting sustainable agricultural and restoration practices.

Yet one important resource has been strengthened: the people working directly with communities.

Restoration that leaves no one behind

The future of the Mt. Elgon landscape will not be determined by environmental interventions alone. It will also depend on the women, men, young people, older people, persons with disabilities and other community members who live, farm, work and build their livelihoods within it.

That is why gender equality matters. That is why frontline officers matter. And that is why approaches such as GALS matter.

When household aspirations are connected to shared decision-making, equitable access to resources and sustainable management of land and natural resources, restoration becomes more than an external project intervention. It becomes part of a shared pathway towards stronger livelihoods and a healthier landscape.

The journey from household dreams to landscape change will take time. But it begins with people being able to imagine a better future and having an equal opportunity to participate in shaping it.

A landscape cannot be truly sustainable if the people who depend on it are not equally included in shaping its future.

For Mt. Elgon, restoration that leaves no one behind begins not only with what is planted on the land, but with who has a voice in deciding what happens on it and who benefits from the future that is created.

The Promoting Integrated Landscape Management Approach for Conservation of the Mount Elgon Ecosystem in Eastern Uganda is a Government of Uganda initiative funded by the Global Environment Facility through the United Nations Environment Programme and implemented by NEMA in collaboration with national, district and community-level partners.