Empowering female and youth entrepreneurs through permaculture

Topic: Gender Equality

East Africa

Sustainable Livelihoods

Climate Action

Gender Equality

Problem & Solution

The impacts of climate change specifically increase the burden on Ugandan women in agriculture because they are more vulnerable to climate risks, including risk of gender-based violence (GBV), and they also face additional barriers to adapting to climate change.

Due to persistent gender inequality and poverty in the country, many youth and women are left behind on matters of climate-change and climate-smart agricultural practices, hence they lack information that could potentially enhance their livelihoods more sustainably.

The solution was to introduce permaculture practices, to address information gaps on climate-smart agriculture, build skills in climate change adaptation, and address existing gender inequalities including the limited access to financial resources.

The experience

To introduce permaculture practices, AFIRD facilitated the engagement of women and youth through the following major steps:

connecting them to their culture, history, and environment. Helping them to appreciate the valuable diversity in their culture, the rich traditional knowledge and creativity in imitating nature to solve community problems
helping them to identify community resources e.g. land, crops, waste
supporting them to collectively envision and design a long-term goal for their own future and the future of their environment.
supporting them to develop and implement a work plan, which was monitored and documented by a team that represented all stakeholders. With the men’s support, the women and youth were able to access land for vegetable and tree nursery production, and run their businesses

01

Challenges

01

AFIRD’s area of operation is limited, thus the majority of Ugandan farmers are excluded from this experience.

02

Impact

02

Increased income enabled women to be self-sufficient
Reduction in domestic violence
Increased food security and positive nutritional outcomes for families
Improved access to/ control over land; greater agency and decision making power for women and youth
Stronger mutually benefiting social networks among women and youth
AFIRD’s institutional sustainability and formal recognition in the sector

03

Lessons Learned

03

Need for stakeholder to recognize the investment in learning and labour, which are required to adopt sustainable agricultural innovations
It is crucial to identify committed and flexible community resource farmers to champion and cascade the practices to women and youth
As agribusiness is a dynamic field, farmers need to stay innovative and proactive

Realisation period 2015-2020

Location Mpigi, Uganda

Contact Jackline Namaganda

Partner organisation - Agency for Integrated Rural Development (AFIRD)

Agency for Integrated Rural Development (AFIRD) is a NGO founded in 1997. In an integrated approach, it promotes sustainable land-use with projects on organic agriculture, Permaculture, and Agroecology.